history as hypnosis V01

history as hypnosis examines the unstable relationship between historical record, collective memory, and mediated images.

"The three-channel installation of Nguyen’s first live-action film, history as hypnosis (2023), alongside a related print and video sculpture. Drawing on the cinematic tropes of science-fiction, Western, and road films, history as hypnosis surfaces themes of alienation and assimilation and centers characters and narratives that, as the artist observes, are often “omitted from history and the screen.”

The film follows three women programmed by artificial intelligence whose memories from their previous existence have been erased. In search of a man named “X,” the trio venture from the California desert to gas stations, gritty strip malls, starchitect-designed buildings, and underground enclaves. Interweaving subtle references to past geopolitical violence associated with the US war in Vietnam, the works on view offer a complex take on how memory, consciousness, and historical narratives merge into a shared cultural imaginary, which is produced, and reinforced, through cinematic images."

-Selby Nimrod, Assistant Curator, MIT List