rel.pham

TEMPLE is now on view at @ngvmelbourne as part of Melbourne Now 2023. After working on this for about a year, it's great to be able to share it. A surreal experience to manifest an idea that has been in the back of my mind for many years and to see it find it's place and time. To be included amongst the other artists and designers is an honour. A huge thanks to all those involved; Ewan Mceoin @ewanmceoin Katharina Prugger @katprugger, Amita Kirplani , Haima Marriott @haimamarriott Daniel Curtis @sabicu_ , and Shaun Connor. As well as the many install technicians and staff that make these things possible. So many hands went into construction, troubleshooting and programming - only seems fitting that technology pushed back and was a force unto itself to be wrangled.

It's done! Been working on this for a minute. Please visit 4a.com.au to watch in full with the sound blasting! 💥 🔮Commissioned for 4A Digital, this digital animation entices viewers to glide into a neon-glistening and sonically-throbbing virtual palace, where a bounce-back of mysterious forces awaits. Rel offers us a primer for Electric Dirge: “A thousand blades slice through the air, their cacophony reverberating around the room, bouncing off walls and colliding with themselves. The room, thick with heat, vibrates as messages gleam back and forth through a colossal undersea of cables, ricocheting off satellites that float in a vacuum. A glacial shelf collapses into the sea. $DogeCoin is trending. The world’s largest bonfire – an incomprehensibly large inferno; billions of people circling around it endlessly; NASCAR at the Kaaba, each one going a different direction. The call to prayer plays while children learn a new dance. The border conflict between China and India intensifies. You have been committing microaggressions your whole life without knowing. You drag your finger across the glass. The exploration of virtual space is not unlike walking through an infinite hallway. A procession through endless messages that confirm, contradict, and confound each other. Any stop offers only temporary respite as you gesture towards the portal further down the rabbit hole – ‘If you liked that, then you’ll love this’. Digital pilgrimage is laden with intensity, absurdity, and banality. This is Electric Dirge. A reverie mourning itself as it celebrates its own rebirth. All occurring simultaneously. Forever twirling towards freedom.” Visit 4A Digital @4a_aus to access Electric Dirge in full.boommega Known for his strong use of electric, vibrant colours and a penchant for surrealism, Rel Pham explores old and new myths, traditions, fables and rituals, resulting in surreal portraits or paintings of monoliths, computers and objects that look like alien still-lifes. Curated by 2021 Curatorial Assistant Marco Rinaldi @marco.com.au supported by the Sally Breen Family Foundation. #4acentre #4adigital #electricdirge #dogecoin #relpham #animation

It's starting to feel like a Christmas

📹 Artist Spotlight: Rel Pham Talented multimedia artist Rel Pham explores the lines between connection and disconnection with his captivating installation, HYPERTHREAD, now on display here at NCM. With this work Rel investigates the often intimate, yet surveilled, spaces of our digital lives, such as messages with loved ones. From being left on read (😑) to the eerie sense of being watched, Rel questions our sense of privacy and relationships in a tech-driven age. Experience HYPERTHREAD yourself at NCM, 375 Burwood Rd, Hawthorn. Rel Pham: HYPERTHEAD Open Wednesday–Sunday 10am–5pm Included with museum entry #NationalCommunicationMuseum #RelPham #HYPERTHREAD #DigitalConnections #ArtAndTech

Walking through streams of motorbikes to get across the street. Walking through writhing bodies to get across the dance floor. Piercing the membrane to find your place. (Excerpt from HYPERTHREAD, on view at the National Communication Museum in Hawthorn)

The National Communication Museum @ncm_melbourne launches this weekend to the public! I was lucky enough to have NCM approach me to commission a new artwork for their building. Huge thanks to Emily Simmons, Jemimah Widdicombe, Rob Graham and Daniel Joe Curtis for their assistance and encouragement. Beyond this, there's an entire history and world to explore within that building. The team has done an amazing job creating a museum that navigates the history of telecommunications as well as the cultural phenomenon they create. I will be giving a talk on the 22nd of September as well regarding the work if you are interested. -- HYPERTHREAD explores the hidden infrastructure that makes our digital connections feel seamless. It seems impossible to comprehend that a key press from your keyboard sends a signal that travels through the sea, into space and back down again to the smartphone in the pocket of your friend, colleague, lover, boss, or internet forum nemesis. In 2006, US Senator Ted Stevens used the term 'a series of tubes' to describe the internet when opposing network neutrality (the idea that internet service providers should not charge companies for faster speeds). This term was ridiculed as an outdated and incorrect metaphor for the internet. 'Red thread of fate' is a belief from Chinese mythology that two destined lovers are forever connected by a red thread that runs from the finger of one to another. This explanation of love is about as apt as describing the internet as 'a series of tubes.' As the internet serves as a conduit through which almost any message can be sent, HYPERTHREAD tells the story of these messages sent and received. Whether we think of the internet as a series of tubes or as a network of red threads that connect us all.

Some WIP stills from the LNY2024 project with @boxhillcentral @theglenshopping and @bolster.group

A PORTAL TO WHERE? May 4 – 5, Side Gate Zaiba Khan, Stephanie Hicks, Rel Pham, Matilda Davis, Louise Meuwissen, Lichen Kelp, Jess Tan, Isabelle Rudolph, Crawlers, Alexandra Nemarić. Curated by Jess Cockerill and Anna Dunnill. The screen glows black and bright. Type the secret password. Motes of colour surface from pixellated depths. And engulf you in their tides. Saturday 4 May, 5 - 8pm: opening party, BYO drinks Sunday 5 May, 12 - 5pm: exhibition open 2pm Sunday: Portals to Web Chaos – a workshop with Crawlers (Jess Cockerill & Lyndsey Walsh). DM @side_gate for address and to register for the workshop. Access info: Side Gate has two individual steps up to the front door, small single steps between some rooms, and a step outside to access the rear courtyard. We sincerely apologise that Side Gate is not wheelchair accessible, and are working to solve this issue. Please get in touch to discuss any other access requirements. Image: Rel Pham, 2024, animation still.

'Liable' shows tomorrow and Wednesday at the NGV @ngvmelbourne Sunday March 17th 3pm - 4pm Wednesday March 20th 1pm - 2pm Very lucky to be able to collaborate with such an amazing team and create the visual world within which Amrita's 'Liable' exists. Project Credits:  Choreographer/Performer: Amrita Hepi @amrita_moves Creative Producer: Zoe Theodore @zrtheodore Music Composition: Daniel Jenatsch @timecrisis_ii Rehearsal Director/Performer: Sarah Aitken @snaiken Moving Image: Rel Pham @rel.pham Performer: Jonnine Standish @jonninestandish Dramaturg: Mish Grigor @mishgrigor.pdf Wardrobe, costume and dressing: D&K - Ricarda Bigolin & Chantal Kirby @ricardabg Photo by Michael Pham: @phamstapham

🐉Lunar New Year festivities continuing! If you've sussed these dragons up at @boxhillcentral and @theglenshopping for the dragon art journey - it was a real fun experience designing these dragons, even better seeing kids and families take photos with them. There's lion and dragon dances happening there on the weekend as well! Go check them out! Running until February 18! #boxhillcentral #lunarnewyear #yearofthedragon #theglenshopping

It's the loooooong loong ! 🐲 The sprawling dragon for the lightbox displays at @theglenshopping - this was a fun challenge to get this one together. If you're around go check out the artworks in centre as part of the dragon art journey by myself as well as artists: @creaturecreaturestudios @ying_wang_ @bunditpuangthong and @tudokb , until February 18. Part of the Lunar New Year displays for @theglenshopping and @boxhillcentral #boxhillcentral #theglenshopping #lunarnewyear #yearofthedragon

❤️‍🔥🐲 The festivities continue! 🐲❤️‍🔥 Here's the animation I made for @theglenshopping and @boxhillcentral for the year of the dragon! Hanging up on the big screen spreading it's luck around! Big thanks to all involved, big highlight seeing kids staring at the artwork #boxhillcentral #theglenshopping #lunarnewyear #yearofthedragon