LONDON.- The ICA announces solo exhibitions by international artists Guan Xiao and Martine Syms. As early stage career artists, it is the first time both Guan Xiao and Syms have presented solo institutional exhibitions in the UK. Both presentations, separate but complementary, include recent work and new works specially commissioned for the ICA. Exhibitions by Guan Xiao and Martine Syms are being shown on the Lower and Upper Galleries, respectively, from 20 April – 19 June.

Guan Xiao: Flattened Metal In association with K11 Art Foundation Lower Gallery
Working mainly in sculpture and video, Chinese artist Guan Xiao (b.1983) explores how ways of seeing are now influenced by digital image circulation as an increasingly dominant source of knowledge and information exchange. In various works and installations she endeavours to expand the aesthetic and cognitive possibilities for how identity and meaning are assigned and understood.

Guan Xiao’s work is occupied with our incomprehension of the past, and the way in which the unknown gives rise to intriguing discussion in the present. She juxtaposes references from the past and present (or future), weaving visual and audio material (including video clips found on the internet), digital rendering techniques and objects, alongside so-called primitive and high tech elements, creating distinct and evocative installations. In this way, she offers fresh perspectives on what we perceive as the ‘new’ and the ‘old’.

Guan Xiao’s ICA exhibition includes a video triptych and new installation comprising five large printed screens, in front of which have been placed sculptures made up of various materials, including speakers that emit new audio works.

Martine Syms: Fact & Trouble Upper Gallery
Fact & Trouble is an exhibition of new and recent photography, video, and sculpture by Martine Syms (b. 1988), a Los Angeles based artist with an ongoing interest in historiography, semiotics, and pop. Syms is interested in how language and physical gestures are used within the American media as expressions of identity. Her ICA exhibition features works derived from her recent video series Lessons, an incomplete poem in 180 sections. Each Lesson takes the form of a 30-second TV clip. The footage, which is original and appropriated, is a distillation of everyday life.

Syms is the founder of Dominica, a publishing imprint dedicated to exploring black aesthetics in visual culture. Through publishing, video, and performance Syms explores the making and reception of meaning in presentday America.