For its inaugural present, Capsule has chosen to current an expanded model of “When We Develop into Us”— the exhibition that marked Capsule’s opening in 2016 in Shanghai. On this event, the present is renamed “When We Develop into Us².”

This group exhibition occupies totally different semantic layers. On one hand it gives a glimpse of the poetics defining the work of the twenty-nine collaborating artists, offering an summary of the gallery’s programme (in addition to some new collaborations), an summary of unexplored synergies amongst artists who’ve by no means exhibited all collectively earlier than. Alternatively the exhibition is a heartfelt expression of the methodology embraced by the gallery throughout its seven-year journey. “When We Develop into Us²” is a mirrored image on what it means to run an area which, whereas functioning as a business organism, continually engages in a technique of mutual nurturing, development, and steady dialogue with the artists who convey the gallery to life. It’s the preferrred manifesto for Capsule Venice which seeks to grow to be a hub mixing a deep data of the ecology of latest artwork with a humanistic, “artisanal” contact.

“When We Develop into Us²” is actually a name to motion: it incorporates a relational dynamism, and discloses a meticulous design, activating a variety of interfaces in an effort to visualise what occurs when a “we” coheres and turns into self-aware. An encompassing notion of “we” permits for the complete embrace and unfolding of individualities, whereas concurrently remaining conscious of our potential as half of an entire; the “us” all of us contribute to creating.

“When We Develop into Us²” is the end result of a proactive course of, a long-term dedication primarily based on sharing desires, beliefs, ups and downs, but in addition a decided dealing with collectively of our doubts, failures, and uncertainties. It’s the reflection of an ongoing course of through which skilled and private ethics be part of. The exhibition holds house for trustworthy sentimentality, however “When We Develop into Us²” calls for a centring of course of, of changing into and renewal. A gallery could also be a enterprise, however it may possibly solely actually succeed whether it is constructed on an moral and humane community of equally valued individuals.

Every of the artists and artwork professionals concerned behind the scenes share their distinctive, private story that Capsule has assisted in shaping, whereas, in flip, these voices have added layers to Capsule’s id.

The artworks on view—distributed all through your entire house each inside (undertaking house, vip room, workplace and first flooring) and out of doors (backyard home and gallery house)—are organized based on totally different foci, every dedicated to subjects Capsule has traditionally explored and interrogated.

Landscapes imbued with metaphorical resonance (as within the works of Daniel Chen, Yao Cong, Rudy Cremonini, Adrian Geller, Kong Lingnan, and Elizabeth Jaeger) co-exist with photographs that mix the pure, the bogus and the city realms, stressing the paradoxes of latest life as it’s lived not simply in Asia, however globally (for instance, within the work of Gao Yuan). Traces of potential archeologies of the longer term are scattered throughout the exhibition, and come to mind by the overlap of low-tech and high-tech supplies, manifesting in biomorphic approaches and futuristic experiences (e.g. Leelee Chan, Feng Chen, Maya Kramer, Mevlana Lipp, and Alice Wang). Id, sexuality, gender, and the continual circulation of the power radiating from the physique—nonetheless probably the most multi-faceted prism by which we learn the widest spectrum of human feelings—are portrayed in all their huge carnalities (amongst others, as seen within the work of Ivy Haldeman, Pixy Liao, Liao Wen, Douglas Rieger, Tao Siqi, Alessandro Teoldi, and Wang Haiyang). Related themes are subtly evoked by play of traces and brushstrokes (e.g. these of Sarah Fake). The appropriation of historic and iconographical patterns and the re-reading of the traditional language of portray animate works on present (together with that by Cai Zebin, Anthony Iacono, Chris Oh, and Yan Xinyue). These themes are juxtaposed to the appropriation of the quotidian life of individuals and objects (e.g. as seen in contributions by Huang Hai-Hsin, Ryosuke Kumakura, and Tian Jianxin). On this kaleidoscopic interaction of media, spanning from portray to sculpture, from set up to photographic wallpaper, there may be further room for textile artwork (for instance, Miranda Fengyuan Zhang), and reflections mixing the societal and the person spheres of interplay (e.g. Curtis Talwst Santiago’s contribution).

“When We Develop into Us²” doesn’t present definitive pointers, somewhat a place to begin for a mirrored image. A gallery’s imaginative and prescient shouldn’t be genuinely achieved by merely attaining one strategic success after the opposite, one exhibition after the opposite, however somewhat it succeeds by having the ability to act as a catalyst, to supply a website of expertise through which artists, audiences, artwork professionals, collectors, and the neighborhood at massive grow to be “us.”

—Manuela Lietti

Taking part artists:
Cai Zebin, Leelee Chan, Daniel Chen, Rudy Cremonini, Sarah Fake, Feng Chen, Gao Yuan, Adrian Geller, Ivy Haldeman, Huang Hai-Hsin, Anthony Iacono, Elisabeth Jaeger, Kong Lingnan, Maya Kramer, Ryosuke Kumakura, Pixy Liao, Liao Wen, Mevlana Lipp, Chris Oh, Douglas Rieger, Curtis Talwst Santiago, Tao Siqi, Alessandro Teoldi, Tian Jianxin, Alice Wang, Wang Haiyang, Yan Xinyue, Yao Cong, Miranda Fengyuan Zhang

at Capsule Venice
till March 23, 2024