Text by CLOT Magazine
Due to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, social and economic routines have been interrupted, including cultural programming. In response to this current uncertainty and a time of anxiety, Chronus Art Center (Shanghai, China) sent out an open call for a special online exhibition in early February. The result, We=Link: Ten Easy Pieces, is curated by Zhang Ga and has been available online since March 30, 2020.
The works explore the potential of mobile technologies, particularly with a creative and critical appropriation of various social media platforms and address a general state of humanity that is under pressing peril of natural and social disruptions and precariousness manifested in the coronavirus outbreak.
The title We=Link: Ten Easy Pieces alludes to the American actor Jack Nicholson’s iconic movie Five Easy Pieces with a subtle twist on WeChat, the popular Chinese social media platform. The exhibition features new commissions by the artists aaajiao, Tega Brain & Sam Lavigne, JODI, LI Weiyi, Slime Engine, and YE Funa in conjunction with works by Evan Roth, Helmut Smits, Yangachi, and Raphaël Bastide.
The exhibition was made possible through the support of Art Center Nabi; Rhizome of the New Museum; and a network of hosting institutions like Arts at CERN, e-flux, HeK, iMAL, LABORATORIA Art & Science Foundation, MU Hybrid Art House, SETI AIR/SETI Institute, V2_, and Lab for the Unstable Media.
