那藝織思 Nexus between Art, Practice & Research

This mind-map showcase of research practices emphasises different artistic practices, a common curatorial consensus and shared ways of interacting through theory, stories, anecdotes and form. All projects are from different life stages; some contributors are in the middle of their research, some are in the run to finalise their PhD, and some have a recently finished doctorate. This exhibition makes the overview and continuously vivid exchange within these projects feasible. 

The participating artists, researchers and curators are presenting works (and thinking) in progress.   Kay Mei Ling Beadman's research and practice start from the intensely personal - the lifelong embodied experience of mixed race, and opens up numerous methods of sensitisation through her multidisciplinary artistic practice. Michael Leung engages in his thesis novel with the stories of Wang Chau villagers and amplifies their voices alongside land movements in France, the UK and elsewhere in Hong Kong. PARK Ji Yun denies the idea of nature merely surrounding us, but insists on showing the crucial accompanying and forming importance of nature in our human lives through interacting with orchids via her chosen medium, film. Tony Maslić investigates general consciousness to speculate on the rise of sentience and artificial consciousness within the hyper-networked and technological infused cities of tomorrow. ZHANG Zimu focuses on the intricate materialities of a river in the Pearl River Delta, connecting female intimate memories with the river ecologies via collaging a transcorporal mapping of her river walks in the former world factory city Dongguan. Eva Direito, Patricia Moreira and Olga Timurgalieva chronicle the roles of minute, non-charismatic and often invisible yeasts in contemporary lifestyles and map some human-yeast connections mediated by structures of production. Christine Kaiser has been instrumental in asking questions, provocations and making connections throughout the exhibition. 

Several core topics focus on this engagement and weave this research encounter together: the personal interest (how this research came into place/"happened"), the situational embedding (of the researcher and the study) and the relational moment(s) of the research process. These topics can be traced in the objects and presentations, within the chosen displays, the space, and its implementation history. 

Throughout the process for this exhibition, conversations helped to rethink existing structures and ideas of wording. For example, terms such as natureculture(s), and contradictions such as extract/excavate were re-questioned in their conditionality and reflected within this showcase. Thus, we all work together in creating our commons in the sphere of our research, expressed many times in counter positioning to our institutional setting. Please enjoy the process and take the chance to add your thoughts: Take a pencil, a tape or a sticky note to change the flow of research and its institutional attitude!