Venice Biennale
On the occasion of the 60th la Biennale di Venezia, Berlin-Hong Kong artist Isaac Chong Wai reinterprets movement as a powerful form of resistance.
Venice, Italy — 17 April, 2024 — Berlin-Hong Kong artist Isaac Chong Wai opens an exhibition imagining forms of collective response to systemic and institutional violence.
Originally conceived in 2021, “Falling Reversely” (2021/2024) is a multifaceted project, now presented through a new large-scale video installation and performance. The exhibition takes place in a 3,000 sq. ft./300m2 space in the Arsenale at the Venice Biennale 2024 and reverses the familiar movements of falling as a thought-provoking response to anti-Asian racism.
“Throughout history and noticeably during the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us in the Asian diaspora have become targets of violence in public spaces. I wanted to create this work with performers of Asian descent to employ movement as a form of solidarity and resistance,” says Chong.
Commissioned with the invitation of Adriano Pedrosa for the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, “Foreigners Everywhere,” Chong and his performers study CCTV footage of Asian individuals who fell due to physical assaults in public spaces, striving to slow and reverse the trajectory of these attacks through bodily movement. As they form a circle with synchronized falls, they reinterpret these movements as a shield against harm.
As it unfolds before viewers, “Falling Reversely” confronts its audience with questions of autonomy and power. In conceptualizing this work, Chong visualized how marginalized communities might reclaim their bodies for themselves. In both public and private spaces, attacks against perceived “others” often take place when the aggressors believe they have an inherent right to impose power on a “lesser” group or individual. Cognizant of how marginalized individuals must move through everyday spaces in fear, Chong imagined an alternate future: where those who are marginalized integrate linked movements in their falling, reversing moments of attack and transforming them into new avenues of protest.
Photo 1 and 3 by Atsushi Kakefuda
Photo 2 by South Ho/ Blindspot Gallery
Previous page (Cover photo) by Riccardo Banfi
Isaac Chong Wai’s “Falling Reversely” in the Venice Biennale 2024 is supported by:
Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Brussels; Hong Kong Arts Development Council; Burger Collection and the TOY family;Sunpride Foundation; Ammodo; Blindspot Gallery, Hong Kong | Zilberman, Istanbul, Berlin and Miami; Yenn and Alan Lo Foundation; Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion; Pure Art Foundation; ifa Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen.
Special Thanks to:
La Biennale di Venezia, Adriano Pedrosa, Amanda Carneiro, Juliana Ziebell, Joern Brandmeyer, Massimiliano Bigarello, Ilaria Zanella, Stefania Fabris, Max and Monique Burger, Patrick Sun, Mimi Chun and Moiz Zilberman, Alan Lo, Inka Gressel, Alan Lau, Xi Bei and Johannes Kühn, Catherine Nichols, Sam Bardaouil, Michael Elmgreen and Young-jun Tak, Kwok Ying, Annie Loong, Susanne Weiß, Philipp Lachenmann, Karen Cheung, Nazli Yayla, Lotte Laub, Ece Ateş, Gizem Bengisu Erenler, Marjolein van der Meer, Lusin Reinsch, Lesley Kwok, Mathilde Weh, Lena Alpozan, Sarah Y. Wu, Stefanie Beyer, Karen Ka Wan Cheung, Stefano Ferlito, Cosmin Costinas and Inti Guerrero, Ming Wong, Nick Yu, Ayşe Erkmen, Eidotech, Müge Yılmaz, Leo Gerstberger, Ka Shuk Fong, Chong Ka Wing, Gerhard Gerstberger, Dagmar Aigner, Zehra Gercek, and Eline Koopman.
https://www.fallingreversely.com/