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Coronaviewing, Part 5: The Show Must Go On
By The Editors
It has been more than half a year since Covid-19 erupted, and some parts of the world are slowly returning to normal (or a new normal), while others are contending with a second or third wave. For those of us still home bound, luckily there is much to do online. For the latest Coronaviewing blog, editors at AAP has surveyed the wide range of digital offerings available and selected a group of virtual exhibitions, talks, and workshops for you to enjoy at leisure.
Asia Week New York 2020: “SUMMER REDUX”
To make up for the cancelled Asia Week New York, which was slated to occur in March, galleries have come together for SUMMER REDUX, a virtual platform that showcases the spectacular artworks of Asia and its numerous cultures. The event, which runs until July 31, also hosted a panel discussion on July 24, “Seen and Unseen,” featuring curators of three museum exhibitions that were postponed due to the pandemic, namely New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Middlebury College Museum of Art, and Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum.
“They Do Not Understand Each Other”
“My Body Holds Its Shape”
Tai Kwun’s spacious, white-walled gallery spaces in Hong Kong are captured in the virtual renditions of two group exhibitions “They Do Not Understand Each Other” and “My Body Holds Its Shape.” In the former, presented by Osaka’s National Museum of Art and Singapore Art Museum, installation videos allow visitors to revel in the way Wit Pimkanchanapong’s Not Quite A Total Eclipse (2009) throws shadows onto the surrounding walls from the comfort of their homes; while the latter show’s click-and-drag feature enable viewers to get up close and personal with the scattered light bulbs and candles of Jason Dodge’s Darkness falls on the house at the end of Mang Kung Wo Road, in Hong Kong (2020).
Chen Min and Zhang Yehong: “Play societies: wolves, lynx and ants”
Winners of the 2019 Hyundai Blue Prize, Chen Min and Zhang Yehong, present their latest exhibition, “Play societies: wolves, lynx and ants,” at Hyundai Motorstudio Beijing, envisioning media technology and play as communicative mediums in society. In the three sections of the show, titled “Steppenwolf on the Info Superhighway,” “The Lynx Refuge Island,” and “The Ants Arcade,” the artists explore social intelligence as well as contemplate a new “pan-intelligence” that combines human, animal, and artificial modes of thinking and learning.
“Disruptive Matter”
K11 Art Foundation’s Hong Kong group exhibition “Disruptive Matter” explores technology and innovation from the design, engineering, art, and industrial fields in the global shift towards renewable energy. In this virtual visit, science fair-like booths introduce solutions to marine pollution, industrial waste, and fast fashion, brought forth by the likes of fashion designer Zhang Na, scientist Cesar Jung-Harada, artist duo Revital Cohen and Tuur van Balen, and environmental nonprofit group The Ocean Cleanup.
“The Allure of Matter: Allure from Home”
The Smart Museum and Wrightwood 659 in Chicago explore the use of everyday materials in Chinese art in the reconfiguration of the 2019–20 blockbuster exhibition “The Allure of Matter: Material Art from China,” featuring artists Ai Weiwei, Cai Guo-Qiang, Chen Zhen, and Gu Wenda, among others. Through video tours, cello accompaniments, and community art projects, “Allure from Home” extends the works beyond their original material mediums to reach viewers isolating at home.
Open House Melbourne Presents: A Virtual Tour of Collingwood Yards
Melbourne’s new arts space, Collingwood Yards, opens its doors to the virtual public. The village-arts hub hybrid is home to 27 tenants and 15 independent artists, including West Space Gallery, contemporary music organization Music Victoria, artists-run Bus Projects, and sound art focused Liquid Architecture. A digital tour of the creative community is now available, until August 31, as part of Open House Melbourne’s 2020 program.
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“M+ Online Hackathon — City of Objects”
In lieu of its third hackathon, Hong Kong’s M+ has organized an online design workshop in collaboration with designers and educators Chun-wo Pat and Christian Marc Schmidt. The workshop invites participants to engage with the visualization, production, and reimagining of objects through creative learning-based projects, working with materials ranging from photographs to data sets. Those interested can sign up as an individual or as a team of four, and the classes will run from August 1–15.
How Did You Two Meet?
In this ongoing talk series, curators at M+ pair seemingly unrelated works of art, design, and architectural objects from the M+ Collections in their discussions. The result is a surprising revelation of cross-disciplinary connections. In one session, curators Ikko Yokoyama and Shirley Surya each selected some of the oldest and newest items from the museum collection, featuring a kimono, Alvaro Catalán de Ocón’s PET Lamp Project (2012– ), drawings by architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and Bas Princen’s Hinterland—Straits (Tekong Reclamation) (2015).
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MMCA Korea Digital Archive of Lectures
South Korea’s National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) invites the public to delve into its digital archive of lectures and panels. The latest release is a 2019 lecture performance by artist and writer Tyler Coburn, who presents the writing that resulted from his twenty-four hours of “solitary confinement” at a wellness facility outside of Seoul. Other recently published programs include a two-part discussion with writer and curator David Teh, and an artist talk with Canadian filmmaker Dominic Gagnon.
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