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Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

  • Exhibitions
    • Current
    • Upcoming
    • Past
  • Calendar
  • Learning
    • Artist Residency
    • Bookshelf Residency
    • Digital Projects
    • Public Programs
    • Schools & Community
    • Special Projects
  • Visit
  • About
    • Staff
    • Governance
    • Press
    • Partnerships
    • Opportunities
    • Annual Report
  • Shop
  • Get Involved
    • Spring Benefit
    • Join
    • Institutional Support
    • Artist Edition Series
    • Sustainability
    • Corporate
  • Donate
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Back To Exhibitions
June 19, 2021
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September 05, 2021
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Back To Exhibitions
June 19, 2021
➽
September 05, 2021

Kenneth Tam:
Silent Spikes

Exhibitions
Icala 2021 07 02 002
5 Images

Silent Spikes is the first solo institutional presentation of Brooklyn-based artist Kenneth Tam (b. 1982) in Los Angeles. Silent Spikes, a two-channel video, recently commissioned by the Queens Museum, New York, explores archetypical expectations of masculinity in relation to the intersections of gender, economics, and race. Tam reflects upon the underrecognized connection between the histories of Westward expansion and Chinese immigration in the U.S. and considers how Asian men have been marginalized against the standards of the “All-American” iconic trope of the cowboy, despite the fundamental contributions of Chinese laborers to the building of the American West, specifically the treacherous western portion of the Transcontinental Railroad between 1863 and 1869. The work incorporates visual and narrative references to the labor strike organized by Chinese Transcontinental Railroad workers in 1867, the response to the intense exploitation and marginalization of the laborers—one of the earliest instances of racialized protest in the United States.

Composed in a cinematic style combining interpretative reenactment performed by a group of diverse, Asian-American male participants and location footage, Silent Spikes can be taken as a response not only to this history but also to centuries of stereotyped representation of the Asian male in media, particularly in Western-genre films. Inhabiting and adapting the archetype of the American cowboy, Tam and his participants honor inherited struggles while centering vulnerability and connection as reparative forms of male embodiment and selfhood. Tam’s work acknowledges the complex dynamics impacting the experiences of young men living and working in American society today, and Silent Spikes continues his explorations into the affective space created between them.

Credits & Sponsors
About the Artist

Kenneth Tam: Silent Spikes was organized by the Queens Museum and made possible with support from the Asian Art Circle at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.

The presentation at ICA LA is organized by Jamillah James, Senior Curator.

ICA LA is supported by the Curator’s Council, Fieldwork, and 1717 Collective.

Kenneth Tam (b. 1982, Queens, NY; based in Brooklyn, NY) works in video, sculpture, and photography, using the male body as a starting point for discussions about performance, physical intimacy, vulnerability, and private ritual. Tam received his BFA from the Cooper Union, New York and his MFA from the University of Southern California. Tam will participate in Open Call, an upcoming exhibition and program series at The Shed, New York. He recently produced The Crossing, his first live(streamed) performance at The Kitchen, New York. He has had solo exhibitions at the Minneapolis Institute of Art; MIT List Center for Visual Arts, Boston, MA; Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles; Night Gallery, Los Angeles. Tam has participated in group shows at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; 47 Canal, New York; Hollybush Gardens, London; and SculptureCenter, Queens. He has participated in residencies including Artist Lab at 18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica; Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Workspace; The Core Residency Program at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and Pioneer Works, Brooklyn. Tam is currently a Lecturer at Princeton University.
Images
Icala 2021 07 02 002
Icala 2021 07 02 006
Icala 2021 07 02 007
Icala 2021 07 02 005
Icala 2021 07 02 008
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Installation view, Kenneth Tam: Silent Spikes, Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, June 20–September 5, 2021. Photo: Jeff McLane/ICA LA
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Database Exhibitions
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STATUS ID Title Start date End date Featured image Last updated
Active Published
126 Milford Graves: Fundamental Frequency 2023-02-11 2023-05-14
Icala 2023 02 14 039
11:54am Mar 24, 2023 Page
Active Published
127 Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork 2023-02-11 2023-05-14
Icala 001
3:53pm Mar 22, 2023 Page
Active Published
128 Christine Sun Kim: Bounce Back 2023-02-11 2023-09-10
Icala 2023 02 14 001
11:48am Mar 24, 2023 Page
Active Published
91 Rebecca Morris: 2001–2022 2022-10-01 2023-01-15
Image of exhibition introduction text, Rebecca Morris painting hands in the background.
12:32pm Nov 16, 2022 Page
Active Published
92 My Barbarian 2022-10-01 2023-01-15
Icala 2022 10 06 004
4:57pm Nov 08, 2022 Page
Active Published
90 The Condition of Being Addressable 2022-06-18 2022-09-04
Icala 06.20.220449 edit
12:07pm Aug 04, 2022 Page
Active Published
125 Aquelarre no binario / Non-binary coven 2022-06-08 2023-01-15
View of ICA LA courtyard mural by Ad Minoliti featuring four vertical panels, each filled with abstracted representations of figures in vivid reds, yellows, oranges, purples, and pinks.
9:13pm Jan 19, 2023 Page
Active Published
87 Jamal Cyrus: The End of My Beginning 2022-02-05 2022-05-29
Installation view, "Jamal Cyrus: The End of My Beginning," Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, February 5–May 29, 2022. Photo: Jeff McLane/ICA LA
12:18pm Jul 06, 2022 Page
Active Published
88 Sara Cwynar: Apple Red/Grass Green/Sky Blue 2022-02-05 2022-05-29
Sara Cwynar, "Glass Life," 2021. Six channel 2K video with sound, TRT: 19:02 min. Courtesy the artist; The Approach, London; Cooper Cole, Toronto; and Foxy Production, New York. Installation view, "Sara Cwynar: Apple Red/Grass Green/Sky Blue," Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, February 5–May 29, 2022. Photo: Jeff McLane/ICA LA
5:53pm May 03, 2022 Page
Active Published
83 Witch Hunt 2021-10-10 2022-01-09
Installation view of Witch Hunt, Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, October 10–January 9, 2022.
11:51am Apr 01, 2022 Page
Active Published
89 Minerva Cuevas: Female Earth 2021-10-10 2022-06-02
Icala witchhunt 2021 10 12 077 (1)
10:47am May 24, 2022 Page
Active Published
81 Queer Communion:
Ron Athey
2021-06-19 2021-09-05
Icala 2021 07 02 009
10:15pm Sep 01, 2021 Page
Active Published
82 Kenneth Tam:
Silent Spikes
2021-06-19 2021-09-05
Icala 2021 07 02 002
11:12am Aug 03, 2021 Page
Active Published
80 The Inconstant World 2021-03-06 2021-05-30
Tiw horvitz
9:42am Dec 22, 2021 Page
Active Published
79 Online Screening: Stanya Kahn’s No Go Backs and Earlier Works 2020-12-09 2021-01-10
Sk1b
4:13pm Jan 22, 2021 Page
Active Published
77 Harold Mendez:
Let us gather in a flourishing way
2020-09-26 2021-01-10
Icala 2020 10 05 014
3:17pm Feb 07, 2022 Page
Active Published
78 Stanya Kahn:
No Go Backs
2020-09-26 2021-01-10
Sk1a
6:46pm Dec 04, 2020 Page
Active Published
69 Ree Morton:
The Plant That Heals May Also Poison
2020-02-16 2020-07-19
Icala 2020 03 06 025
1:06pm Jan 18, 2022 Page
Active Published
74 Ann Greene Kelly 2020-02-16 2020-07-19
Icala 2020 03 06 001
1:06pm Jan 18, 2022 Page
Active Published
75 Agency of Assets x El Clasificado 2019-12-06 2020-01-26
Meztly cover
4:32pm Dec 02, 2021 Page
Active Published
73 CURRENT:LA FOOD Public Art Triennial 2019 2019-10-05 2019-11-03
CURRENT:LA FOOD
11:04am Oct 07, 2019 Page
Active Published
67 No Wrong Holes:
Thirty Years of Nayland Blake
2019-09-29 2020-01-26
Ica blake 5
3:57pm Oct 21, 2020 Page
Active Published
72 Sadie Barnette:
The New Eagle Creek Saloon
2019-09-29 2020-01-26
Ica barnette 7
5:36pm Aug 26, 2020 Page
Active Published
70 Hervé Tullet: Ideal Exhibition 2019-07-14 2019-09-08
Icala96194
11:32am Dec 07, 2021 Page
Active Published
71 Worldwide Orphans: Element of Play® 2019-07-14 2019-09-08
Worldwide Orphans: Element of Play® program in Vietnam.
12:42pm Dec 07, 2021 Page
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