Temporal Turn: Art and Speculation in Contemporary Asia
November 11th, 2016 through March 20th, 2017
Spencer Museum of Art, The University of Kansas
1301 Mississippi St. Lawrence, KS
Three pieces of aaajiao’s video work, Obj. 4 (2014), Body Shadow, Generated, (2015), and the documentary video for Body Shadow (2015) will be exhibited in Temporal Turn: Art and Speculation in Contemporary Asia this November. The exhibition is hosted by the Spencer Museum of Art in the University of Kansas.
Temporal Turn: Art and Speculation in Contemporary Asia explores creative practice in contemporary Asian art that is grounded in speculative inquiry. Encompassing the continent’s cultural breadth from Turkey to Japan, the exhibition prompts audiences to consider varied projections about our history, grounded in real-world issues–like technology, globalism and identity– from artists working in a region that is anticipated to dominate politics and culture in the coming century. Curated by Kris Imants Ercums, the speculative focus of Temporal Turn is explored through five sections.
The three video works of aaajiao are to be included in the first section, “Pulse.” “Pulse” presents artists working at the border between biological sciences, technology, and visual art. Aaajiao’s inventive exploration of the body through technology figure prominently into the section. Body Shadow, in particular, demonstrates his multidisciplinary practices: it is a comparative study of the theory of fractals and China medicinal science. Using algorithmic methodology the artist scanned his body to track the meridian points essential in Chinese acupuncture and had the marks tattooed on his body. The making of Body Shadow is featured in the accompanying documentary, which, as one of the three video pieces, will also face the public in mid-November.
The rest of the exhibition unfolds in four more sections. Section Two, “The Edge of Infinity,” examines the place of astrophysics in speculative thinking. Section Three, “Mythopoeia,” explores historical and mythical fictions grounded in Asian cultural perspectives. Section Four, “Post-Identity / Post-Human,” ranges from astrobiology to predictions about the next step in human evolution. The fifth and final section, “Anthropocene,” contemplates how humans are transforming nature on a planetary scale.
Artists featured in Temporal Turn: Art and Speculation in Contemporary Asia include: Rohini Devasher, Konōike Tomoko, Sahej Rahal, Park Jaeyoung, Lu Yang, Odani Motohiko, aaajiao (Xu Wenkai), Heman Chong, Neha Choksi, Timo Nasseri, U Sunok, Mehreen Murtaza, Jin Shan, Du Kun, Hur Un-kyung, Qiu Anxiong, Emre Hüner, Neha Choksi.