The ICA - in association with the K11 Art Foundation - is delighted to announce the first solo institutional exhibition in the UK by Chinese artist Guan Xiao, entitled Flattened Metal.
Working mainly in sculpture and video, Guan Xiao 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 sculptures made up of various materials are placed, including speakers that emit new audio works.
Flattened Metal is presented by the ICA in association with the K11 Art Foundation. This non-profit supports the development of Chinese contemporary art from Greater China by providing a creative platform that nurtures artistic talents and brings them to the international stage - through numerous international collaborations.
Guan Xiao
Flattened Metal
20 April – 19 June 2016
The Mall
London
This exhibition will travel to Shanghai, where it will be on view at the chi K11 Art Museum from 18 October – 30 November 2016.
Images courtesy of the artist, ICA London and and Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin. Photography: Mark Blower.
related articles
-
Ten things you shouldn't miss during Frieze Week in London
London's art fair Frieze is opening later this week. With countless international collectors, curators and other art world professionals visiting London for the week, the city's institutions all open their new exhibitions, marking the beginning of London's new exhibition season ...
-
Emotional Supply Chains at Zabludowicz Collection, London
Emotional Supply Chains is an exhibition addressing the construction of identity in the digital age. Featuring 17 leading international artists and including four new commissions, all works are drawn from the Zabludowicz Collection and produced since the year 2000.
-
Avery Singer: Scenes at Stedelijk, Amsterdam
The Stedelijk Museum presents the first European museum solo exhibition of the American artist Avery Singer, and her very first presentation in the Netherlands. The show offers a comprehensive view of the artist’s work since 2012.
-
Oliver Laric: Photoplastik at Secession, Vienna
Oliver Laric is a great admirer of glyptotheques and plaster-cast collections, and so his exhibition Photoplastik transforms the Secession’s main hall into a sculpture display. The show assembles his adaptations of works ranging from antiquity to the present, combining them with objects drawn from popular culture and the natural sciences.