Selected Bruises, 2022, installation views, Oberwelt e.V., Stuttgart, Germany
Selected Bruises
2022
Powder coated aluminum shelf, 3 watercolors on found A4 papers
A text by Ruxin Liu for the group exhibition Floating Employees:
In the spring of 2020, with the pandemic permanently crippling the public system in numerous countries, a survey by a Singaporean newspaper involving 1,000 participants related to the pandemic incited the arts community worldwide. According to the survey, professions such as a doctor, cleaner, and delivery person were the most essential, and the artistic profession is the least supported in this crisis. The result is the reflection of the value system not only in Singapore but also in many other societies. Artist Mierle Laderman Ukeles wrote ”Manifesto for Maintenance Art“ in 1969, in which she treated ‘maintenance’ as an important value in contrast to the excitement of industrial ‘development’. As young artists, we are faced with the same old problem now. While viewers could enjoy seeing some art in off-spaces, the price of real-estates quietly arises. Young artists are frustrated to find themselves facilitating the gentrification of the neighbourhood. Besides, only a few artists could enter art institutions and get paid well while the majority of artists struggle to have a life. And the consequence of these contradictories is that young artists usually have to do other jobs, in order to survive while making art. With this background, Floating Employees was initiated. 6 artists who studied in Stuttgart are showing works, which respond artistically to these complexities in various ways.