Dismantle / Assemble, 2026, 4-channel video
Cindy Yuen-Zhe Chen, Dismantle / Assemble, 2026, four-channel video work. Photography by Jessica Maurer.
Transcript
Dismantle / Assemble, by Cindy Chen, 2026, is an audio and visual work consisting of four monitors, each measuring 70.8 centimetres high by 122.5 centimetres wide. The videos are displayed on the left-hand wall when entering the gallery. This four channel video art piece is accompanied by individual artist's dialogue on 4 directional speakers.
Each video features the hands and stories of individual artists Phuong Ngo, Marikit Santiago, Jayanto Damanik Tan and Cindy Yuen-Zhe Chen, who are of Vietnamese, Filipino, Indonesian and Malaysian heritage respectively. Each video shows the original coins from Cindy’s maternal grandfather’s collection which would fit into the palm of one’s hand.
Hanging on the wall are four monitors in a row. Starting from the left, the order of artworks is Phuong Ngo, Marikit Santiago, Jayanto Tan, and Cindy Yuen-Zhe Chen.
Starting from the left, this video shows a close-up of Ngo’s hand caressing two French coins and wrapping it in a red garment which is artist Ngo’s mother’s red velvet Buddhist alter cloth, singed by incense.
The next video work to the right shows a close-up of Santiago’s hand softly running fabric over the top of the Spanish coin’s surface. This fabric is a light cream colour with pink and purple detailing. This fabric is from a hand-painted voile flower girl dress from Santiago’s wedding (remade from garments worn at her parent’s wedding).
Continuing on to the right, the third video features the Tan gently touching two Dutch coins, with a batik sarong in which he nestled in as a baby in the background.
Lastly, the fourth video on the right shows a close-up of Chen’s hands holding both the British and Chinese coins, placing them against fabric of her grandmother’s batik sarong that she wore during her visits to Australia. Irregular, organic shapes of different sizes appear on the fabric in soft colours of green, blue, pink and brown.
All videos are being played on a loop and are 29 minutes in length. The four accompanying audio recordings of each artist is 29 minutes long and can be heard from directional speakers when a visitor gets within approximately 2 metres of the monitors.
In the spoken monologues, the artists reflect upon ancestral memories of their colonised homelands, share experiences of spirits, question hierarchies of values and belief systems, examine their present occupation of unceded First Nations Countries and imagine futures for their communities. These experiences continue to shape and motivate the artists’ practices which, in turn, enables them to honour traditions while creating their own meanings.