Elysium vô bờ / Elysium without Shores (2022–2024)
Single-channel video
10 min 08 sec
Elysium Without Shores constructs a speculative mythology around the Mekong River. Narrated by Cửu Long (Nine Dragon), the youngest child of Mother Mekong, the film imagines Elysium as a sacred island where múa bóng rỗi dancers undergo trials that may transform them into eternal beings. Moving between river mythology, archaeological traces of ancient exchange, hydroelectric infrastructure and cyborg bodies, the film folds different histories and belief systems into an unstable cosmology. Human attempts to master the river coexist with desires for transcendence and immortality, blurring the boundaries between human and divine, nature and machine, life and afterlife.
Produced by blankNegatives studio Commissioned by Leeum Museum of Art
Video excerpt, 1 min 37 sec
Video excerpt and film stills courtesy the artist.