Curated by ArtReview and presented by K11 Art Foundation, ‘Breaking the Waves’ is a group exhibition that reflects on art as dialogue and collaboration as we emerge from times of isolation
Breaking the Waves is a touring exhibition featuring the work of 14 artists and artist collectives from around the world, including Larry Achiampong, Chim↑Pom, Ripon Chowdhury with Ho Tzu Nyen, Adriano Costa, Eisa Jocson, Michael Joo, Jac Leirner, Yuko Mohri and David Horvitz, Laure Prouvost, Slime Engine, Wolfgang Tillmans and Zheng Bo. The exhibition will be on show from 17 July to 17 October 2021 at chi K11 art museum in Shanghai, before travelling to K11 Art Foundation’s venues in Guangzhou and Hong Kong where it will be on show at dates to be announced soon.
As we begin to emerge from a time of solitude and isolation, Breaking the Waves focuses on discussion and dialogue as a cornerstone of contemporary art, highlighting the role of conversation and sociability in contemporary practice. Moreover, it explores the various ways in which art develops communication and connectivity at a time when both seem in short supply.
The title refers to both persistence, and the endlessly repeating climax of waves breaking on ashore, and to the act of swimming against the tide, coming up for air. In the current moment it also seeks to convey optimism about the latent potentials for renewal as we slowly begin to reenter a world reshaped following COVID-19 outbreaks. A celebration of art’s propensity for thinking differently and going against the grain, the exhibition seeks to speak to community, solidarity and the inspiring, sometimes challenging visions of new futures and new possibilities that art is uniquely placed to offer.
Balancing between the poles of work and play, the art on show tackles relationships between humans and nature, conditions of migration and mobility, exploitation and cooperation, the potentials of new technologies and the ways in which artists collaborate or enter into dialogue with the work of their peers, however separated they may be by chronology or geography.
More than anything, however, it examines the many ways in which art allows us to view the world and locate ourselves within it through a fresh or alternative lens. Featuring a mixture of both static and interactive works, the exhibition treats the audience as ‘fellow travellers’ on a journey that is staged to highlight both the development of individual points of view and the operations of a shared vision or a collective social consciousness. Cumulatively it teases out the ways in which the personal becomes public and the ways in which art allows the individual to adopt the perspective of the other. The very basis around which equitable social dialogue is founded. Across generations and cultures, linking, contrasting and exploring new or renewed waves of creativity.
Breaking the Waves
17 July – 17 October 2021
chi K11 art museum
K11 Art Mall – B3, no 300, Huaihai
Middle Road, Huangpu District
Shanghai
About K11 Art Foundation
Founded by Adrian Cheng in 2010, K11 Art Foundation (KAF) is a non-profit organisation in Hong Kong dedicated to fostering the development of Chinese contemporary art. In pursuing our mission, we are committed to supporting artists through KAF’s exhibitions, artist residencies, and educational programmes. We also actively establish partnerships with leading art and cultural institutions around the world, collaborating with curators and other industry specialists to create impactful cross-cultural exchange and contribute to the expanding global contemporary art discourse.
Over the years, KAF has collaborated with the Royal Academy of Arts, Serpentine Galleries, and the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London; Centre Pompidou, Palais de Tokyo, and Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris; Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Figueres; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New Museum, The Museum of Modern Art, and MoMA PS1, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing; and Videotage, British Council Hong Kong, Design Trust, and Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong, among others. www.k11artfoundation.org
About chi K11 art museum
Located in central Shanghai, chi K11 art museum opened in 2013 and covers a total area of 3,000 square metres. To date, the venue has held more than 60 art exhibitions of varying types, including Master of Impressionism – Claude Monet and Media – Dali, not to mention its more than 600 separate lecture series and great number of artist forums and art workshops for the general public. Having collaborated with leading art museums across the world (including Palais de Tokyo and Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London and Serpentine Gallery in London, and MoMA PS1 and the New Museum in New York), chi K11 art museum encourages cross-cultural dialogue between local and global art scenes and provides art lovers of all ages with access to contemporary art in the form of fulfilling aesthetic experiences.
An artistic playground of sorts, chi K11 art museum is a place where stage-like and tangible displays boost viewers’ creative potential. It is a place that welcomes the development of contemporary art, a base where the public can feel free to explore, and a home for indigenous culture to flourish in expression.
