Intimacy and Uncertainty
"Notes on Uncertainty" with Kenneth Tam
September 27, 2021
YoU Co-Thinker Kenneth Tam reveals the process behind Silent Spikes, a two-channel video and sculptural installation that explores group dynamics, gender performativity, and the negotiation of intimacy. Both the production and the exhibition of this work were delayed due to the complications of COVID-19. It was finally presented at the Queens Museum in Spring 2022.
Image Description: Four men of diverse Asian backgrounds pose shoulder to shoulder. They are dressed in cowboy outfits, with hats, western style shirts, and jeans.
I started producing Silent Spikes in December of 2019. The first shoot took place at The Kitchen, a performance venue in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. I invited a few men I had recruited on various online sites, including Craigslist, to participate, all strangers to each other and to me. I planned a series of movement activities as a way for the men to get to know each other. A dancer and choreographer I had worked with before, Alyssa Forte, helped guide with some loose instruction. None of them were trained in dance or movement.
Image Description: The same four men are captured in a black and white image. They all appear in motion, their bodies curved in dance-like formations.
I’m very drawn to the kinds of vulnerability that can emerge when people are asked to perform for the camera outside of their usual behaviors. Sometimes it results in awkward or even uncomfortable performances.
Image Description: One of the four men poses with his hands resting on his belt. He peers at the camera with a stern or stoic expression.
I find that these awkward moments can reveal how our everyday presentations are guided by unwritten but internalized scripts. How we construct our identity is tied to things like our race, gender, occupation and class, and each one of these categories carries within it information on how we perform ourselves.
Image Description: One of the men stands in the center with his eyes closed. He hold a green plastic cow head to the side of his face, tenderly. In the foreground, he is surrounded by stage lights that lend a soft orange glow to the image.
Due to the pandemic, production on Silent Spikes immediately ceased. I had to cancel an elaborate group shoot, as well as a trip to Northern California to film the tunnels dug by Chinese laborers. Especially during the initial lockdown, it was difficult to envision how I was going to finish the project which required close interactions and contact between the participants. It took several months before they and I could feel comfortable working in the same space together, with modifications. Thankfully most of them were still eager to continue.
Image Description: Kenneth Tam, a young Asian male, is pictured dimly lit and in profile, standing in front of a film camera with a long lens. He is wearing a hat, glasses, and a face mask.
Image Description: Tam stands on the right, gesturing and offering direction to two of the men dressed in cowboy attire. They lean softly up against a section of ranch-style fencing, facing one another.
And instead of flying to the Sierra Nevadas, I hired a cameraperson out there to record the footage I needed. There were definitely parts of the project that I wasn’t able to shoot as I originally hoped, such as street interviews of Flushing residents, or my participants interacting in the tunnels.
Image Description: A bright light emanates from the center of a rocky tunnel. A wooden support structure lines its inside.
Even before COVID, I’ve learned to be flexible and nimble with my productions, especially since my work can be so spontaneous and unpredictable with its reliance on participant contributions. There are still threads to this project that the pandemic prevented me from fully exploring, and I hope that there will be opportunities in the future to return to them. But even though I had to adapt, and couldn’t pursue all the ideas I had for this project, I hope I can revisit them in the future.
Image Description: At the far left of the image, one side of a ladder can be seen. Tam stands beside it, peering through a camera on a tripod. The camera’s view screen is visible, and reveals a close up of another of the men holding the cow head to his face. The man is also visible in the right of the image. They are surrounded by stage lighting.
All images courtesy the artist and Commonwealth & Council.
Related Tags