Queer Pasts and Futures: Experimental Films with Việt Lê and TT Takemoto

Việt Lê and TT Takemoto share some of their short experimental films and discuss their work as it relates to the past and future. Both artists are known for experimental cinematic work that often employs music, dance, fantasy, and humor as means of expanding queer perspectives on archives, politics, and historical trauma. Moderated by Megan Merritt, project manager for contemporary art and co-curator of the special exhibition Seeing Gender. 

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

TT Takemoto is an artist, filmmaker, and scholar exploring hidden dimensions of same–sex intimacy and trauma in Asian and Asian American history. Takemoto conjures up immersive queer historical fantasies by manipulating found footage and engaging with tactile dimensions of the archive. Takemoto is dean of Humanities and Sciences at California College of the Arts and a board member of the Queer Cultural Center. 

Việt Lê is an artist, writer, and curator whose work centers on spiritualities, healing, and sexualities with a focus on Southeast Asia and its diasporas. He is the author of “Return Engagements: Contemporary Art’s Traumas of Modernity and History in Sài Gòn and Phnom Penh” (2021). Lê has presented his work at the Shanghai Biennale, Bangkok Art & Cultural Center, Rio Gay Film Festival, and the Smithsonian, among other venues. He is associate professor of history of art and visual culture and visual and critical studies at California College of the Arts and is a board member of the Queer Cultural Center and Art Matters.  

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