Maria Hassabi: I’ll Be Your Mirror /
Oct 13 – Nov 26, 2023 /
JC Contemporary
Tai Kwun
10 Hollywood Road
Central, Hong Kong
Tue – Sun, 11am – 7pm
One of the leading figures of live art, the artist and choreographer Maria Hassabi (b. Cyprus) has long pioneered live installations which explore the relations that the human figure has with the still image and the sculptural object, while disrupting our sense of time. Her works bring the performing body into museums, theatres, and public spaces, shifting the boundaries between visitors and performers, subjects and objects.
I’ll Be Your Mirror is the artist’s first solo exhibition in Asia, bringing together her practice of choreography, sound, sculpture, photography and painting, in two connected live installations.
In this exhibition, Hassabi uses her signature choreographic style, defined by sculptural physicality, stillness, and quietness, to confront the notion of one’s own image through a gold scheme of reflections. Proposing an alternative to the way we perceive ourselves and those around us, she invites viewers to question the fluidity of an image, one that is similar to the fleeting nature of a dance—ungraspable unless documented, which in turn subtracts from its liveness and thus realness. The tensions between the live body and the still image, the spectacular and the everyday, the subject and object, are all in play, challenging our experience as viewers within the museum space.
The artist will be present in the exhibition for the first three weeks.
Curated by Xue Tan with Louiza Ho
Dancers: Marah Arcilla, Elena Antoniou, Sylvie Cox, Li De, Maria Hassabi, Adam Russell Jones, Mickey Mahar, Tasos Nikas, Yuma Sylla, Sara Tan, Solong Zhang
Architectural Study: Maria Maneta, Maria Hassabi
Sound design: Stavros Gasparatos, Maria Hassabi
Clothing design: Victoria Bartlett, Venia Polyhronaki
I’ll Be Your Mirror is the latest exhibition of Tai Kwun Contemporary’s unique live art programme. This series of exhibitions commissions and features artists who work at the intersection of visual art, performance, moving image, music, and sound.