“Singing in Unison, Part 8: Between Waves” is a dynamic contemporary art exhibition curated by Taiwanese curator and writer, Alice Nien-Pu Ko, and hosted by Brooklyn Rail Curatorial Projects. This captivating event is a profound exploration of contemporary images, stories, histories, and oceanic myths through the lens of artists from the Asia-Pacific region. It delves into the profound interconnectedness of islands and oceans linked by transformative technology. Opening on October 7, the exhibition will be on display at Industry City in Brooklyn through January 12, 2024.
“Between Waves” features artworks tracing currents between individual islands and groups of islanders carrying memories, historical trauma, reflection on co-existence, and new possibilities. Focusing on the Asia-Pacific region, the exhibition draws inspiration from its diverse histories, oceanic myths, stories, and the shared political traumas stemming from colonialism, the Cold War, militarism, warfare, and ecological challenges. In implementing the coexistence of traditional and modern thinking as responses to growing geopolitical tensions and conflicting social values, among other frictions, Between Waves explores layers of complexity through the works of seventeen artists, filmmakers, photographers, poets, musicians, and thinkers from Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, Borneo, Jeju Island, the Hawaiian Islands, Samoa, and New Zealand.
Curated by Alice Nien-Pu Ko, with support from the Taipei Cultural Center in New York, "Between Waves" showcases the unique voices of five distinguished female artists from Taiwan. En-Man Chang's Snail Paradise uses the African Land snail as an interface to explore regions that shared the experience of empire’s spreading and dragging while transforming one’s own cultural development. Yin-Ju Chen’s Liquidation Maps is a series of works that reexamines and investigates political genocides and massacres in recent Asian history from an occult angle, fusing astrology and astronomy. Salvation Mountain by Yu Liu unveils the hidden pages in gold mining history from the 19th century United States in the West to the rise and fall of the mining settlement in Jinguashi and Jiufen of Taiwan in 20th century. Yu-Hsin Su’s Particular Waters underscores the complexity of global semiconductor supply chains from the perspective of water and scale. Borom by Hong-Kai Wang tries to imagine, probe, and germinate other time-spaces where distance and difference can radically connect, inspired by the Korean-Japanese poet Kim Sijong’ s fugitive journey.
"Between Waves" marks the 8th installment of the ongoing "Singing in Unison" series, initiated by Brooklyn Rail Curatorial Projects since 2022. Rooted in the idea that cultural pluralism is akin to a symphony, where each player and instrument contributes to the harmonious whole, this series has resonated at various locations. This year, it is proudly co-presented by Industry City, a vibrant hub of experiences, eateries, events, and creativity.
Be a part of the symphony of cultural pluralism, art, and creativity, "Between Waves" promises an immersive and enlightening experience that transcends boundaries and connects hearts. Don't miss this chance to witness the vivid tapestry of the Asia-Pacific as well as Taiwan's artistic expression. For more information about the exhibition, please visit: https://singing-in-unison.brooklynrail.org/
《Singing in Unison, Part 8: Between Waves》
Industry City, 900 Third Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11232
Opening: October 7, 2023 6 – 8pm (RSVP)
On display Oct. 7 2023– Jan. 12 2024｜Free admission
Tuesdays – Sundays｜11am – 6pm
Curator
Alice, Nien-Pu Ko, who lives and works in both Taipei and New York, is a curator and writer on contemporary art, film, video, sound, and interdisciplinary projects. Her projects focus on how art creates a space of mediation, re-evaluating different histories, and contouring modes of perception through alternative aesthetic forms. At the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, she was the co-curator of the retrospective pieces Tony Oursler: Black Box (2021), the Pan Austro-Nesian Arts Festival (2021), and the curator of Tomb of the Soul, Temple, Machine and the Self (2018), which was nominated for the 17th Taishin Arts Award in Taiwan. She was also involved in the curatorial team touring SUNSHOWER: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia 1980s to Now, organized by Mori Art Museum in collaboration with Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts in 2019.
Previously, she worked with major art institutions and museums such as the Taiwan National Art Foundation, Taipei; Tokyo Wonder Site, Tokyo; Bengal Foundation, Dhaka; Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism / Architecture, Hong Kong; Hong-gah Museum, Taipei, among others. Her selected curatorial exhibitions include Flags, Transnational – Migrants and Outlaw Territories (Tokyo Wonder Site, 2016), Beyond the Borderline – Exiles from the Native Land (Howl Art Space, 2015), and Reverse Niche – Dialogue and Rebuilding at the City’s Edge (Hong-gah Museum, 2013).
Artists from Taiwan
En-Man Chang (b. Taitung, Taiwan) utilizes moving image, photography, installation, and creative forms of self-organizing and collective projects. Through her artistic practice, she explores how Indigenous people negotiate the ever-shifting socio-cultural terrains and conditions for survival in contemporary Taiwan, set against the backdrop of modernization and urbanization. Her work draws deeply from her own experiences and heritage as a person of mixed Indigenous descent.
Yin-Ju Chen (b. Taipei, Taiwan) is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice spans the mediums of video, photography, drawing, and installation. Her diverse body of work is deeply rooted in her fascination with the interplay between cosmic phenomena and human actions. Chen reinterprets important historical events through a series of intricate, map-like drawings, continuing her investigation of the concept of power and its role and function in society.
Yu Liu (b. Taiwan) employs a diverse range of artistic mediums including video, installation, and textual forms to craft a collection of documentary field studies. These studies delve into the intricate processes of human perception of the world, the evolving characteristics of spaces, and the continuous redefinition of entities within complex systems. Through this multifaceted approach, Liu offers a profound reflection on the evolution of human civilization and its ever-changing narrative.
Yu-Hsin Su (b. Taichung, Taiwan, lives in Berlin) is an artist who approaches ecology from the point of view of its close relationship with technology. Her artistic practice is strongly research oriented and involves field work where she investigates the political ecologies of water. Her work reflects on technology and the critical infrastructure in which the human and non-human converge.
Hong-Kai Wang (b. Huiwei, Taiwan) is an artist who works across exhibition making, performance, publication, and teaching. Wang’s research-based practice confronts the politics of lost knowledge in colonial and diasporic encounters through the intersection of lived experience, power, and “listening.”
About the Brooklyn Rail
Founded in October 2000 and currently published 10 times annually, the Brooklyn Rail provides an independent forum for arts, culture, and politics throughout New York City and far beyond. The journal features reviews of music, dance, film, and theater, original fiction and poetry, and covers contemporary visual art in particular depth. In order to democratize art coverage, the Critics’ Page functions with a rotating editorship, which luminaries such as Robert Storr, Elizabeth Baker, Barbara Rose, Irving Sandler, and Dore Ashton have helmed.
The Rail further fulfills its mission by curating art exhibitions, panel discussions, reading series and film screenings that reflect the complexity and inventiveness of the city’s artistic and cultural landscape.