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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
    • Incognito
    • Patron Groups
    • Institutional Support
    • Artist Edition Series
    • Sustainability
    • Corporate
  • Donate
Yellow Pages
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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
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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
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
Active Published
68 Brognon-Rollin:
Maybe Some Of Us Will Change This
2019-03-17 2019-06-30
Img 8214 3
2:28pm Nov 17, 2020 Page
Active Published
63 Patty Chang:
The Wandering Lake, 2009–2017
2019-03-17 2019-08-04
Ica chang 24
3:05pm Oct 01, 2019 Page
Active Published
19 Maryam Jafri:
I Drank the Kool-Aid But I Didn’t Inhale
2019-02-10 2019-06-30
Icla2.12.19 60
4:45pm Apr 09, 2020 Page
Active Published
64 Lucas Blalock:
An Enormous Oar
2019-02-10 2019-08-04
Icla2.12.19 95
4:52pm Apr 09, 2020 Page
Active Published
62 Adrian Piper
What It’s Like, What It Is #3
2018-10-07 2019-01-06
1991 what its like 3
12:12pm Jul 16, 2019 Page
Active Published
61 Agency of Assets:
Reality Augmented
2018-09-30 2019-01-06
Agencyofassets
1:44pm Apr 07, 2020 Page
Active Published
4 B. Wurtz:
This Has No Name
2018-09-30 2019-02-17
Wurtz install 05
4:54pm Apr 09, 2020 Page
Active Published
6 Nina Chanel Abney:
Royal Flush
2018-09-23 2019-01-20
Abney install 02
11:58am Jul 16, 2019 Page
Active Published
2 This Brush for Hire: Norm Laich & Many Other Artists 2018-06-03 2018-09-02
Brush for hire 14
9:02am Dec 06, 2021 Page
Active Published
20 sisters and brothers 2018-04-22 2018-06-17
Brothers & sisters 02
11:54am Jul 16, 2019 Page
Active Published
18 rafa esparza: de la Calle 2018-04-22 2018-07-15
Rafa esparza install 02
11:46am Aug 03, 2021 Page
Active Published
9 Grandfather: A Pioneer Like Us (1974) 2018-02-04 2018-04-22
Szeeman install 10
11:49am Jul 16, 2019 Page
Active Published
8 Skip Arnold: Truffle Hunt 2018-01-28 2018-04-08
Arnold install 11
11:45am Jul 16, 2019 Page
Active Published
1 Martín Ramírez: His Life in Pictures, Another Interpretation 2017-09-09 2017-12-31
Ramirez install 02
6:55pm Apr 02, 2020 Page
Active Published
7 Abigail DeVille: No Space Hidden (Shelter) 2017-09-09 2018-01-14
Deville install 02
11:37am Jul 16, 2019 Page
Active Published
5 Sarah Cain: Now I’m going to tell you everything 2017-09-09 2018-03-11
Ica cain 2017 09 06 001
1:19pm Nov 16, 2021 Page
Active Published
11 Moshe Ninio:
Rainbow:Rug
2015-01-17 2015-04-02
1
11:39pm Sep 22, 2017 Page
Active Published
10 Brian Weil, 1979–1995:
Being in the World
2015-01-17 2015-04-18
1
11:40pm Sep 22, 2017 Page
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