Shuang Li: I’m Not | Ocula
May 02 2024
New York Lowdown: 7 Exhibitions to See Over Spring, 2024
As Frieze New York returns to The Shed (1–5 May 2024), we look to the abundance of collateral events, openings, and one-off performances taking place this week. Exhibitions to see at local galleries and institutions include a survey of the Harlem Renaissance at The Met, Pacita Abad at MoMA PS1, and Eva Hesse at Hauser & Wirth.
Shuang Li: I’m Not
Swiss Institute, 38 St Marks Place
1 May–25 August 2024
Expect: a rewind into the 1990s, with American punk rock band My Chemical Romance setting the stage for an inquiry into distant bodies and displaced desire.
For the artist Shuang Li who grew up in a small town in Fujian, China, the angst-filled lyrics of My Chemical Romance introduced the possibility of subcultural belonging and a view into the English language, the elusiveness of which her latest work explores.
At Swiss Institute, Li presents new sculptures and video installations that look at her own involvement with fandom to explore how language, identity, and relationships can be mediated through screens and the internet. On the ground floor, an architectural model resembling those sighted in real estate showrooms Li visited with her parents as a child nods to the country’s current economic challenges, with businesses forced to shut down and soaring youth unemployment contrasting the optimism brought about by market reform in the 1990s.
In the music video I’m Not (2024), Li re-writes the lyrics to the band’s song ‘I’m Not Okay (I Promise)’ (2004) in Mandarin and English. An army choir conducted by a young girl sings along to the artist’s rendition, paying tribute to the voices that articulated feelings shared by millions. Projected above the rippling surface of the heart-shaped fountain Heart is a Broken Record (2023) are stock images of blood drips and pumping veins. Footage of crowds awaiting the band to take stage is intercepted within the montage, cut right before they come into view.