HOW Upcoming Exhibition | Interrupted Meals
Interrupted Meals
Duration:2020/08/08- 2020/10/31
Artists:Joseph Beuys, Dunne & Raby, Futurefarmers, Charles Lim Yi Yong, Lo Lai Lai Natalie, Elia Nurvista, Shi Qing, Yuichiro Tamura, Tang Han & Zhou Xiaopeng, Xu Tan, Yu Ji, Zheng Bo
Curator:Fu Liaoliao
Assistant Curator :Wang Ziyao
Venue:3F, HOW Art Museum, No 1, Lane 2277, Zuchongzhi Road, Shanghai
The title of the exhibition "Interrupted Meals" comes from the book The Parasite, written by the French philosopher Michel Serres. In the book Serres sees human history as the "parasitic" history a relationship between humanity and nature as well as humans themselves. Serres provides us with a critique of anthropocentrism and the system of technological production its conceptual framework is based on. As the first group exhibition at HOW Art Museum since the outbreak of COVID-19, the exhibition attempts to re-examine the relationship between humanity and nature, reflecting on the crisis surrounding the existing systems of production and methods of connection during this “interrupted” period in time.
But when we talk about "the relationship between humans and nature", it is immediately apparent that the phrase itself is problematic, namely:
Are humans part of nature?
Is nature still what we think it is today?
The necessity of the first question can well be understood in terms of a hypothetical answer to the second question. If human beings were part of nature, the binary construction of humanity and nature referred to for the question itself would no longer hold. Instead, the long history of unrestricted human intervention in nature and the arbitrary construction of nature has led to a particular relationship between humans and nature that is different from the relationship between other species and nature. Here we can refer to what Serres states in The Parasite:“History hides the fact that man is the universal parasite, that everything and everyone around him is a hospitable space. Plants and animals are always his hosts; man is always necessarily their guest. Always taking, never giving. He bends the logic of exchange and of giving in his favor when he is dealing with nature as a whole. When he is dealing with his kind, he continues to do so; he wants to be the parasite of man as well. And his kind want to be so too.” (Serres, 1980) Human intervention in nature has always been consistent with the logic of its own development. As such if we are to discuss the relationship between the two, we must first return to the discussion regarding systems of production and methods of connection that were invented by humans. Secondly, we must also ask questions of nature put forth with such a proposition: Is nature merely the object of instrumentalization which lacks any kind of subjectivity and requires humanity to protect it from climate change, pollution, reports of the killing of animals and subsequent extinction of species? It is not difficult to imagine especially in today's crisis-ridden world, a nature that would survive the extinction of the human species—a system capable of sustaining itself organically by regulating its own form and composition, yet we rarely learn from it.
Therefore, the nature discussed in this exhibition is neither separate nor opposed to the concept(s) of human/artificial, nor is it held hostage to vague and empty rhetoric compiled into a variety of arrogant grand narratives. Instead, it is a multitude of specific and sometimes minuscule objects with connections that collectively make up a self-sufficient subject. In the exhibition, this collection and subject are reified into “food”, embodying that which is simultaneously situated in the categories of human culture and nature, systems of production, and methods of connection.
Food and cooking was once the most intimate form of interaction between humans and nature that transformed the entire ecosystem into a form of daily life that brought people together. Since the industrialization of production, acquisition and digestion of food has gradually shifted away from the ecosystem that once connected all living things, and transformed into a spectacle of consumption and production both sophisticated in appearance and colossal in scale. They also play a significant role in the evolution of industrialization, colonial history, and globalization. Food has become an isolated unit of production, consumption, and desire in the capitalist system, and thus it hints at the fate of humanity itself. The exhibition "Interrupted Meals" is a dynamic site for reflecting on food and its associated perceptions, modes of production, circulation, fabrication, as well as table manners and cultural references.
The exhibition begins with Joseph Beuys's work Food for Thought (1977). Beuys believed that food was the basis for thought and power; in Food for Thought he included a lengthy list of foods and quoted an ancient Irish poem at the end of the list, viewing all things as brothers and sisters which nourish the body and mind. Food plays a key role in Beuys's work, linking together his reflections on nature and social relationships, but also serving as an important element of his social sculpture.
Joseph Beuys, Output 38, 1972-1978
Through the not entirely convincing words of the interviewees, Xu Tan's work Who talked to my mother when she was in forest (2015-2016) attempts to illustrate how people express their feelings towards nature in the context of East Asian societies, whose traditional cultures have been shaped by Western rational values, opening up an alternative perspective on nature which diverges from the approach implemented in modern science. It is this approach that has long been disdained in a way that is strikingly similar to the way nature has been neglected in recent times.
Xu Tan, Who talked to my mother when she was in forest (Sihui, Guangdong), 2015,
Video
Courtesy of the artist
In Zheng Bo's work Survival manual I (Hand-Copied 1961 “Shanghai’s Wild Edible Plants”) (2015), the wild plants are very different from those found in today's food system, yet they were once recognized as food during a given period in history. This hints at the relationship between the political crises and weeds—the importance of nature is highlighted only in times of crisis.
Zheng Bo, Survival Manual I (Hand-Copied 1961 "Shanghai’s Wild Edible Plants"),2015Ink on paper,72 sheetsCourtesy of the artist,Edouard Malingue Gallery and Mr. Bao Yifeng
Design for an Overpopulated Planet: Foragers (2009) is a work by Dunne & Raby (Anthony Dunne and Finona Raby). It proposes a bottom-up solution to address future food shortages. The Foragers as urban marginals learn from the digestive systems of other animals and establish functional equipment as an external digestive system to extract nutrients from non-human foods.
Dunne & Raby, Designs For An Overpopulated Planet: Foragers, 2009
Conceptual Film
Commissioned by Design Indaba as part of Protofarm 2050 for the ICSID World Design Congress in Singapore.
Courtesy of the artist
Elia Nurvista, Hunger, Inc, 2015-ongoing
Installation, Video with sound, Performance and Events.
Courtesy of the artist and Ji Woon Yoon
Tang Han and Zhou Xiaopeng, Shape of Appetite, 2017
Single-channel video
Courtesy of the artist
The Return of Soul at the Peony Pavilion, Qi Feng Thatched Cottage edition
Image provided by Shi Qing
Yuichiro Tamura, Suzuki Knife, Social Cooking, 2014
Mixed media Installation
Courtesy of the artist
Charles Lim Yi Yong , SEASTATE 7: Sandwich, 2015
Video
Courtesy of the artist
Charles Lim Yi Yong, SEASTATE 9: Drag, Drop, Pour, 2018
3 videos
Courtesy of the artist
Tong Wenmin, Crawl, 2018-2019
Video of performance,Japan, Germany, Italy, China
Courtesy of the artist
Yu Ji, Flesh in stone-ghost No. 3, detail, 2018
Courtesy of the artist
Lo Lai Lai Natalie, See-saw, 2020
Two-channel Video
Courtesy of the artist
Curator/Fu Liaoliao
About the Curators:
付了了 | Fu Liaoliao
Fu Liaoliao is a curator based in Shanghai. Her curatorial research and practice involve the critiques in the context of socio-economic system, live-based works and the function of public space and its borders. Her curatorial works include Serious Games (2019), Precariats’ Meeting (2017) etc. She also curated solo shows for artists such as Li Binyuan (2019), Thomas Hirschhorn (2018) and Ho Tzu Nyen (2018).
王子遥 | Wang Ziyao
*Jude Anthony Keeler译
Proof-reading/ Wang Ziyao, Kathy Xu
Editing/Murphy
昊美术馆(上海)
HOW ART MUSEUM (SHANGHAI)
图片©昊美术馆
昊美术馆(上海)是具备当代艺术收藏、陈列、研究和教育功能的全新文化机构,坐落于上海浦东,共有三层展览和活动空间,总面积约7000平方米,于2017年9月正式对外开放。昊美术馆首创“夜间美术馆”的运营模式,常规对外开放时间为周二至周五下午1点至夜间10点,周末及节假日开放时间为上午10点至夜间10点。此举能让更多观众在工作之余前来美术馆观展,昊美术馆也举办“国际策展人驻留项目”、“户外电影节”、“雕塑公园”等国际交流项目和户外活动,以此建立全新的艺术综合体和浦东新地标。
昊美术馆(温州)
HOW ART MUSEUM (WENZHOU)
图片©昊美术馆
昊美术馆(温州)延续昊美术馆(上海)的“夜间美术馆”运营模式,是浙江省首家"夜间美术馆",常规对外开放时间为下午1点到夜间10点,周末及节假日开放时间将向前延长为上午10点至夜间10点。昊美术馆(温州)将持续为公众呈现丰富的公共教育及户外艺术项目,引领融合艺术、设计、科技的全新生活方式。
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