“ON THE NEON HORIZON“

Astria Suparak
Video, 8:27 minutes (with English text); Chinese subtitled version available
2023
Commissioned by BlackFlash Expanded
http://bit.ly/ontheneonhorizon

Description
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Exhibition & Screenings
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From the series, Asian futures, without Asians

On the Neon Horizon is a short video essay that takes one of the world-building tics of white science fiction — gratuitous signage in Asian languages — to consider its utopian potential and dystopian applications.

Fantastical mise-en-scène, breathtaking B-roll footage, and special effects deliriums from four decades of mainstream sci-fi by white American, Australian, Canadian, European, and New Zealander filmmakers craft an insidiously Asian futurescape — sometimes achieved by simply shooting in a present-day Asian country or a North American Chinatown. In aggregate, these productions inextricably tether non-white cultures to criminality and contagion, portraying Asian cultures and people as existential threats to white Western ideas of freedom. Prominent signage in Chinese and Japanese (stand-ins for some of America and Canada’s oldest scapegoats), as well as in Arabic, Hindi, Korean, and Thai, from more than a dozen futuristic movies and TV shows, provide copious examples of the racism embedded in and promoted by Hollywood.

On the Neon Horizon was commissioned by BlackFlash Expanded, with sound design by Paige Emery. This video is part of Astria Suparak’s ongoing research project, Asian Futures, which includes a taxonomy of how white mainstream filmmakers depict future worlds that are Asian-inflected, while simultaneously sidelining or disappearing the progenitors of those diverse Asian cultures.

Finite Horizon is an installation created to frame On the Neon Horizon.

On-the-Neon-Horizon_still_Cultures-reduced-to-wallpaper-(lanterns)_Astria-Suparak_1MB — Still from “On the Neon Horizon,” Astria Suparak, 2023, video, 8:27 minutes. Commissioned by BlackFlash Expanded.

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*On the Neon Horizon* embedded within the installation *Finite Horizon*, Astria Suparak, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China, 2023.

EXHIBITION & SCREENINGS

Journey’s End Refugee Services, organized by Squeaky Wheel, Buffalo, NY

Echolocations: Films in translation and transcription
Curated by Ekrem Serdar
October 17, 2023

Today Art Museum, Beijing, China

To Your Eternity: The 4th Future of Today Biennial
Curated by Xin Wang
July 23–October 15, 2023
Video exhibited as part of the installation Finite Horizon.

Kunsthalen Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark

Who Do You Think You Are?: CPH:DOX Inter:Active exhibition
Curated by Mark Atkin
March 13–24, 2024
Video exhibited as part of the installation Finite Horizon.