Thomas Tsang
Clearance: Piazza Fontane duTrevi, Graphite on Paper, 70cm x 100cm
During his residency at PROGRAM, Thomas will be preparing for a show pairing artists and architects entitled “Compartmented Visions, Openings into Another Space” at the Queens Museum in New York. In collaboration, he will also be working on a series of interventions in Berlin and Vienna this summer entitled Stadtpunte.
Stadtpunte is a continuation of work first addressed in a solo exhibition entitled “Rome in 50 Pieces: Department of Lost and Found,” an installation that was composed of an array of fragments: some drawing studies that question the traditional genre of vedute; a collection of objects or specimens that represent modern categories of knowledge, from measuring instruments to urban fragments; and still-photography of miniature figures acting out reminders of a person, place, or event.
As a point of study, these interventions investigate the evolution of an urban environment. Over time and development, the term “city” has become more ambiguous, just as the terms architecture, landscape, infrastructure and nature have become more vague, not only materially, but also psychologically and ideologically. Through these works, Thomas hopes to illuminate and instill the ingrained ideas that compose our definition and denotation of a city.
Born on the Island of Borneo in Sabah, Malaysia, 1974, Thomas Tsang studied at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-ARC) in Los Angeles and received his Bachelor of Architecture from Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York, 2000. In 2006 he was the recipient of the Marion O. and Maximilian E. Hoffman Rome Prize in Architecture, and spent a year in residency as a fellow at the American Academy in Rome. After his experience in Rome he began his architectural practice, which is now based out of New York City. He is also currently part of the design faculty of Architecture at the Cooper Union.
His investigation in the relation between a spatial inquiry of habitation and the construction of space is a constant work in progress. While in Italy, he investigated how the City of Rome has dealt with the cultural tension between the demand of engineered and natural landscapes. These inquiries lead to the "Twin Reflex" project, a lighting installation located on the exterior staircases in the garden compound of Accademia Di Romania, where the topographical differences between the building and garden was readjusted through the use of the bicycle safety lights.
His investigations and practices span beyond the conventional physical strata into the realm of human perceptions of nature, as revealed in his work "Zoo Romaa"; a set of drawing studies presenting the correlation between animals, their cultural references, and the significance they have in our modern consciousness.