Mo Kong turns gallery into an immersive installation exploring a not-so-distant future

The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Thursday, March 28, 2024


Mo Kong turns gallery into an immersive installation exploring a not-so-distant future
Falling Into A Stalemate, 2019. Lead, prints, slow dried sand, The New York Times, handmade glass pollen from the index of pollens recovered by Shanxi Agricultural University and fabricated by artist Amy Lemaire 44 x 56 x 3 inches.



NEW YORK, NY.- CUE Art Foundation is presenting Making A Stationary Rain On The North Pacific Ocean, a solo exhibition by Mo Kong, curated by Steffani Jemison. Blurring fact and fiction, art and science, truth and near-truth, the artist turns the gallery into an immersive installation exploring a not-so-distant future in which China and the United States are in the midst of a political Cold War, echoed externally by an atmospheric antagonism rendered by climate change that has turned China and the U.S. into the hot and cold centers of the world.

Kong’s visual exploration of his own scientific and journalistic research uses climate change as a lens into contemporary geopolitics, neo-nationalism, human migration, human rights, and censorship, among other topics. Central to and grounding the exhibition, Kong has carefully gridded out the gallery with blue painter’s tape, delineating the latitudes and longitudes of the worlds within the installation. The grid marks coordinates, not countries; this is a type of mark-making that allows us to locate ourselves beyond national and temporal boundaries, but also allows our movement and migration to be tracked in turn via GPS. Placed throughout the gridded gallery, a rectangular glass vitrine sits on the floor filled with foam, salt, coal, and other materials, recalling the contents of the North Pacific Ocean; tubes of honey line the walls, referencing the practice of honey smuggling, trade wars, and human migration; sand, blown glass, and preserved fruit skins enclosed in a bent lead frame recall evaporated lakes; vertical poles representing weather stations symbolically observe and measure fictional climates; and scent diffusers pipe in natural oils associated with either country.

Referencing Kong’s own experience as a recent Chinese immigrant to the United States, his past occupation as an investigative reporter, and the necessity of the self-censorship he learned to employ as an information strategy while making political art in China, the artist cloaks facts in fantasy in order to explore complex systems of thought surrounding environmental crises and sociopolitical issues. In her exhibition catalogue essay, Danni Shen writes, “Self-censoring has led to the artist’s process of filtering information–clues and hidden evidence–in such a way that viewers are able to draw connections between disparate points of reference. Under the camouflage of scientific research, the work’s political subject comes in and out of focus.” In Kong’s world, knowledge is not linear, information is not neutral, and truth does not require fact. But in order to evade or bypass a system or grid, one must learn to navigate it; and in order to arrive at or depart from a place, one must first learn where it ends and begins. The answers are not always as obvious as they appear.

Mo Kong is a multidisciplinary artist and researcher born and raised in Shanxi, China and currently residing in Brooklyn, NY. He received his MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. He has had solo exhibitions at Artericambi Gallery, Verona and Chashama, NY, and his work has been included in exhibitions at the Queens Museum, NY, and the RISD Museum, RI. He has participated in fellowships and residencies at the Triangle Arts Association, the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, MASS MoCA Studio Residency, the Vermont Studio Center, Gibney Performance Center, and Chashama. His work was featured in the book Brand New Art from China by Barbara Pollack, and has been reviewed by Hyperallergic, the Wall Street International, The Round, and more.










Today's News

June 12, 2019

First retrospective in Europe for over 50 years of Lee Krasner opens in London

Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac brings together 49 artists, some of whom have never been shown in the UK

World's most costly painting on Saudi prince's yacht: report

Exhibition is the first time that Picasso is exhibited in a dual dialogue with a female sculptor

Tanya Bonakdar Gallery opens Living in a Lightbulb: A two-part exhibition in NY and LA

Exhibition at Sprüth Magers presents an overview of Senga Nengudi's work

Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks displayed together in the UK for the first time

VOLTA opens its 15th Basel fair

Birds of a feather flock to Rago Auctions

Hauser & Wirth announces worldwide representation of Annie Leibovitz

Helmut Newton Foundation opens new exhibition

Superlative auction opening of Ketterer Kunst's anniversary year with Kandinsky record

Olana advances vision for the future by welcoming two new members to senior management team

Christie's London Handbags & Accessories Auction totals $4,264,564

Exhibition presents partially newly developed works by 11 international artists

Steel sculpture finds a new home in the Bud and Susie Rogers Garden

Crack Up - Crack Down, the 33rd Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts opens

Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum presents "Apollo at the Park"

Maddox Gallery opens a group exhibition of text-based works

Galerie Urs Meile opens the first solo exhibition of Chinese artist Zhang Xuerui at the Lucerne gallery

Mo Kong turns gallery into an immersive installation exploring a not-so-distant future

UTA appoints Arthur Lewis as Creative Director of UTA Fine Arts and UTA Artist Space

University of California, Irvine computer scientists breathe life into Venice Biennale installations

New species of fossil crocodile named for long-time volunteer is a 'little nipper' of a big discovery




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful