Blending old and new, everydayness and edginess, Chi-Wen Gallery renders another showstopper at this year’s Frieze New York! Three Taiwanese photography/video artists—Chieh-Chi Chang, Yuan Goang-Ming, and Su Misu—will be featured at the City’s most prominent art fair.
Both Chang and Yuan, each in their own way, address the issue of conflict and the spectre of a devastating war to win the opposite side over. Chang uses sound and photography to document the tension between North and South Korea, whereas Yuan uses video and drawing to capture similar hostility between Taiwan and China. Chang, a noted Magnum photographer, has extended his creative endeavors into video and sound in recent years. At the 2019 edition of Freize-New York, his work titled “Voice of DPRK: Broadcast by Ri Chun-hee, August 17, 2011, Pyongyang” will be presented. A sound installation, the work features the most notable North Korean TV news presenter Ri Chu-hee announcing the regime’s statement on peaceful reunification in her signature melodramatic style. As to Yuan, his video work “Everyday Maneuver” documents the annual Wan’an Air Raid Drill in Taiwan and captures the moment when the hustle and bustle of Taipei comes to a halt when the air raid sirens sound over the city. From its inception in 1978, the drill is mandatory for all Taiwanese to join. Today this ritual serves as a reminder that the threat of annexation still lurks across the strait. At the same time, this everydayness of warfare conjures a ghost city in modern-day Taiwan that becomes the perfect selfie backdrop for young people.
A Frieze-New York first timer, Taiwanese photographer and performance artist Su Misu will be introduced to art fair visitors through her staged photography works on topics of BDSM and LGBTQ+.
Coming from a medical background, Su’s interested in the “synthetic”, the “unnatural”, and other embodiments, using photography to discuss the struggle between the real and the illusory. Signature pieces from her recent projects “ihategoodbye” and “I am a fake, but my heart is true” will be on view at Frieze this year.
As a special presentation, a video production of London-based artist Victoria Sin’s performance “If I had the words to tell you we wouldn’t be here now” at Chi-Wen Gallery in Taipei this past January, will also be presented during the art fair. The performance will be restaged at the opening week of the Venice Biennale May 8-12, 2019.
Frieze-New York is scheduled to take place in Randall’s Island Park May 2-5. For more info, please visit: https://frieze.com/fairs/frieze-new-york.