Meditations in an Emergency is the first exhibition to open in 2020 at UCCA Beijing, bringing together 26 Chinese and international artists reflecting on the role of art during a time of crisis.
From May 21 to August 30, 2020, UCCA Center for Contemporary Art presents the group exhibition “Meditations in an Emergency.” The exhibition emerges in the wake of the pandemic which has created the first truly global moment of the twenty-first century. As it marks UCCA’s reopening after the longest closure in its history, since late January, the exhibition looks to art as a source of solace, reflection, and solidarity. Structured in five sections—focused on everyday life, the body and biopolitics, the human/animal dichotomy, migration and borders, and the information landscape—the exhibition includes works by 26 artists. These engage with the currents that have led to our present circumstances, and what futures we might find in the aftermath. The exhibition takes its title from an anthology of poetry by Frank O’Hara (1926-1966), better known during his short life as a curator at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. As O’Hara wrote in one of the included poems, “In times of crisis, we must all decide again and again whom we love.”
Like art institutions all over the world, in an unpredictable year UCCA has learned to prioritize adaptability and flexibility in light of changing conditions. Previously planned exhibitions for the spring and summer have, regrettably, been rescheduled for later in the year or farther in the future. “Meditations in an Emergency” marks an adjustment to new realities, coming together in a world demarcated by new logistical restrictions. Despite these parameters, the exhibition also offers UCCA an opportunity to think nimbly, allowing our curatorial team to re-focus on regional context and urgent artistic currents. It juxtaposes emerging artists with more established figures from China and abroad, and engages with pressing concerns that previously lurked beneath the surface. The works mostly predate January 2020, but have taken on new significance in this changed world.
Curated by
The UCCA exhibitions team: Guo Xi, Luan Shixuan, Ara Qiu, Lin Luqi, Duffy Du, and Neil Zhang
Participating artists
Lawrence Abu Hamdan (b. 1985, Amman)
Musquiqui Chihying (b. 1985, Taipei)
Forensic Architecture (est. 2010, London)
Han Bing (b. 1986, Shandong province)
Christopher K. Ho (b. 1974, Hong Kong)
Joyce Ho (b. 1983, Taipei)
Hsu Chia-Wei (b. 1983, Taichung)
Hu Rui (b. 1990, Liupanshui, China)
Pierre Huyghe (b, 1962, Paris)
Jiang Zhuyun (b. 1984, Hangzhou)
Oliver Laric (b, 1981, Innsbruck, Austria)
Amiko Li (b. 1993, Shanghai)
Li Liao (b. 1982, Honghu, China)
Lu Lei (b. 1972, Jiangsu province)
Shana Moulton (b. 1976, Oakhurst, USA)
Qiu Anxiong (b. 1972, Sichuan province)
Mika Rottenberg (b. 1976, Buenos Aires)
Angela Su (b. Hong Kong)
Wolfgang Tillmans (b. 1968, Remscheid, Germany)
Yi Xin Tong (b. 1988, Lushan, China)
Wang Bing (b. 1967, Xi’an)
Yang Fudong (b. 1971, Beijing)
Zhang Hui (b, 1967, Heilongjiang province)
Zhang Peili (b. 1957, Hangzhou)
Robert Zhao Renhui (b. 1983, Singapore)
Payne Zhu (b, 1990, Shanghai)
