Angela Su proudly presents: Lauren O—The Greatest Levitator in the Polyhedric Cosmos of Time

EVENT DESCRIPTION

M+, Asia’s first global museum of contemporary visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong, and Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) are pleased to co-present Angela Su proudly presents: Lauren O—The Greatest Levitator in the Polyhedric Cosmos of Time.

The exhibition is an adapted and site-responsive showcase of the successful presentation by Angela Su, the local artist representing Hong Kong at the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. Marking the fifth collaboration between M+ and HKADC at this acclaimed international art platform, the exhibition is the first response exhibition to Hong Kong’s presentation staged at M+ since its opening in November 2021. The exhibition will be on display from Friday, 9 June to Sunday, 8 October 2023 in the Cissy Pui-Lai Pao and Shinichiro Watari Galleries at M+.

In the wild imaginative world of Su, Lauren O is a legendary levitator who played an instrumental role in the 1960s anti-war movement in the United States. Presented in two parts, Lauren O—The Greatest Levitator in the Polyhedric Cosmos of Time illustrates Lauren O’s obsession with transformation and levitation. Su discovered the archives of the enigmatic figure, believed to be a modern myth, unearthing the fascinating life of Lauren O as well as her studies into levitation and polydedral forms.

The first part of the exhibition presents Lauren O’s study models of polyhedra, mostly from the 1960s, and her journal. Ranging from solid forms to open frames, the irregular polygons Lauren O constructed advance a theory of levitation that challenges classical ideas about geometry and the universe. Displayed on a cross-shaped plinth, the series of models reflects a process of reconstructing irregular polygons to configure nature and the shape of the cosmos. Lauren O’s journal reveals that her dream of levitation emerged from and alongside counterculture movements that sought to break social structures as closed and static as the classical polyhedra. Lauren O was believed to be involved in a 1967 plan to levitate the Pentagon in the United States in opposition to the Vietnam War. Her research on the event was recorded in the journal with over two hundred notes and illustrations.

The second part of the exhibition presents Su’s artistic interpretation of Lauren O’s beliefs. Lauren O was possibly a member of Laden Raven, an activist group catalysed by the US anti-war movement in the 1960s. The group’s raven symbol can be found throughout the exhibition, including in a series of hair embroidery works of birds titled Museum of the Trembling Conspiracy of the Murder of Ravens (2023). The exhibition will also feature The Magnificent Levitation Act of Lauren O (2022), a film that narrates the story of Lauren O and her involvement with Laden Raven.

ABOUT THE ARTIST / ORGANISER

Angela Su’s works investigate the perception and imagery of the body through processes of metamorphosis, hybridity, and transformation. Her research-based projects materialise into drawing, video, hair embroidery, and performative and installation works, which explore the interrelations between our state of being and the advancement of technology. Central to these projects are video essays and texts that weave together fact and fiction, and reality and fantasy. With a focus on the history of medical science, her works question dominant biomedical discourse and contemplate the impact of technology on the past, present, and future.