On-Air, Off-Air
Ho Rui An and Sung Tieu, curated by Vincent Ardidon
The Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok, Thailand
August 19 to October 05, 2025
On-Air, Off-Air brings together the works of Ho Rui An (b. 1990, Singapore) and Sung Tieu (b. 1987, Hai Duong), two artists whose distinct practices have investigated the role of state bureaucracies in the global intertwining of capital, finance, and mechanisms of control.
The term On-Air originally meant that a person or a program was being broadcast, while Off-Air meant they were not. The idea being: the transmission and reception of signals traveled through the air. By compounding these two expressions, the title alludes to the atmosphere as a literal field where novel paradigms of war have been made to appear since the Cold War period, signaling how one ideology’s spread is the deterrence of another—on the ground and in the air.
Drawing a parallel between the two artists’ practices, the show incorporates video, photography, and installations that dialogically address the ambient, far-reaching implications of the Cold War in Asia and their ties elsewhere. Biographical and fictional materials unfold in space and on screens throughout the exhibition, imparting various expository and stylistic gestures. Archival and research materials are also presented alongside the works, tracking and contextualizing the two artists' unique and rigorous examination of subjects related to this fraught period.
In On-Air, Off-Air, the respective works of Ho Rui An and Sung Tieu surface the subliminal politics embedded within media forms, examining the entanglement of space, selfhood, and the state. Together, they offer a layered, incisive meditation on the Cold War’s enduring imprint and the imaginative labor required to confront its lasting echoes.
photos courtesy of The Jim Thompson Art Center