LONDON.- The Hayward Gallery presents Musquiqui Chihying: A Life of Navigation. This marks the artist’s first solo exhibition in a public institution in the UK and the seventh exhibition in the RC Foundation Project Space Exhibition Series, which showcases the next generation of emerging international artists.
As part of the Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary programme, Musquiqui Chihying: A Life of Navigation takes place in the HENI Project Space in the Southbank Centre’s Hayward Gallery – a space that offers the opportunity for audiences to discover exhibitions from new artistic voices for free.
Musquiqui Chihying is a Taiwanese artist whose work explores our ambiguous relationship with both analogue and digital technologies through installation, video, photography, and sculpture. Through an imaginative and humorous lens, Chihying examines how modern-day technological systems are continuously reshaping the ways we navigate contemporary societal structures and our human condition. Demonstrating the breadth of his practice that blurs the lines between reality and the surreal with intriguing effect, A Life of Navigation pairs two early works, namely The Jog (2014) and The Toyota (2015), with two new video installations. The newly produced works cast a playful yet critical eye on the advancement of artificial intelligence and gaming culture, teasing out the underlying and often unspoken presence of renewed colonial attitudes.
Yung Ma, Senior Curator of the Hayward Gallery, says: “This exhibition is an exploration of our modern way of life. But rather than simply embracing a gloomy outlook, Musquiqui Chihying infuses humour into the core of his practice to capture the nuances of our increasingly digital contemporary experience through a sharp yet compassionate gaze. I am excited that we are able to share this meaningful perspective as a part of the RC Foundation Project Space Exhibition Series.”
Musquiqui Chihying, says: “Running through a supermarket or occupying car parking spaces, my earlier performances were inspired by Blur's seminal 1990s album Modern Life Is Rubbish and by my own response to the monotony of everyday life. A decade later, I still question whether modern life has become any more interesting. What has changed, however, is the scale of industrial transformation driven by digital technologies. Through this exhibition, I invite audiences to investigate how these forces are reshaping contemporary life in a global context.”
The HENI Project Space is a vital part of the Southbank Centre’s free programming, introducing new international voices and providing accessible cultural experiences for all to enjoy. Since its establishment in 2007, the space has platformed an array of artists including Hicham Berrada, Thabiso Sekgala, Val Lee, Huang Po-Chih, Kate Cooper, Heecheon Kim, Amol K Patil, Naomi Rincn Gallardo, Samuel Laurence Cunnane and Kulpreet Singh.
Musquiqui Chihying: A Life of Navigation is curated by Yung Ma, Senior Curator with support from Ananya Jain, Curatorial Assistant. Additional support provided by the Ministry of Culture, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
Musquiqui Chihying: A Life of Navigation is presented alongside Anish Kapoor at the Hayward Gallery.
Musquiqui Chihying, born in Taipei in 1985, is a visual artist and filmmaker based between Taipei and Berlin. Working with moving image and sound, he examines dominant systems of representation within Afro-Asian histories and post- and trans-modernity in the Global South. His work rethinks transoceanic systems of labour and colonial legacies to propose alternative narratives of interconnectedness.
His work has been exhibited at HKW Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2025); Migros Museum of Contemporary Art, Zrich (2025); MMK Museum Fr Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt (2025); Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-LAB), Taipei (2024); Art Sonje Center, Seoul (2021); Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei (2021); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2020); and IN EXTENSO, Clermont-Ferrand (2019), among many others. His moving image works have been screened at international film festivals such as Berlin, Locarno, Rotterdam, Busan, the Golden Horse in Taipei and Image Forum in Tokyo. In 2023, he was the recipient of the Tung Chung Prize from The Hong Foundation, Taiwan. He was also the recipient of the Han Nefkens Foundation - Loop Barcelona Video Art Production Award 20119, in collaboration with the Fundaci Joan Mir
