Conversations | What Comes After Sinofuturism? Living Between Real and Virtual in Greater China
Art Basel Hong Kong 2023, March 25
What comes after Sinofuturism, a term that has been used to define—and fetishize—the enmeshment of real and virtual in the 21st century Chinese world? In an era described as post-real, post-truth, post-digital, and post-human, artists and curators working across Greater China reflect on the conceptual pathways they are charting beyond Sinofuturism to navigate the entanglements of analogue and digital cultures.
‣ Nadim Abbas, artist, Antenna Space and VITRINE
‣ Shuang Li, artist, Peres Projects
‣ Jianru Wu, Independent curator and critic
‣ Freya Chou, Co-Curator, 13th Taipei Biennial
‣ Moderator: Billy Tang, Executive Director/Curator, Para Site
‣ Nadim Abbas examines the mercurial properties of images and their ambiguous relationship to reality. This has culminated in the construction of complex set pieces, where objects disappear into their own semblance and bodies succumb to the seduction of space. He is currently a research fellow at the Academy of Visual Arts, HKBU, exploring aesthetic traditions of the miniature in relation to modern-day techniques of miniaturization, as exemplified by global advancements in digital information technologies. His most recent project, now showing in Hong Kong: vntrlq.com
‣ Shuang Li’s work is situated within globalized communication systems and inspired by various localities and uneven information flows. Encompassing performance, interactive websites, sculpture and moving image installations, her practice studies various mediums that compose the contemporary digital landscape. Crucial to this is the interaction between the medium and its users as well as amongst the mediums themselves. Recent solo exhibitions include Peres Projects, Berlin; Cherish, Geneva, and Callie’s, Berlin. Her many institutional group exhibitions include the Berlinische Galerie, Berlin; Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong; the Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, Geneva; and the 59th Biennale di Venezia. In April 2023, her work will be screened at Tate Modern’s Starr Cinema in London.
‣ Jianru Wu is a writer and curator, she joined the Times Museum and founded the Media Lab in 2019, which is designed within the framework of institutional critique to respond to the current ossification of art institutions. As a writer and editor, she edited books, and publications for artists and museums. She worked as the senior editor of LEAP magazine from 2012 to 2017; Her writings have appeared in Artforum China, Ocula, The Art Newspaper China, among others. Jianru Wu received Asian Cultural Council fellowship in 2017, and Jane Farver Arts Foundation curator fellowship at International Studio & Curatorial Program (New York) in 2019. She has been a member of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Advisory Board since 2020.
‣ Freya Chou is a curator based across Hong Kong and Taipei. She is a member of the 58th Carnegie International’s Curatorial Council and Guest Curator of Hong Kong’s participation in the 59th Venice Biennale. From 2015 – 2019, she worked at Para Site as the institution’s first Education and Public Programs Curator. She was recently appointed as Co-Curator of the 13th Taipei Biennial.
‣ Billy Tang is Executive Director and Curator at Para Site, Hong Kong. He was previously the Senior Curator at Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, and Curatorial Director at Magician Space in Beijing. Writing contributions have appeared in ArtAsiaPacific, Leap, Spike Magazine, Terremoto, and Mousse Magazine.
This talk will be conducted in English, with simultaneous interpretation available in Cantonese and Mandarin.
The Art Basel Hong Kong 2023 Conversations program is curated by Stephanie Bailey.
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