Beings Out of Place
The exhibition seeks to disrupt the notion of ‘constancy’. Within the universally desired solidity of space and time, order conceals the first traces of possibility, while tranquility silences all dissenting voices. The phrase ‘Out of Place’ in the title, even when extended to imply absence, remains ineffable; it is more accurate to acknowledge it as a deliberate act of relinquishment. Rather than interpreting ‘beings out of place’ as a failure, it can instead be seen as an ongoing process of self-shedding.
Seven artists will present their representative works and practices from recent years across the gallery sections, inviting the audience to reflect on the subtle experience of (nothingness) within this state of dissolution, where stability is continuously unraveled. Qiheng Chen embeds ecological identity into his recent works, using the orchid as existential rhetoric, where familiar objects and landscapes begin to blur and dissipate within his deconstructive vocabulary. Fang Xianchen’s paintings anchor the fleeting interplay between appearance and introspection, thereby dissolving the inevitable collapse of fixed poles. Li Jun re-examines subjective consciousness through the disciplinary singularity of history, rehearsing a non-temporal mapping of beautiful and dangerous things in a landscape of contradictions.
In an inclined and fluid environment, rupture, restlessness, and suturing become the very sensory conditions that construct the experience of ‘beings out of place’. Liu Jin’s paintings originate from sensation and ultimately return to reality, where multiple parabolic lines visually emerge from the painter’s deliberate focus on the viewer’s emotional center. Mingjing Yu applies the destructive act of scraping to the fragile surface of photographic paper, interposing mechanical traces and spectral noise between the image and the act of viewing—set against the concept of sleep and wakefulness (as explored in Jonathan Crary’s 24/7) as a potential resistance to capitalist time discipline. Yizhou Zhu captures delicate feminine intuitions within seemingly chaotic private scenes—whether bewildered, fortunate, stagnant, or relieved. Zuo Yanfeng, by contrast, constructs a metaphysical archaeology of intuition, navigating the vast and minute mysteries of the wilderness.
Within both conscious and unconscious collectives, all beings bear witness to loss and contemplate gain. Visitors are invited to engage in ongoing dialogues, practicing empathy between host and guest, presence and absence—embracing dissonance in its original sense. Through exchanges with the artists, they may also find liberation from the constraints of homogeneity.
