- Amy Qian
Opening Reception, Saturday, April 4, 1pm - 4pm
Limited free seating is available on a roundtrip chartered bus from New York City for the April 4th opening. Reservations are required and can be made on this by calling +1 845-758-7598 or emailing Mary Rozell at mrozell@bard.edu.
Artists: He Zike, Ma Qiusha
We made it up to remember … is a two-person exhibition featuring recent film and installation by Chinese artists He Zike and Ma Qiusha. Capturing subtle shifts experienced by bodies navigating local urban spaces, the two artists craft scenes drawn from urban life that frame intimate, personal narratives. Simultaneously, the works point to histories that mark important political and infrastructural changes in a nation. These works imagine extended narratives based on long-spanning research into familial archives and local investigations.
Following an encounter with an old photograph of her late grandfather online, Ma restages a spectacular arrangement of flowers often used in landscaping and national celebrations in Beijing. The red salvia and yellow marigold recall commonly used flower types for such festive occasions, while the installation’s large scale and shape evoke a screen that takes over the space. The installation helped Ma better understand her grandfather’s life and China in the 1950s. For the viewer, it transitions us to a past historical period while asking us to discern between realness and illusion in the gallery space.
He’s film Random Access (2023) makes its US gallery debut in We made it up to remember … A taxi driver and a passenger navigate Guiyang, the artist’s hometown, on a day when the local data center malfunctions. The film is inspired by the artist’s family’s changed life routines due to technological constructions. He sets footage of streets, tunnels, data centers, and mountains to voice-overs in the Guiyang dialect and a soundtrack of rediscovered cassette recordings of her father’s, creating a melancholic narrative and disorienting experience. By weaving her on-site observations, study of ecologies, and engagement with local communities into the film, He asks how we remember, navigate, and recollect.
The exhibition’s two works provide each other with relief. Ma and He both depart from personal lived experience and present the acute loss—disappearing narratives buried under speed and numbers—that underscores infrastructural and technological development in contemporary China.
Support for artist travel is generously provided by Francesca Sonara (CCS Bard ’10).
