"Imagine the formal presentation of poetry as evidence in a future war crimes tribunal. Imagine ninteen sheets of paper floating forever in the wind…." (Amar Kanwar)

The Torn First Pages is a 19-channel video installation in three parts. Presented in honour of the Burmese bookshop owner Ko Than Htay, who was imprisoned for "tearing out the first page" of all books and journals he sold that contained ideological slogans from the military regime. The Torn First Pages is also an ode to the thousands engaged in the struggle for democracy in Burma. The films directly, elliptically and metaphorically encounter resistance and the struggle for a democratic society, contemporary forms of non-violence, political exile, memory and dislocation. The Torn First Pages has been co-commissioned by Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary and Public Press, New Delhi, and will be shown at the T-B A21 exhibition space in Vienna in addition to works on Tibet from November 19, 2008 onwards. > >