Building upon the success of its previous guest curator programs, ASIA NOW has invited X Zhu-Nowell, Assistant Curator at the Guggenheim New York, to devise this year's Curatorial Platform. Taking its title from the popular internet abbreviation IRL {In Real Life} , the Platform celebrates an emerging generation of artists who are digital natives and whose work critically engages with new media, issues of technology, and the challenges of contemporary art practice within our new sensorial environments. 

Works included in the IRL {In Real Life} Platform approach the subject of digital media and technology through a broader conceptual lens, instead of the often conceived realm of technology as “cutting-edge”, “innovative”, or even “awe-inspiring”.

The IRL {In Real Life} Platform was enacted in four sections, each of the sections referring to a different mode of interaction: Unboxing, Peer-to-Peer, Hyperlink, and Chat Room.

The Unboxing section took its name from a genre of popular YouTube videos where a YouTuber will, quite literally, “unbox” or unwrap a new product in front of a camera. The Unboxing section featured new special projects that were physically revealed- or unboxed- to the art fair visitors. With a new dedicated exhibition space, the carefully selected projects included some of the most exciting emerging artists working in/from Asia.

Among the Unboxing section, the projects included a Solo show by Chinese artist Liu Wa, curated by Michael Xufu Huang (Collector and founder of X Museum), presented by SABSAY; a Virtual Reality project Suus ‘Oculis Meis by artist Judy Lui in collaboration with computer scientist Michael Chang, and curated by Michael Xufu Huang ; COLD SINGLE,  a new experimental short film by artist ITEM IDEM (Cyril Duval), inspired by his life in Taiwan, realized in collaboration with Taiwanese director MEL HSIEH, featuring a musical score by American producer DUTCH E GERM. COLD SINGLE has been presented for the first time at ASIA NOW 2019.

The Peer to Peer section took its name from the decentralized computer network systems made infamous through early internet file sharing platforms such as Napster and BitTorrent. In a designated space, Peer-to-Peer was a platform to showcase collectors’ collections and forms a direct network system of their peers.

This portion of the programme functioned as a networking hub, where visionary collectors showcased works from their collections at the fair, as well as discussing them.
Participant collectors included Michael Xufu Huang (founder of X Museum), Lu Xun, Co-founder and Director of the Sifang Art Museum (Nanjing, China).

Hyperlink was a series of performances that ran for the duration of the fair and was activated throughout the entire grounds, at various times. Invited performances may be direct, suggestive, hidden, improvisatory, or otherwise spontaneous, mimicking the interaction - and performativity - that one has when clicking on a hyperlink on-line. Performances in the Hyperlink section pulled from a wide range of performative references, ranging from queer underground raves, choreographed durational compositions, to slam poetry.

Hyperlink featured a nocturnal programme by Paris-based curators, Pierre-Alexandre Mateos and Charles Teyssou, with a DJ set by Erwan Sene and Antonin Roux, a DJ duo and founders of the Proxi label specialised in pan-Asian electronic music, and a DJ set by ShuShu, underground DJ, songwriter and vocalist, specially invited by the collective Nüshu. Hyperlink also featured the lecture performance Hong Kong Weather Modification Office (Square Cloud) by artist Wong Kit Yi.  

Lastly, the Chat Room was a physical space that hosted a range of dialogues. Using the idea of on-line chatrooms as a framework, the Chat Room connected various artists, collectors, curators, thinkers, and gallerists together, to discuss a wide range of topics in an informal setting.

X Zhu-Nowell - ASIA NOW 2019 Guest Curator

Building upon the success of its previous guest curator programs, ASIA NOW has invited X Zhu-Nowell, Assistant Curator at the Guggenheim New York, to devise this year’s Curatorial Platform. Taking its title from the popular internet abbreviation IRL {In Real Life}, her programme celebrated an emerging generation of artists who are digital natives and whose work critically engages with new media, issues of technology, and the challenges of contemporary art practice within our new sensorial environments.

Guest curator program: IRL {In Real Life} by X Zhu-Nowell (Assistant Curator at the Guggenheim Museum in New York)

X Zhu-Nowell is an Assistant Curator at the Guggenheim where they are involved with a wide range of exhibitions and programs.

Currently, they are leading the effort to build the Guggenheim’s first acquisition group dedicated to the works of Asian and Asian diaspora artists, which includes an annual performance and/or discursive program. As well, they are working on a full rotunda collection show tentatively titled Performance, Process and Politics in the 1970s (2021-2022).

Previously, they contributed to the research and implantation of the Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World in New York and its subsequent tour to Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Prior to joining the Guggenheim Museum in 2014, they were part of the curatorial team for the 14th Istanbul Biennial SALTWATER: A Theory of Thought Forms and held curatorial positions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, the Sullivan Galleries and the Hyde Park Art Center.

They hold a master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Since 2018, X Zhu-Nowell has collaborated with Freddie Cruz Nowell as Passing Fancy, a curatorial and artistic research duo that focuses on auditory aesthetics, mediality, and discourses of queerness.

>> Meet X Zhu - Nowell Wednesday 16 October, 3.15pm @ASIA NOW 2019 - Chat Room