Tangent Media
On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of our university’s founding and the 5th anniversary of the University Arts Centre, we are about to welcome the biennial campus art and cultural event - the 4th Culture & Arts Festival "CATS" (Culture Arts Technology & Science) series of activities, which encompass visual art and performing art. Taking art as a bridge on campus, it connects with everyone.
On October 12, the University Arts Centre invited independent curator Iris LONG to curate the exhibition "Tangent Media". New media works of ten artists with wonderful interdisciplinary thinking will be on display, including Marco BAROTTI, CAO Shu, Shuyi CAO, LONG Pan, LU Pingyuan, Ke PENG, François QUÉVILLON, SHAO Chun, SHEN Shaomin and Kurina SOHN. Starting from the concept of "tangent" in the field of science (it is the transliteration of the English word "tangent" and also refers to operations at the tangent point), it aims to deeply respond to and think about more grand issues such as the climate crisis, the Anthropocene, and the intelligent era by using the scientific and technological art in a way of "from small things, understand the larger truth".
Tangent Media
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Duration
2024.10.12-2025.01.12 10:00-17:30 (Mon.-Sun.)
Venue
Gravity Field Art Gallery, Teaching Complex D101, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, 2001 Longxiang Boulevard, Longgang District, Shenzhen
* The exhibition at the sub-exhibition venue TC101 SPACE will be launched on November 15th. Looking forward to it!
University Cooperating Institutions
School of Medicine, Futian Biomedical Innovation Research and Development Center, Shenzhen Institute for Advanced Polymer Materials, Advanced Biometrics Research Center
Duration
2024.11.15-2025.01.12
Organizer
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen
Hosted by
University Arts Centre of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen
Foreword
A straight line touches a curve, but only at an infinitesimally small point—this is the tangent.
The term “tangent” originates from the Latin word “tangere”, meaning “to touch”. At the infinitesimal moment of contact, the tangent and the point on the curve share the same direction. The state of tangency is characterised by a light touch and separation, a relationship that can be directional yet not interlocked. This relationship can illustrate directions through infinitely small moments (as in calculus), while also possessing a discrete potential for departure: at the moment of tangency, the tangent provides an answer, but the tangent itself will not meet the curve at the same point again. Interestingly, the English word “tangent” sounds very similar to the Chinese word for “probe” (tàn zhēn). In fields ranging from astronomy to biomedicine, probe devices help us uncover the characteristics of an unknown object, much like a tangent, typically in a subtle manner. As Karen Barad puts it, they observe and listen with increasing sensitivity until heterogeneity emerges at seemingly void scales. Like a tangent, a probe creates epiphany in brief, sometimes seemingly casual encounters. At the point of tangency, or the probe’s point of contact, lies latent energy that traverses scales.
The exhibition “Tangent Media” attempts to respond to the cross-linguistic interplay between the words, tangent and probe, and views the state of tangentiality as a stance for interdisciplinary collaboration and dialogue. This stance is exploratory and gentle, not attempting to alter the other but containing a precision of measurement; tangency also implies “leave the ‘self-contained’” [1]. The tangency between multiple lines can still serve as a method to delineate bigger cartographies. Tangency grants freedom of action between different disciplines, and in each piece of the exhibition, we can observe the various points of tangency. The invited works in the exhibition construct a network of lines that are tangent to but not entangled with one another, spanning climate change, geological processes, machine intelligence, and human perception. Tools like macro lenses, NOAA hydrophones, water quality sensors, and high-precision 3D scanning, akin to probes, introduce samples and narrative textures related to both the microscopic material world and long geological time in each piece. In a certain sense, “Tangent Media” is an exhibition about attitude and methodology rather than specific research topics; It focuses more on the movement of the observation point itself than on the conclusions of the observation. At The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, a comprehensive institution, the exhibition attempts to introduce a lightly tangential approach to foster productive discussions on art and technology collaboration, on the technological keywords of the Greater Bay Area, and on the agential energies of projects that stay as prototypes.
If we return to Karen Barad’s terms, the essence of measurement are intra-actions (not interactions): the agencies of observation are inseparable from that which is observed. “Measurements are world-making: matter and meaning do not preexist, but rather are co-constituted via measurement intra-actions.” [2] In the context of this exhibition project, a tiny probe becomes the medium of such interactive measurement, trembling at the point of tangency.
[1] Barad, Karen. What Is the Measure of Nothingness? Infinity, Virtuality, Justice. Hatje Cantz, 2012.
[2] Ibid.
Iris LONG
Curator's Biography
Iris LONG
Iris LONG is an independent curator, writer, and amateur radio operator. She’s also a 2022–2023 Berggruen Fellow and a Swissnex Fellow with her research focused on megastructures of science and technology in China. She has curated or co-curated exhibitions around art, science, and technology, such as “Lying Sophia and Mocking Alexa” (Hyundai Blue Prize), “Blue Cables in Venetian Watercourse” (PSA Emerging Curators Project), the third Today Art Museum “Future of Today” Biennial, the art & tech sector of the inaugural Beijing Art Biennial, “Earth Heat Flow: the Visitor Who Returns to Solar Time,” the inaugural exhibition for Chinese National Astronomy, “Cosmological Elements,” “Cosmos Archaeology” (Shanghai Astronomy Museum), and “The Larva of Time” (Institute of Contemporary Arts at NYU Shanghai).
Iris’s research has been presented in “Space in Time: From the Heavens to Outer Space” (Warburg Institute), UCL Institute of Advanced Studies, “Art and Artificial Intelligence” (Open Conference, ZKM), “Art Machines: International Symposium on Computational Media Art (ISCMA)” (Hong Kong), Digital Research in the Humanities and Arts (London), ISEA and so on. She teaches part-time at Central Saint Martins and initiated the first residence programme focusing on astronomy and astrophysics in China (Department of Astronomy, Tsinghua University). In 2021, she initialised “Port: Under the Cloud”, a long-term research and curatorial project on the infrastructures of science and technology in China.
More info: irislong.xyz
Artists Biographies
Marco BAROTTI
Marco BAROTTI is a media artist focused on creating a “tech ecosystem” that serves as a metaphor for human impact on the environment. His works combine sound, consumer objects, and waste to create kinetic sculptures that raise awareness of environmental and social issues. BAROTTI’s installations have been exhibited internationally, including at Ars Electronica, Saatchi Gallery, Science Gallery, and the Gwangju Biennale. He has received various awards and grants and participated in prestigious residency programmes such as the Science Gallery Berlin, Zer01ne in Seoul, and WRO Media Art Center in Wroclaw.
CAO Shu
CAO Shu’s art works primarily focus on narrative 3D digital moving image, video games, and site-specific installations. His works are based on local practices, intricately weaving together the complex production mechanisms behind computer graphics technology, mythical metaphors, historical archives, and social issues. In recent years, CAO Shu has won awards such as the 2024 Chengdu International Photograph Week Artist award，2022 OCAT x KADIST Emerging Media Artist Award，2021 Exposure Award of PHOTOFAIRS Shanghai, and 2017 BISFF Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement. He has been an artist-in-residence at Atelier Mondial Basel (2017), Yokohama Koganecho Bazzaar (2019), Muffatwek Munich and Goethe Institute (2023). His recent works are exhibited at Kunstmuseum Basel-Land, Sydney White Rabbit Art Gallery, Matadero Madrid Centre for Contemporary Creation, UCCA Center for Contemporary Art Dune, Power Station of Art Shanghai (PSA), M+ Museum Hong Kong, Macao Museum of Art, Asia Society Hong Kong Center, BY ART MATTERS, OCAT Shanghai, Beijing Minsheng Art Museu, and Sleep Center in New York. Additionally, his works have been shortlisted for the main competition sections of numerous international film festivals, including the Saint-Petersburg International Film Festival, Milan International Filmmaker Festival, Film Festival Hannover, Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival, Ottawa International Animation Festival, and Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film.
Shuyi CAO
Shuyi CAO (b. 1990 Guangzhou, lives and works in New York) explores alchemical approaches to material, matter, and osmosis of knowledge. Through archeological speculation and ecological fiction, she contemplates the porous plurality of relations among science, technoculture, and cosmology. Her work has been displayed internationally, including recent solo exhibitions at the 11th Biennale nationale de sculpture contemporaine, Quebec (2024); Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Shanghai (2023); duo exhibition at Para Site, Hongkong (2023), and group exhibitions at acclaimed institutions, such as He Art Museum, Foshan (2023), TAG Museum (Qingdao), Aranya Art Centre, Beidaihe (2023), Hyundai Motorstudio, Beijing (2023), Chronus Art Centre, Shanghai (2022), Ming Contemporary Art Museum, Shanghai (2021), Today Art Museum, Beijing (2021), NARS Foundation, New York (2021). She is a visiting assistant professor at Pratt Institute and founder of the Transmaterial Lab and held positions as artist-in-residence at Guangdong Times Museum, New Museum NEW INC, Power Station of Art, and The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. She received a Bachelor of Laws, an M.A. in Public Administration from Fudan University in Shanghai, and an M.F.A. in Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design, New York.
LONG Pan
LONG Pan (b.1991) is an independent artist with research focuses on the interpretation of deeper and often overlooked relationship between human existence and the environment in contemporary industrial societies, through non-human biological perspectives, to explore and present the “secret correspondences” of the whole network of life in which human beings live. She is interested in biological properties and biotechnology and has made invisible changes in the environment visible through biotechnologies such as “pyrometallurgy” and “fungal degradation”. Her representative works include Wonderland Intersection, Wind Bell and Phytometallurgy Series. Contributions have been published in M Art Foundation, Art News China. In 2022, she received the Prince Claude Foundation & Goethe-Institut Mentor Award for Responding to Environmental Change. In 2022, she was part of the Beijing Contemporary Art Foundation’s “Women Artists” Support Programme, sponsored by Christie’s.
LU Pingyuan
LU Pingyuan (b.1984, Zhejiang Province, China) lives and works in Shanghai. His practice is rooted in his interest in the intangibility of the human spirit and will. Through his creation and use of “stories”, LU presents the circulation and evolvement of human experiences. Spanning text, video, installation, painting, and sculpture, his works fuse surreal narrative with conceptual art. The artist builds a gigantic world of fantasy homologous with reality to reveal the spiritual predicament of contemporary human beings and rediscover the potential for spiritual connection between people and the universe. His works have been widely exhibited both at home and abroad. Recent exhibitions include: “Best of the Best Draw”, HE ART MUSEUM, Shunde, China, 2024; “Semi-Auto Wandering Gods”, Madein Gallery, Shanghai, China, 2024; “Trapping Cooking, Cooking Trapping, It’s a Lovely Life”, OCAT SHENZHEN, Shenzhen, China, 2022; “11th Shanghai Biennale”, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China, 2016; “9th Liverpool Biennale”, Liverpool, England, 2016, etc.
Ke PENG
Ke PENG is a new media artist with a Bachelor’s degree from the Central Academy of Fine Arts and a Master’s degree from the Royal College of Art, UK. Her practice encompasses new media installations, live performances, and video art, poetically exploring the intricate interactions between matter, sound, and light. Influenced by concepts such as new materialism and chaos theory, her work delves into scientific phenomena and the dynamic world of matter, revealing the vitality of the subtle materials around us.
Her work has been exhibited and performed at various international events, including V&A Museum (UK), The Centre Pompidou IRCAM Forum (FR), Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (CN), Society of Arts and Technology (CA), Media Art Nexus (SG), Shanghai West Bund Museum (CN), and Shanghai International Dance Center (CN).
François QUÉVILLON
François QUÉVILLON is an artist based in Montreal, Canada. His interdisciplinary practice explores phenomena of the world and perception through the implementation of processes that are sensitive to the fluctuations of environmental conditions and human interference. His work addresses planetary changes as well as those affecting contemporary media. He investigates how technology alters human cognition, culture, the environment, and our relationships with space, time and one another.
Frequently developed during artist residencies, his work has been presented at exhibitions and events dedicated to contemporary art, cinema, and digital creation, including Connecting the Dots (Mexico), Sundance’s New Frontier exhibition (Park City), Spaces Under Scrutiny at the Knockdown Center (New York), House Warming at the HKSTP Experience Centre (Hong Kong), ISEA (Gwangju, Dubai, and Albuquerque), Flora and İnsan Eli Değmiş at Kalyon Kültür (Istanbul), dreams at the Theatre of Digital Art (Dubai), OMAF – Digital Aura (Seoul), FILE (São Paulo), IndieBo (Bogotá), LOOP Barcelona, Contemporary Istanbul, Mirage Festival (Lyon), Show Off Paris, Festival de la Imagen (Manizales), Mois Multi (Québec), FIFA, Mutek, NeurIPS, RIDM, Elektra, and International Digital Art Biennal (Montréal). Different iterations of his solo exhibition entitled La Terre en suspens have recently been presented in Canada.
SHAO Chun
SHAO Chun is a new media artist whose creative work spans multimedia installations, electronic textiles (E-textiles), post-internet art, and design fiction. She graduated from the China Academy of Art in 2010 and earned her Master’s degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (Performance Art Department) in 2013. From 2014 to 2018, SHAO Chun taught at the University of Washington’s DXARTS Center in Seattle while pursuing her PhD studies there. After receiving her PhD in 2019, she was sponsored by FeralAIR and Schmiede to continue her artist residency in Austria. Her recent research focuses on combining traditional craft techniques with electronic programming to explore the relationship between the poetics of tactile sensations and interactive aesthetics, which also leads to reflections on contemporary digital life.
SHEN Shaomin
Contemporary Artist, Documentary Director, Poet, Director of the Public Art Research Institute, Benyuan Design and Research Centre, Shenzhen University, Art Director of the Science + Art Joint Lab, Shenzhen Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics for Society.
Currently based in Shenzhen, Beijing (China), and Sydney (Australia). Multi-disciplinary and cross-media, notable works span installation, video, documentary, conceptual painting, poetry, and public art, among other formats. Have been the chief director of the Shenzhen Civic Centre International Artist Light Show.
Kurina SOHN
Kurina SOHN is a multidisciplinary designer from Korea, currently based in Amsterdam. She is fascinated by the exploration of realms, life forms, and narratives that transcend the ordinary. The projects are rooted in extensive research and adopt a poetic lens to craft fluid and inclusive interpretations of contemporary realities.
The creative process involves tools and technologies such as artificial intelligence, digital fabrication, and immersive installation. She was a lecturer of the Cross media Design Department at Akl ArtEZ. She co-initiated a fluid Asian collective called NeeNee Collective. She is involved in residencies, grants, and exhibits internationally: Z33(Hasselt, BE), V2 Lab for the Unstable Media(Rotterdam, NL), and Het Nieuwe Instituut (Rotterdam, NL)
Chief Project Creator: Dorothy WONG
Line Producer: Cici TANG
Exhibition Manager: ZHANG Xu
Exhibition Coordinator: Betty WANG, WANG Aiwen
Tangent Media
Curator: Iris LONG
Graphic Design: WU Zijie
Spatial Design: A42