Hu Yun
Residency period
27 March – 17 May 2017
About
The work of Hu Yun (b. 1986, China) ranges from drawing and watercolours to performance, video, and installation. Delving into personal and historical narratives, Hu revisits historical moments in order to provide alternative readings and reinterpretations. His works have been exhibited at the 11th Gwangju Biennale, The Eight Climate (What Does Art Do?), South Korea, 2016; Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China, 2015; the 7th Shenzhen Sculpture Biennale, China, 2012, and National History Museum, London, United Kingdom, 2010. He is also the co-founder of PDF, an independent art e-journal.
Focus
Hu Yun’s practice is grounded in research, surveys, travels, oral histories, and archives. Since 2012, Hu has made several trips to China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Southeast Asia to retrace the footsteps of missionaries such as Matteo Ricci and St. Francis Xavier, exploring both the factual and the imaginary. In line with this research, Hu will be investigating Chinese cemeteries and graveyards in Singapore as spaces of historical encounters. Of particular interest are the symbolisms of epitaphs on early 20th century tombstones as a reflection of the political landscape in China. Hu will also retrace the immigration of Chinese artists from China to Singapore in the early 20th century through Mr Koh Nguang How’s Singapore Art Archive Project.
Public programmes
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Which motivations lie behind an artist’s practice? How does an artist determine his field of inquiry? Grounded on surveys, travels, oral histories, and archives, Artist-in-Residence Hu Yun excavates historical narratives to produce works that subtly merge the factual and the imaginary. During the residency, Hu researched the waves of emigration that took place in the early 20th century retracing the routes that led artists from China to Singapore prompting the development of the Nanyang style. Drawing connections between the research undertook in Singapore and a project commissioned by Villa Vassilieff, Paris, France, Hu Yun will reflect upon his deep-seated interest in the dawn of modernity and in patterns of mobility and contamination. He will also speak about his collaboration with Singapore artist and researcher Koh Nguang How who will be an active participant to the talk contributing his own comments.
The talk will take place in the artist’s studio.