After years of renovation and expansion, the New Museum in New York City reopens with the group exhibition New Humans: Memories of the Future, featuring an important work by Christopher Kulendran Thomas: The Finesse (2022), from the Collection Hartwig Art Foundation (promised gift to the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed / Rijkscollectie).
The Finesse is a hybrid art film and video installation created in collaboration with Annika Kuhlmann. The work explores the lost legacies of the Tamil independence movement —the long-standing political and militant aspiration of Sri Lankan Tamils to establish an independent sovereign state — which ultimately led to the Sri Lankan Civil War (1983-2009). Merging archival footage with AI-generated avatars, the piece blurs the line between historical research and speculative science fiction, conjuring alternative realities.
The installation offers new perspectives on art, architecture, and technology—fields whose development was interrupted by the defeat of the Tamil de facto state of Eelam. Large parts of the film were shot in Sri Lanka. By combining algorithmic processes with documentary footage from Sri Lanka and speculative narration, the work critically examines traditional historical narratives and cultural identities within the context of technological innovation.
The video installation is presented at the New Museum in partnership with Hartwig Art Foundation.
Christopher Kulendran Thomas, The Finesse (2022/23), in collaboration with Annika Kuhlmann; Installation view: Christopher Kulendran Thomas: FOR REAL, Kunsthalle Zürich, 2023. Photo: Andrea Rossetti. Courtesy of the artist and Kunsthalle Zürich.