Nadim Abbas (唐納天, b.1980) explores the role that memory-images play in the intersection between mind and matter. This has culminated in the construction of complex set pieces, where objects exist in an ambiguous relationship with their own image, and bodies succumb to the seduction of space.
Abbas’ work first developed out of a fascination with optical phenomena, mirroring and the creation of immersive theatrical scenarios. These often touched on the issue of location and how that might structure a dialogue with the notion of something being real yet an image but also a simulacrum of the real. Wary of a purely “retinal” or illusion-based reading of his work, he would allow elements of inconsistency to show through, in a bid to let the intricate mechanisms of construction unfold before the viewer.
These preoccupations with the phenomenological complexities of visual experience have in recent years evolved into a wider exploration of the technologies of perception. Referencing a diverse range of subjects, from bunker archaeology to otaku subcultures, Abbas instills generic forms with unfamiliar associations, in an attempt to describe the “invisible violences” that permeate seemingly innocuous facets of everyday life.
