Kunsthalle Bern presents a new solo exhibition by Berlin-based artist Sung Tieu (*1987 in Hai Duong, Vietnam), showcasing insight into her in-depth research-based artistic practice. Tieu uses multifaceted media such as sculpture, installation, drawing, text, video, and sound to examine bureaucratic, archival, and institutional structures. In exhibition settings, Tieu’s practice often takes on the appearance of a minimalist intervention in the form of a precise aesthetic. For the exhibition at Kunsthalle Bern, Tieu will show a new site-specific work focusing on the colonial ties between Switzerland and Vietnam through the cultivation and trade of caoutchouc. The artwork also reflects the role of the Swiss physician and bacteriologist Alexandre Émile Jean Yersin, who worked in Southeast Asia from 1890 onwards and is celebrated as the discoverer of the pathogen resulting in the plague. By connecting various historical layers, the artist unearths racist structures and poses questions regarding institutional violence. Tieu highlights the far-reaching consequences of colonial rule and demonstrates how the past–all too often suppressed and forgotten–nevertheless shapes our present. It is a confrontation that creates space for renegotiation.