Exploring the Museum Collection Check-in: Traveling with the Artist

DURATION: 2013-02-10 ~ 2013-04-07
OPENING: 2013-02-10
VENUE: KAOHSIUNG MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS Galleries 101-103
ADDRESS: 80 Meishuguan Road, Kaohsiung

When Apple and Facebook start to dominate our lives, the virtual world is fully encroaching upon the reality. The term “check-in” in Chinese originates from “punch-in” which refers to the keeping of attendance records of office workers. Nowadays with the rapid development of mobile communication systems, wireless internet, social networks and image records, “checks-in” on Facebook have become something like a ritual for people in modern society. There are two conceptual levels of the term “check-in.” On the surface, it simply means presence in one place and “been there, done that.” However, on the deeper level, it can mean one’s interpretations of the connections between “oneself” and “environment” built on the premise of experience sharing and notification. By “checking-in,” the two worlds of reality and virtuality are connected. Just like Facebook users “check in” on the Internet, artists use their works as a medium to connect the physical and virtual worlds of art. During the process of artistic creation, the “selves” of artists are merged with the environment and redefines the existence of physical sites in the world of art. Showcasing many exciting works from the Museum’s collection, this exhibition is composed of two sub-themes: “Wandering between Heart and Scenery” and “Traveling from the Border of Virtuality.” The exhibition is intended to re-interpret the modern concepts of “sites” or “environments” based on the contemporary spirit of “check-in.” The first part of the exhibition consists of paintings with the emphasis on the artists’ intuitive records and representations in their unique artistic rhetoric of places which they visited. The works of the second part also include mixed-media, photography, video art and sculptures, attempting to explore different meanings of existence in physical locations.