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Tuesday, May 31

Mirror Worlds - Contemporary Video from Asia 

Exhibition open to the public Friday 27 May - 10 July 2005
Tue - Sun: 11.00am - 6.00pm
Galleries One, Two and Foyer

Artists: Heman Chong and Corinna Kniffki (Singapore/Berlin), Junebum Park (Korea), Wit Pimkanchanapong (Thailand), Rashid Rana (Pakistan), Sharmila Samant (India), Chen Shaoxiong (China) and Kiran Subbaiah (India)

"Counter-terrorism, consumer subversion and visual mischief: Mirror Worlds presents the work of eight artists who reinvent the world and play havoc with reality.

Mirror Worlds offers a different world view. Selected from across Asia, the artists in this exhibition use video as an imaginative tool to engage with the contemporary condition. The exhibition invites its audience to interrogate the constant stream of moving-images we habitually turn to for news, entertainment and information. From the whimsical to the shocking to the complex, each artwork engages with contemporary life in a state of flux.

Provocative and fast-paced, Mirror Worlds introduces the video work of Asian artists rarely seen by Sydney audiences. While Korean artist Nam June Paik is credited alongside Andy Warhol with originating the artistic use of video, the broad emergence of video art in many parts of Asia is a relatively recent phenomenon. And though rigorous debate about contemporary approaches to the medium across Asia is only just beginning, the work itself is currently enjoying international exposure and success. This exhibition presents an opportunity to check-out some of the rising stars of video art from across the region.

Heman Chong and Corinna Kniffki (Singapore/Berlin)
In Divided Tonight, a young woman stands barricaded behind a counter stacked high with cigarettes and other neatly arranged consumer items. A single defiant gesture turns the scene to chaos.

Junebum Park (Korea)
Junebum Park makes witty, formal video vignettes, influenced by mime and Banraku puppet theatre. In 1 Parking, 15 Excavator and The Advertisement, the artist's hands loom larger than life over aerial views of urban cityscapes as he appears to manoeuvre pedestrians, vehicles and billboard signage in a clever exploitation of depth of field.

Wit Pimkanchanapong (Thailand)
In the series Still Animation, Wit Pimkanchanapong presents urban vistas in suspended animation. The buildings in his cityscapes appear to move as if they float on an undulating mass of water, endlessly shifting and repeating the same moments in time.

Rashid Rana (Pakistan)
In Ten Differences, Rashid Rana points a gun at his mirror images with bloody consequences. This mirrored video raises questions about who is ultimately targeted by arms-length practices of modern warfare.

Sharmila Samant (India)
In Dissonant Consumption we hear the sound of cutlery clinking, as if a huge dinner party is in progress. Later we see an extreme close-up of a woman attempting to eat by using the wrong implements. The futility of this exercise suggests the cultural specificity of certain practices.

Chen Shaoxiong (China)
In response to China's growing economic and political clout, Chen Shaoxiong's Anti Terrorism Variety depicts a series of fictitious airborne terrorist attacks - the invading aircraft appearing to be harmlessly deflected, erased or catapulted into space by the tall, versatile and elastic buildings in the artist's version of Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Kiran Subbaiah (India)
In Flight Rehearsals, Subbaiah humorously manipulates scale and gravity while narrating the story of a boy who wants to fly. Subbaiah's manipulation of in-camera special effects provides an insightful perspective on the contemporary human condition."

W: http://www.acp.au.com/exhibitions/current.php

posted 10:17 AM  

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