ANGEL­I­CA MESI­TI | Prosod­ic Grains | By Art Matters

The exhi­bi­tion fea­tures 17 out­stand­ing artists from around the globe, show­cas­ing works in var­i­ous media, includ­ing paint­ing, sculp­ture, inter­ac­tive instal­la­tions, per­for­mance art, and video. This group exhi­bi­tion delves into synaes­thet­ic expe­ri­ences, explor­ing themes of lis­ten­ing, per­cep­tion, and res­o­nance, and will run until March 30, 2025.

The theme of ​“Prosod­ic Grains” is derived from the South­ern Dynas­ties lit­er­ary his­to­ri­an Shen Yue’s ​“Trea­tise on Xie Lingyun” in the Book of Song, which refers to the lev­el and oblique tones in clas­si­cal Chi­nese. ​“Float­ing Sounds” denotes the lev­el tones, while ​“Sharp Echoes” refers to the oblique tones. In the cre­ation of clas­si­cal Chi­nese poet­ry, the inter­play of high and low pitch­es, along with the con­trasts of rise and fall, is essen­tial for achiev­ing har­mo­ny and aes­thet­ic plea­sure. This reflects the ancient Chi­nese lan­guage’s empha­sis on ​“musi­cal­i­ty.”

Shen Yue believed that since the begin­ning of human exis­tence, we have been moved by the myr­i­ad changes of the world, lead­ing to a fun­da­men­tal need to express and con­vey emo­tions. From this need, songs and vers­es emerged, giv­ing words dif­fer­ent kinds of vital­i­ty through the rhythm of sound.

Thus, the exhi­bi­tion pos­es new ques­tions: How can var­i­ous types of ​“sounds” cre­ate emo­tion­al res­o­nance? How do peo­ple com­mu­ni­cate through lan­guage? What forms can lan­guage take? How can we con­nect with oth­ers beyond lan­guage? How can we love and embrace the world beyond ourselves?

In response to these ques­tions, the exhi­bi­tion is divid­ed into four dis­tinct the­mat­ic areas that aim to inter­pret and address them. It seeks to help peo­ple over­come super­fi­cial bar­ri­ers to com­mu­ni­ca­tion and redis­cov­er the orig­i­nal inten­tion behind dia­logue and con­sen­sus. Through the medi­um of the exhi­bi­tion space, a dia­logue across time and space is facil­i­tat­ed amidst the blend­ing of rhythms. — By Art Matters

EXHIBIT­ING ARTISTS
Allo­ra & Calzadil­la, Oliv­er Beer, Natal­ie Bookchin, CHANG Yuchen, Jonathas de Andrade, Ryan Gan­der, GUO Tiant­ian, Ann Veron­i­ca Janssens, Michel François, Chris­tine Sun Kim, George Kout­souris, Angel­i­ca Mesi­ti, SU Xiang­pan, SHEN Xin, Lay­la Var­do, XUE Yayuan, YANG Chi-Chuan, YAO Qingmei

CURA­TOR:
SUN Man

ASSIS­TANT CURA­TOR:
CHANG Yix­u­an

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