Drawing : Venice Biennale part 3

Tiffany Chung

Diagrams and maps can be powerful formats when it comes to explaining an idea. In particular by changing just one element in something, a contradiction or questioning process can be inserted into an image. Tiffany Chung works using tracing papers and mapping procedures. Deceptively simple work that is very powerful in its effect. At first sight it appears as very pleasantly decorative. Small dots and circles of colour are marshalled across the milky surface of the tracing paper. It is only after looking at the titles that you begin to realise what you are looking at. These are maps of changing territories, territories that are moving because of ongoing war. In particular the war in Syria results in a constant taking and retaking of positions. Boundaries between states and peoples are of course set by arbitrary means and if you go far enough back in time, you will usually find that it was an act of aggression that was the defining moment in the setting of a nation's boundaries.

The information provided in the information plate both identifies each work and details the issues dealt with. This way of hanging suggests the random nature of aggression and the unpredictability of these dangerous situations. In particular I remembered the note, 'Numbers of children killed', a simple line of text that referred to a set of traumatic events that I couldn't bare thinking about. What if one of those children had been my daughter or my son? These maps are connected to real events, but by the time we see the map, in the news these events have moved on, they in some ways no longer exist. But in the hearts and minds of those who experience war, the trauma is never forgotten and the pain will at some moment in the future need to be exorcised.

Tiffany Chung is from Vietnam, she makes cartographic drawings, sculptures, videos, photographs, and theatre performances that explore spatial and sociopolitical transformations interwoven with her responses to political and historical trauma.

Chung uses map conventions and Maja Bajevic uses the diagram to carry her ideas. Using graphs of rising and falling commodity prices, Bajevic creates images with old craft techniques such as weaving and embroidery. The two would appear to have nothing in common, but the conjunction between an old craft and contemporary graphic measuring techniques reminds us of how all data is in fact reliant on the rough imprecise nature of reality. The highs and lows of the stock exchange can appear to be an abstract, almost inhuman process, but a handmade, woven artefact will always retain the trace of its human maker.

Maja Bajevic

The short biography in the catalogue states: 'Born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Maja Bajevic lives and works in Paris. Using a range of media including video, light, installation, photography and performance, Bajevic's work reflects on social and political issues. Her video “Double Bubble” (2001) explores the concept of religious ideal, contrasting the values preached by organized religions with crimes committed “in the name of God”. Bajevic’s sound installation “Avanti Popolo” (2002-2005) is composed of patriotic songs from 30 different countries. Immersing the viewer in a cacophonic sound-scape, the work questions the paradoxical nature of anthems, which enhance a sense of collective belonging while also lending themselves to ideological designs'.

Arts, crafts and facts

Bajevic continues to explore the political uncertainties we all face due to the various ways that power is exercised in contemporary societies. In the case above there is a powerful contrast illustrated between worker productivity and company profits. As always for myself what interesting pieces of work do is illustrate a point whilst at the same time somehow bringing the idea back into some sort of individual reality. The embroidered text, the patterned cloth and the woven chart, combine to suggest that no matter how 'homely' or 'homespun' a situation might feel, outside the cottage door, somewhere off in the distance, the wheels of industry and commerce will grind on, and whether you like it or not, at some point your life will be shaped by some faceless manager, sitting over a collection of bar charts, and deciding on how to make a better profit.