Artists: Apian, Isabell Bullerschen, Cao Shu, collectif_fact, Dong Bingqing, Dorota Gawęda & Eglė Kulbokaitė, Maria Guta & Lauren Huret, Hu Rui, Sandra Knecht, Zhao Qian

Curator: Chen Min

Night Pieces is inspired by the 18th-century Dark Romanticism classic, the Sandman, by E.T.A. Hoffman, from which the exhibition draws grotesque and unheimlich poetics. It extends several of the novel’s themes and situates them in a contemporary proposition which includes the exploration of the boundary between machine intelligence and the human mind, the observation of the visual (dis)orders comparing blindness with the monstrosity and illusion with signs, and the analysis of both the individual unconsciousness and a collective desire.

Like the fictional sandman that haunts us and seeks to take possession of our eyes and minds, the "monster" is everywhere; not only do we know them from images of the devil in films and television, but it also hides from us in a human-like disguise. It dwells in the folds of our shower curtains or intestines. The false memories of our brains, the malfunctions of our hardwares or softwares, and the illusions created by technical images only feed it more. Formless, orderless, nameless, soundless. It terrifies us even with the slightest slice of a shadow. However, as for the viscera and microflora of a human body, the organic and inorganic companion species, the imaginary friend and companion spirits, or the unconsciousness and inner demons, it is difficult to tell what differentiates a human from a monster. Indeed, who is the alien?

Where the light of reason fails to reach, the nightcrawlers delve into the most vulnerable and elusive realms of the mind, exposing themselves in the enigmatic expanse of the night. Night Pieces invites the audience to venture alongside these "monsters". This exhibition features ten media artists or collectives from Switzerland and China who have written a symphony of mind, vision, and abyss. Drawing inspiration from Techno-romanticism, their works channels the madness of imagination and the yearning for the unknown into the exhibition space. They are reconstructing the interplay between senses and matter, creating encounters with the uncanny. Their explorations begin with the idea of "monsters" and expand into various themes such as Border Ecology and New materialism, Posthuman technology and Ethics, Political Economy of the Images (Iconography), Media studies, Feminism, among others.

This project is supported by Pro Helvetia Shanghai, the Swiss Arts Council and curated by CHEN Min. Following the preview in Shanghai in April 2023, the exhibition body of Night Pieces will reappear at the Three Shadows Xiamen Photography Art Centre in Xiamen, China, from 31 August to 10 November 2024.

Text/ Chen Min