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Karmic Fissures

13 July - 7 September

Free

EVENT DESCRIPTION

PODIUM is delighted to present the group exhibition ‘Karmic Fissures’, the gallery’s first program featuring works solely by diasporic and local Hong Kong contemporary artists, including Chloë Cheuk, Genie Hui, Phoebe Hui, Kin  Ting Li, and Yi To. Interweaving media art, sculptures, installations, and paintings, the exhibition navigates between philosophies drawn from quantum physics and Buddhism to speculate how one may uncover microscopic, nuanced dynamics within hegemonic, overpowering orders. Through acute mindfulness of complex yet traceable loci of causes and effects, the artists open up karmic fissures to evoke radical transmutation and intervene in the logic of impossibility.

Our world is now an overheated machine fueled by ongoing violence, war, and injustice. The sense of hopelessness and helplessness is overwhelming in these dire times, especially when fighting the external seems no longer feasible to overthrow hegemony and macro-structures. Rather than taking the route of sadomasochistic destruction or neurotic rebellion when facing encompassing tyranny, it is evident that we urgently need a different ligne de fuite (line of flight) to envisage multiple possible futures, where one takes a flight towards the internal to subvert and disentangle microscopic causes and effects. Recent studies revealed that quantum physics and Buddhism share similar insights on how worldly phenomena are merely an illusion—something that is not what it seems to be. The former understands phenomena at small submicroscopic scales, in which the material world is a holographic reality made of quantum particles that exist as transitory manifestations. Meanwhile, the latter highlights that phenomena one experiences are intertwined with the entity’s cognitive processing; their craving and attachment arise from sensory experiences causing them to construct and project illusions with their finite minds. In other words, our existence is construed by the limited, essentialist, and dualistic thinking; only when one traverses and detaches from such fantasies do they lose their substantiality and power over us.

By synthesising fundamental ideas of Buddhist philosophy and quantum physics, the exhibition, through manifold visual languages and an array use of media, attempts to defy traditional understandings of causality, blur the boundaries between the material and the immaterial, and open up infinite possibilities beyond worldly dichotomies and even language. Similarly, the five artists invite the viewer to a reality where probabilities, waves, and uncertainties reign, exploring the hidden dynamics beneath the surface of our quotidian experiences.

Details

Start:
13 July
End:
7 September
Admission:
Free
Event Category:
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Organiser

PODIUM

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