A Ghost Story

In this singular exploration of legacy, love, loss, and the enormity of existence, a recently deceased, white-sheeted ghost returns to his suburban home to try to reconnect with his bereft wife. Resonating with vibrant memories and silent echoes of a shared life, the old house is somehow connected to "C", a sensitive composer who is hesitant of leaving it, while his loving wife "M", on the other hand, is keen on moving out, having an indecipherable but grim premonition of danger. Sadly, disaster soon strikes, and C's untethered spectre which detaches from the lifeless body, rises from the mortician's table, and in a swift decision, decides to linger in this dimension to faithfully follow the grieving M back to the old house. As silent as a shadow and as invisible as the air, C's unappeasable phantom observes M's denial and depression gradually turn to acceptance and even hope, as time unravels, moving forward through the decades. In this earth, man struggles to leave his legacy behind. Is this the way to immortality? Synopsis: IMDB.

Spirits in the Material World

In Spirits in the Material World, artist Heman Chong reflects on spaces that exist in the darkness; the slippages into the netherworld. The installation is on view in Het Nieuwe Instituut from 10 October 2019 to 29 December 2019.

The installation and program reflect on a sphere of architecture that is not easily explained or understood - the relationship between the spiritual and material world. Through a fully functioning bookshop, a film series and a video work, Chong reveals how certain events trigger a consensual view on certain spaces as 'haunted,' and how the alleged presence of ghosts becomes an unpredictable disruptor in unaffordable real estate markets such as Hong Kong, New York, or Dubai. Spirits, rumours, financial and real estate logic thus converge to shape the more-than-human imaginaries and markets for the architecture of contemporary housing.