The exhibition is curated by Alvin Li and Junyuan Feng. The curatorial proposal of ‘Liquid Ground’ was chosen from Para Site’s international open call for exhibition proposals from emerging curators. Participating artists include Chang Yuchen (b. 1989, Shanxi province), Club Ate (Justin Shoulder and Bhenji Ra, formed 2014), Cui Jie (b. 1983, Shanghai), Jes Fan (b. 1990, Scarborough), Future Host (Tingying Ma and Kang Kang, formed 2016), Ho Rui An (b. 1990, Singapore), Travis Jeppesen (b. 1979, Fort Lauderdale), Heidi Lau (b. 1987, Macau), Lee Kai Chung (b. 1985, Hong Kong), Yi Xin Tong (b. 1988, Lushan), Alice Wang (b. 1983, Xi’an), Gary Zhexi Zhang (b. 1993, Suzhou), and Zheng Mahler (Royce Ng and Daisy Bisenieks, formed 2015).
Operating around the twin themes of the hydrological cycle and island ecologies, the participating artists pursue a variety of the approaches, from keenly analyzing developmentalism, to delving into myth to counter contemporary epistemic crises, and looking towards the future while foregrounding non-human voices.
The artists use a diverse range of strategies to explore the contradictions that arise where solid meets liquid, where humanity confronts nature. Near the museum entrance, Zheng Mahler, Yi Xin Tong, and Chang Yuchen offer unique perspectives on island ecosystems, whether depicting Lantau Island from the viewpoint of feral water buffalos, linking commonplace fish to mythological dragons, or attempting to develop a writing system based on coral, respectively.
The Birth of Julung-julung: The Aquatic Dragon (2019-21)
HD video with sound, 24’52”
By collecting the artists’ engagements with the abovementioned conundrums, “Liquid Ground” also seeks to encourage visitors to consider their own agency and complicity in our age of super-scale land reclamation and other anthropocentric environmental interventions. It is the curators’ hope that the collective effort of the exhibition may help us begin to imagine alternative epistemological frameworks and new networks of solidarity from which to face deteriorating ecosystems and an unsteady future.
INSTALLATION VIEW
ABOUT THE ARTIST | Yi Xi Tong
Yi Xin Tong was born in Lushan, China in 1988. He received a Bachelor of honor from Simon Fraser University, Vancouver (2012) following two years of study at China University of Geosciences, Beijing from 2005 to 2007. In 2014, he finished his study from the Department of Studio Art at New York University and received his MFA degree. He has won the award of the first Prix de la Fondation Choi pour l’art contemporain. Tong now lives and works in New York.
His recent solo projects include: Petrified Seas, Vanguard Gallery, Shanghai, China (2022)；Environnment, Mon Amour, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China (2022);“World River Atlas”, Vanguard Gallery, Shanghai (2020); “The Attraction Show—Origin of Ripples”, Snarte Space, Nanchang, China (2019); “Going Outside”, Nanhai Art, Millbrae, California, USA (2018).
He also attended the following group exhibitions: Beast, Chimera, Kin, Hessel Museum of Art, New York, USA (2022);“Boomerang – OCAT Biennale 2021”, OCT Art &Design Gallery, Shenzhen, China (2021); “Liquid Ground”, Para Site, Hong Kong, China (2021); “Durational”, Vanguard Gallery, Shanghai, China (2021); “Being in the Void”, Minsheng Art Museum, Beijing, China (2021); “From Checkers to Complex Systems”, Times Art Museum, Chengdu, China (2021); “Meditations in an Emergency”, UCCA, Beijing, China (2020) “BRIC Biennial III”, BRIC House, Brooklyn, USA (2019); “Guangzhou Airport Biennale”, Guangzhou, China (2019); “Disaster of Extra Epic Proportions”, curated by Alvin Li, chi K11 art museum, Shanghai, China (2019); “Long March Project: The Deficit Faction”, Long March Space, Beijing, China (2019); “Adrift”, Chambers Fine Art, New York, USA (2019); “Long Day”, Aranya Art Centre, Qinhuangdao, China (2019); “To Speculate, Of Nature”, NanHai Art, Millbrae, USA (2019); “Shadow as a Stain”, ACRE, Chicago, USA (2018); “Yanping Art Harvest in the Village”, Jiulong Village, China (2018); “Practice: in Progress”, NARS Foundation, Brooklyn, USA (2018); “Life and Revolution, Landscape of Huangshan and Lushan”, Taikang Space Beijing China (2018).
