Gender Revealed
解除封印
20 Jan - 28 Apr 2024
480.0 Space, Hong Kong
Have you ever considered that in our daily lives, our selfies, clothing choices, living spaces such as homes, sports venues, supermarkets, as well as the division of household chores, product packaging, and popular culture, are all actually related to gender? Starting from clothing, food, housing, and transportation, 480.0 and the artists aim to reveal the hidden or often overlooked aspects of gender and power dynamics in our everyday lives. Oh, gender, hiding your mysterious power, reveal your true strength before me!
不知道你有否想過，日常生活中，我們的自拍照、衣著，到生活空間如家居、運動場所、超級市場，再到家務分工、商品包裝、流行文化等，其實都與性別有關？從衣、食、住、行出發，480.0與藝術家們重現我們日常被隱藏或者假裝看不到的性別角度和權力關係。隱藏著神秘力量的性別啊，在我面前顯示你真正的力量吧！
不知道你有否想過，日常生活中，我們的自拍照、衣著，到生活空間如家居、運動場所、超級市場，再到家務分工、商品包裝、流行文化等，其實都與性別有關？從衣、食、住、行出發，480.0與藝術家們重現我們日常被隱藏或者假裝看不到的性別角度和權力關係。隱藏著神秘力量的性別啊，在我面前顯示你真正的力量吧！
(In)directions: Queerness in Chinese Contemporary Photography
18 Nov 2023 - 31 Jan 2024
Eli Klein Gallery, New York, USA
Artists:
Mengwen Cao, Chi Peng, Whiskey Chow, Alec Dai, Fang Daqi, Tommy Kha, Amiko Li, Liao Jiaming, Pixy Liao, Lin Zhipeng (No.223), Ren Light Pan, Beatrix Pang, Kanthy Peng, Ren Hang, Shen Wei, Leonard Suryajaya, Tseng Kwong Chi, Xu Guanyu, Yang Bowei, Zhang Zhidong, William Zou
Eli Klein Gallery is honored to present “(In)directions: Queerness in Chinese Contemporary Photography” a group exhibition of 21 artists who see queerness as a possibility, embracing the imaginative even when the status quo might otherwise be limiting. The title acknowledges that the means through which each artist expresses this notion takes a variety of modes in the photographic medium, at times boldly and directly celebrating the beauty of queer bodies and at other times obliquely gesturing, winking, or suggesting that another reality is at play. This range of photographic expressions of queerness is similar to common understandings of discursive approaches in Chinese culture, from the artfully indirect to the abundantly explicit. The show brings together the present and future, a spectrum of genders and sexualities, questions and expressions of identities and beliefs, assertions about kinship and belonging, and complications and affirmations about cultural sensibilities into a critical conversation facilitated by photographic images that document, celebrate, complicate, invite, expose, question, and destabilize.
With a diverse group of artists showcasing a broad reach of works in the exhibition, we wish to entice our viewers to “queer” any one of the following terms: Queerness, Chinese, Contemporary, and Photography -
What is queer photography?
What is Chinese queerness?
What would a queered contemporary look like?
With works that embody their consciousness and explore the journey of self-discovery, Chi Peng, Mengwen Cao, and Leonard Suryajaya invite the audience to peer into the metamorphosis of fluid identities. William Zou, Xu Guanyu, and Tommy Kha, on the other hand, unveil pockets of belonging and becoming by capturing fragmented and layered moments within spatial and temporal contexts, while Tseng Kwong Chi explores the playful juxtaposition of truth, fiction, and identity through his persona of a Chinese "Ambiguous Ambassador” merged with the natural landscape to queer the boundaries between self and environment.
The body is likewise explored as a site of performance (and performativity), as works by Whiskey Chow and Pixy Liao investigate, by challenging traditional gender norms and negotiating with art history in the context of media and sexual expression. Lin Zhipeng (No.223) and Shen Wei also capture the diversified nature of desire and memory through intimate portrayals of the body. The variety of bodies depicted reminds us that queerness is lived, inhabited, created, and celebrated by queer people, that bodies inspire wonder and challenge limiting regimes of the normal.
Meanwhile, Zhang Zhidong and Amiko Li evoke vivid sensations in their work to illustrate the liminal spaces of intimacy and construct rich narratives for the overlooked, eroticized, or politicized. The works of Kanthy Peng and Ren Light Pan too, provide a sensual glimpse into queerness in all its contradiction - tender, yet tense; concealed, yet revealing.
Queerness resists definition. It embraces associations and overpasses boundaries. It reaches rather than posits; joins instead of announcing; seduces without a prerequisite RSVP. The unique queer experiences are documented and highlighted in the works of Yang Bowei, Fang Daqi and Beatrix Peng, giving form to personal, illustrative perspectives. Works by Ren Hang and Alec Dai present the intersection of queer and Asian-American identities as well as sexuality and beauty, challenging the traditional conservative artistic expression existing in contemporary Chinese culture. Liao Jiaming’s works also record the queer experience; his photobook recounts his personal thoughts and experience as a gay man through visual narratives and is tailored specifically for the exhibition.
Curated by Phil Zheng Cai and Douglas Ray at Eli Klein Gallery, this exhibition hopes to intrigue the audience to consider how a queered topographic approach could bend what appeared to be “Queerness in Chinese Contemporary Photography” into a mesh of “Queerness, Chinese, Contemporary, and Photography,” indirectionally.
The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog with an essay by Phil Zheng Cai and an essay by Douglas Ray. The exhibition catalog also features Tommy Kha’s interview with Ren Hang in 2016.
The Arcana Intelligent
萬試萬靈
11 - 29 Apr 2023
9/F, H Queen’s, Hong Kong
With the recent rapid advancements of Artificial Intelligence (AI), we are led to imagine a near future through its domination. Commissioned by Videotage and supported by Hong Kong Arts Development Council, The Arcana Intelligent (2023) concludes a 6-month research by artist Liao Jiaming. It creates an experience of “divination”, combining elements of various religion, meditation, occultism, and ritual, that employs AI algorithms developed from different eras. It is an attempt to subvert current relationships between human users and computational algorithms in most AI applications. The art of divination may not simply be interpreted by the omniscient, it provides access to the inquirer’s subconscious. AI becomes a conjugate of scientific and spiritual medium, and therefore positioned beyond the divine and secular.
*The meaning of “Arcana” comes from the terms “major arcana” and “minor arcana” in tarot card reading. Arcana is the mystery sought by the alchemists of the Middle Ages, and the principle of the world.
Special Events
Opening Reception & Performance – 11 April 2023 (Tue) 5–8pm
During the Opening Reception, artist Liao Jiaming will perform a special ritual to initiate the “arcana”. Following that, a card reading specialist will help your private session.
Artist Sharing – 29 April 2023 (Sat) 2–3pm
The project will end on 29 April 2023 with an Artist Talk by Liao Jiaming (2–3pm) to conclude his 6-month research on the topic of AI, commissioned by Videotage. During this event (2–5pm), a card reading specialist will be also be present to read your cards.
The talk will be facilitated in English.
近期人工智能（Artificial Intelligence，AI）急速發展，引領我們持著AI主導來想像未來快將來到。由錄影太奇Videotage委託和香港藝術發展局資助，《萬試萬靈》（2023年）是藝術家廖家明六個月的研究成果。作品創造了一種集合宗教、冥想、神秘主義和儀式等元素的「占卜」體驗。該作品綜合採用不同時代開發的AI算法，試圖顛覆目前大多數AI應用中人類使用者和電腦算法之間的關係。占卜的魅力也許不是可以得到全知者的提點，而是得以通往問卜者自身的潛意識。AI在此成為科學和精神媒介的結合體，因而也被置於神性和世俗之外。
*英文作品標題之「arcana」來自塔羅牌占卜中的「大秘儀 major arcana」和「小秘儀 minor arcana」。Arcana為中古世紀煉金術師所追尋的奧秘，天地萬物運行的道理。
開幕及表演 – 4月11日（二）下午5時至8時
開幕活動中，藝術家廖家明將以特別儀式啟動這一「聖物」。另外，占卜師會在場特意為你「解牌」。
藝術家分享 – 4月29日（六）下午2至3時
「後現代小傳」展覽結束當天，藝術家廖家明將於下午2至3時分享他在過去六個月中由錄影太奇委任以AI為主題的研究成果。屆時下午2至5時，現場也會有占卜師為你「解牌」。
藝術家分享將以英語進行。
*The meaning of “Arcana” comes from the terms “major arcana” and “minor arcana” in tarot card reading. Arcana is the mystery sought by the alchemists of the Middle Ages, and the principle of the world.
Special Events
Opening Reception & Performance – 11 April 2023 (Tue) 5–8pm
During the Opening Reception, artist Liao Jiaming will perform a special ritual to initiate the “arcana”. Following that, a card reading specialist will help your private session.
Artist Sharing – 29 April 2023 (Sat) 2–3pm
The project will end on 29 April 2023 with an Artist Talk by Liao Jiaming (2–3pm) to conclude his 6-month research on the topic of AI, commissioned by Videotage. During this event (2–5pm), a card reading specialist will be also be present to read your cards.
The talk will be facilitated in English.
近期人工智能（Artificial Intelligence，AI）急速發展，引領我們持著AI主導來想像未來快將來到。由錄影太奇Videotage委託和香港藝術發展局資助，《萬試萬靈》（2023年）是藝術家廖家明六個月的研究成果。作品創造了一種集合宗教、冥想、神秘主義和儀式等元素的「占卜」體驗。該作品綜合採用不同時代開發的AI算法，試圖顛覆目前大多數AI應用中人類使用者和電腦算法之間的關係。占卜的魅力也許不是可以得到全知者的提點，而是得以通往問卜者自身的潛意識。AI在此成為科學和精神媒介的結合體，因而也被置於神性和世俗之外。
*英文作品標題之「arcana」來自塔羅牌占卜中的「大秘儀 major arcana」和「小秘儀 minor arcana」。Arcana為中古世紀煉金術師所追尋的奧秘，天地萬物運行的道理。
開幕及表演 – 4月11日（二）下午5時至8時
開幕活動中，藝術家廖家明將以特別儀式啟動這一「聖物」。另外，占卜師會在場特意為你「解牌」。
藝術家分享 – 4月29日（六）下午2至3時
「後現代小傳」展覽結束當天，藝術家廖家明將於下午2至3時分享他在過去六個月中由錄影太奇委任以AI為主題的研究成果。屆時下午2至5時，現場也會有占卜師為你「解牌」。
藝術家分享將以英語進行。
Mythe Makers - Spectrosynthesis III
神話製造者——光．合作用 III
24 Dec 2022 - 10 Apr 2023
Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s first large-scale survey exhibition on LGBTQ+ perspectives, will be opening to the public on 24 December! 𝘔𝘺𝘵𝘩 𝘔𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴 draws inspiration from the core notion of “queer mythologies”, and furthermore delves into the “new traditions” of our times—of spectacle and celebrity, playful and/or transgressive—along with non-normative bodily practices and histories in artworks by contemporary artists. With over 100 artworks in all Tai Kwun Contemporary galleries, a third of which are loaned from the collection of Sunpride Foundation, 𝘔𝘺𝘵𝘩 𝘔𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴 expands on the 𝘚𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘺𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴 series from Taipei, Bangkok, and now Hong Kong.
Curators
Inti Guerrero and Chantal Wong
Co-presenter
Sunpride Foundation
Special Publication Collaboration
Queer Reads Library
香港首個以 LGBTQ+ 為題的大型展覽，「神話製造者——光．合作用 III」將於12月24日公眾開放。展覽從核心概念「酷兒神話」汲取靈感，同時也探討了我們這個時代的各種「新傳統」，包括奇觀和名人文化，嬉戲和/或越界，以及當代藝術作品中非規範的身體實踐和歷史。超過100件藝術品將進駐大館當代美術館的所有展廳，而其中三分之一的作品皆借自驕陽基金會的收藏。曾在台北和曼谷舉辦的「光．合作用」系列是次以「神話製造者」為題延伸至香港。
策展人
Inti Guerrero與黃子欣
合辦方
驕陽基金會
特別出版企劃
流動閱酷
Turn Beauty into Strength
美∞力
29 April - 3 May 2022
Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium, Taipei, Taiwan
A side event of Asia Pride Game 2022
2022亞洲同志運動會延伸展覽
We praise the moments of sports events when athletes actualise their full potential “the showcasing of strength and beauty”. Inspired by this concept, Coexist Exhibition named its exclusive exhibition project “Turn beauty into strength” to celebrate the launch of Pride Games.
“Beauty” is what most people think of art. But with “strength” joining force, “beauty” has the opportunity to enrich its essence with actual practice and labour in the course of “sports”. The exhibition is divided into three sub-themes - “Sports”, “Art Movement” and “Social Movement”. Through looking into different forms of “movement”, the exhibition invites creative workers who share interest in gender issues to show and present their works. On the basis of confined duration and space, the exhibition demonstrates the history of Pride Games and gender equality movement in Taiwan, as well as a creative marathon of contemporary artists using diverse mediums. By deconstructing and restructuring the concept of “turning beauty into strength”, we can have a glimpse of how two forces in friction and collision position themselves in the others’ viewing and self expression, and the dialogic relationship between individuals and the community.
Four participating artists, who are often involved in image processing, developed their personal relationship diagrams through the early, middle, and late stages of image processing. All kinds of relationships develop as phenomena through the effort of the involved one, it is a mixture of all dictions of close.
人們常用「力與美的表現」來形容運動賽事時，運動員爆發潛力的每個瞬間，「美∞力」的活動名稱延伸上述靈感，由多元成展 (Coexist Exhibition) 召集，是一個搭配同運會所舉辦的限時限地展演企劃。
「美」是多數人對於藝術的想像，然而「力」的加入，才有機會讓「美」在「運動」的過程中，增添更多實踐與勞動的內涵，活動現場分成「體育運動」、「藝術運動」與「社會運動」三個子題，希望藉由不同的「運動」型態，邀請對性別議題有興趣的創作者，於會展期間進行展示和發表，希望在限時限地的基礎上，展示同運會的歷史、台灣性別平等運動的歷史，以及不分媒材的當代藝術家接力創作，在解構並重組「美∞力」的觀點中，一瞥「美∞力」如何在摩擦與碰撞裡，面對他人觀看之於自我展現的處境，以及單獨個體之於社會群體之間的對話關係。
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