Art Basel, Basel | Statements
Booth N11
Lantian Xie
June 16 - 19, 2016
2020 - 2046 is a series of images, objects, and sounds by Lantian Xie.
Titled after two years—1, Dubai’s upcoming World Expo and 2, Wong Kar Wai’s science fiction film about near-future Hong Kong—each work here tells the story of some place or event; a city-scaled resort, the afterlives of a bygone landmark, a meal never finished, personal effects lost or stolen or compulsively accumulated.
In these works, locales are withheld or not quite knowable. Clues are given but left unresolved. In Metropolitan Hotel, colour pencil drawings depict a number of hotels that share the same name, staged as a repeated effort to arrive, or locate. In Yan Can Cook, the percussive sounds of celebrity chef Martin Yan’s famously speedy knife-work are looped on vinyl record, syncopated to the sound of a carousel slide projector, depicting an image of his hands at work.
Elsewhere, in Future World, film clips looping endlessly depict gawking tourists newly arrived at a luxury resort, in which multiple environs reproduce moments in history, and the future, echoing projects like Shenzhen’s Window of the World and Global Village in the artist’s native city of Dubai.
Lastly, a series of sculptures allude to a patchwork of minor obsessions. They include: a cup of chai on a hot-plate, a collection of Massage Centre calling cards, a collection of Bamboo No. 1 mahjong tiles, a couple of fake Rolex watches, and a recording of the answering machine from a fast food home-delivery Call Centre.
About Lantian Xie
b. 1988, Dubai, United Arab Emirates/ Lives and works in Dubai
Lantian Xie makes images about cosmopolitanism and belonging. He is particularly interested in hotel lobbies, gulfs, general trading, and cafeteria menus. Xie holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is editor-at-large at Dubai-based publishing practice The State.
Xie was formerly artist in residence at the Delfina Foundation in London. Recent exhibitions include Accented, curated by Murtaza Vali at Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah; In Search of Lost Time, curated by Amal Khalaf at Brunei Gallery at SOAS, London. Upcoming exhibitions include Summer Triangle, curated by Venus Lau, at OCAT, Shenzhen; 11th Shanghai Biennale, curated by Raqs Media Collective, at Power Station, Shanghai.
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