Sung Tieu
Infra-Specter

[En anglais]

As they enter the German-Vietnamese artist Sung Tieu’s inaugural solo exhibition in the United States, Infra-Specter at Amant, a multi-site art space in Brooklyn, visitors find themselves unwittingly immersed in an experience that challenges their perception of reality. Beginning in the reception area, Tieu has covertly installed artworks that expose the artificiality of time, sound, and energy, provoking contemplation on the hidden threats stemming from infrastructure and political policies, and on their socio-psychological ramifications.

Infra-Specter unfolds in two parts. The first, titled Liability Infrastructure, showcases Tieu’s commissions for Amant, that shed light on hydraulic fracking sites in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Dominating the gallery is the striking installation Mural for America (2023), a wall full of rows of stainless steel plaques resembling war memorials. Instead of commemorating fallen soldiers, each plaque bears the name of a chemical component involved in hydraulic fracking, illuminating its environmental and societal consequences. Facing the plaques stand three colossal steel pipes titled Reverberations (Marshall County, WV) (2023), Reverberations (Greene County, PA) (2023), and Reverberations (Ryerson Station State Park, PA) (2023), referencing specific fracking sites. Speakers and amplifiers in the pipes emit vibrations that reverberate through the gallery’s floor, viscerally highlighting the hidden tremors of infrastructural violence and immersing visitors in the unsettling reality of fracking’s environmental impact.