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Karmic Fissures

_{13 July - 07 September 2024}

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.

The exhibition opens on 13 July 2024 (Sat) from 2 to 7 PM and is on view till 07 September 2024 (Sat). Artists Genie Hui, Phoebe Hui, and Yi To will be present at the opening, while at 4 PM there will be an artist talk in Cantonese.

As part of the program, three guided tours will take place on 27 July (In English), 10 August (In Cantonese), and 24 August (In Mandarin) respectively, all start at 3PM. No registration is required and everyone is welcome to join.

Artists
↗ Chloë Cheuk
↗ Genie Hui
↗ Phoebe Hui
↗ Kin Ting Li
↗ Yi To

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.

Chloë Cheuk works across installation, interactive media, photography, and video to explore the structure of feelings between individuals and society. Resonating with everyday experiences and memories, her art employs a minimalist yet spiritual and aesthetic language to unveil the metaphorical meanings of objects and foster intimate dialogues on both personal and collective levels. Genie Hui modernises traditional ink works on paper by infusing them with vibrant hues and phantasmagoric imageries. Inspired by her Thai heritage and Buddhist upbringing, her works captivate the viewers to meditate on energy flows and creation processes. The uncanny, bodily landscapes and fantastical compositions created by the meticulous brush strokes represent the interconnectedness in the universe and boundless cosmic possibilities. Through her interdisciplinary approach, Phoebe Hui’s practice probes into the shifting dynamics between language, sound, and technology, exploring notions drawn from the philosophy of science, system aesthetics, and the idea of indeterminacy. Her recent works, which involve the construction of robotic devices that reinterpret data and bring awareness to mediation tools used to depict the visible and invisible worlds, shed light on the critical role that representation plays in science and one's understanding of the Universe. Situated between imagination and reality, Kin Ting Li creates evolving organic and inorganic structures that suggest both the microscopic and the astronomical. His paintings synthesise departure points from daily life that range from observations of nature to literature and architecture. In her painting and sculptural practice, Yi To renders a mental interface of a collective user interface we existed in, where minute building blocks converge and disperse, creating entities that ripple and crosstalk across various points. In such controlled hallucination, she envisions the self as an ever-reproducing embryonic domain and the body as a reservoir of information that intermittently appears, and eventually disappears into the void.

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Installation View

Installation view of ‘Karmic Fissures’ at PODIUM, Hong Kong. Photo: Lok Hang Wu. Courtesy of PODIUM, Hong Kong.

Artists

Chloë Cheuk

Genie Hui

Phoebe Hui

Kin Ting Li

Yi To

PODIUM

Unit 9D, E Tat Factory Building,
4 Heung Yip Road,
Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong

Tuesday – Saturday
11:00 AM – 7:00 PM 
Closed on public holidays