Solo Exhibition | Towards Evenings: 891 Dusks, an Encyclopaedia of Psychological Experiences by Chen Zhe
Opening Event | Artist Talk by Chen Zhe | Thursday, January 23 | 7 pm
Opening Reception | Friday, January 24 | 7 pm – 10 pm
January 24 – March 22, 2020
Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art | 1, 460 Portage Ave | Winnipeg MB | Canada
Plug In ICA is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Beijing-based artist, Chen Zhe. Started in 2012 and ever-expanding, Towards Evenings is a journey in search of the nebulous space between day and night, light and twilight, the known and the unknown. With a particular focus on the interpretative slippage in between reading and viewing, Chen materializes her fascination with the topic by probing literature and visual clues throughout history and across culture. While each of the chapters within this interwoven body of work stands individually, taken together they constitute a spatial structure of understanding human responses to the intricate and transient experiences at dusk. 891 Dusks, an Encyclopedia of Psychological Experiences is a subchapter of the second chapter in a six-chapter series. It presents the artist’s rigorous research on widespread symptoms of “evening uneasiness” presented in an encyclopaedic structure mimicking that of the bible, categorizing and conceptualizing “disquiet” through hundreds of “psycho-poetic” entries.
Chen Zhe (b.1989, Beijing) received her BFA in Photography and Imaging from Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. Her works has recently be featured in exhibitions at Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden, Germany (2019); The 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT9), Brisbane, Australia (2018); Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2018); Para Site Art Space, Hong Kong (2018); OCAT Museum Xi’an, Xi’an (solo, 2018); CAFA Art Museum, Beijing (2017); The 11th Shanghai Biennial, Shanghai (2016); Power Station of Art, Shanghai (2016); Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai (2016); The Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2013); and Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing (2011). Chen is the recipient of the Foam Talent (2018), Xitek New Talent Award (2015), Lianzhou Festival Photographer of the Year Award (2012), Three Shadows Award (2011) and the Inge Morath Award from the Magnum Foundation (2011). She is also subject of TV documentary films Chinese Viewfinder produced by ARTE, France (2013) and China Through the Lens of Youth produced by NHK, Japan (2014). Her latest publication Bees & The Bearable was awarded the Best Photobook of the Year by Kassel Fotobookfestival in 2016.
Associated Programming
Opening Event | Artist Talk by Chen Zhe | Thursday, January 23 | 7 pm
Solo Exhibition | NeuroSpeculative AfroFeminism by Hyphen-Labs | January 24 – March 22, 2020
Acknowledgments
Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art recognizes we are in the territories of the Anishinaabeg, Cree, Dakota, Dene, Métis, and Oji-Cree Nations. Plug In ICA is situated in Treaty 1 territory, the ancestral and traditional homeland of Anishinaabeg peoples. Treaty 1 was signed in 1871, taking this territory from seven local Anishinaabeg First Nations in order to make the land available for settler use and ownership (Referenced from the University of Winnipeg).
Plug In ICA extends gratitude to our artists, generous donors, valued members and dedicated volunteers, with special thanks to our Director’s Circle.
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Manitoba Arts Council and Winnipeg Arts Council. We could not operate without their continued financial investment and lobbying efforts.
Plug In ICA relies on community support to remain free and accessible to all, and enables us to continue to present excellent programs. Please consider becoming a member of Plug In ICA and a donor online or by contacting Angela Forget: angela@plugin.org
For more information on public programs and exhibitions, contact Nasrin Himada at nasrin@plugin.org
For general information please contact: info@plugin.org or call 1.204.942.1043