K11 Art Foundation

K11 Art Foundation (KAF) is proud to announce Segmented Landscape, a solo exhibition by emerging Chinese artist Liu Chuang. The exhibition title, Segmented Landscape, is derived from an eponymous artwork by Liu Chuang, which lies at the core of the exhibition. The visual imagery of the artwork is based on the classical Chinese pattern “Fangsheng”, a common device that has been used as anti-burglary grilles on windows since 1980s. The motif has become ubiquitous among modern architecture, witnessing the evolving social history through the lens of its multilayered profile. First exhibited in the 10th Shanghai Biennial under the invitation of Chief Curator Anselm Franke, Liu Chuang showed his most recent video works from that series in this solo presentation. A progression of installations and videos interrogating both the utilitarian aspect of ‘window’ and the aesthetic was on display, projecting the trajectory of China’s modernisation in last thirty years.

The exhibition aims to depict a ‘living relic’ rather than a ‘living human trace’. In a curatorial discussion, the artist stated that: “some used items, they enter their own destiny after leaving human beings; or they have their destiny already at birth.” The show seeks to engage in the theme of “destiny”, of individuals or objects.

Untitled Album is another new work derived from an earlier piece Buying Everything on You, where Liu collected belongings from young people seeking jobs in the Southern China. For Untitled Album, the artist repeated this practice and reproduced 90 photographs taken by those young people. As a whole, the set is conceptualised into a capturing of time and space in an age of smart phones and social media. Through these documentations the materiality of photography and possibilities of formats of ‘portrait’ and ‘group photo’ are considered. Furthermore, the rarely-shown-to-public video installation Arrow of Arrangement showcased to denote abstract and sapless tracks of the ‘self – destiny’, involved in various channels of digital technology.

Situated in a narrative arc of social history, Segmented Landscape creates an intimate experience of art for the local community. KAF is proud to provide a springboard for young and emerging contemporary Chinese artists such as Liu Chuang, and continuously support the formation of new artworks, meditations as well as inventiveness on the cultural landscape in China.