[ONLINE] They Do Not Understand Each Other: Artworks on Cultural Exchange and Understanding

Description

Tai Kwun Contemporary’s art exhibition They Do Not Understand Each Other, presented by the National Museum of Art, Osaka and the Singapore Art Museum, features works from the two museums’ collections alongside new commissions.

This group exhibition draws from the title of an artwork by Tsubasa Kato, in which the artist, speaking in Japanese, attempts to cooperate with a collaborator from Korea. Despite being unable to understand each other’s languages, it would appear they find some measure of connection, even if in humorous miscommunication, finally completing their task of installing a sign on the small island set in the vastness of a sea that separates (or connects) these two nations.

Artworks on show revolve around cultural exchange and the understanding it promotes. The exhibition thus presents art about exchange, communication, miscommunication, connections, tolerance, representation, as well as the desire to find common ground in the unfamiliar.

Joining Hong Kong’s battle against the third wave of COVID-19, the exhibition is also offered online through the “VR 360° Virtual Gallery” platform, found on their website.  The sleek interface allows one to feel like they are walking through the gallery, providing an immersive cultural experience and an escape from isolation.

Featured image courtesy of Tai Kwun
Tsubasa Kato, “They do not understand each other” (2014)
Collection of the National Museum of Art, Osaka
Photography by Keiichi Sakakura