AIKE-DELLARCO is pleased to present Hu Yun’s solo projects “Not My Intention” in the Discoveries Section of Art Basel Hong Kong 2014.

The project is a continuance of Hu Yun’s research based practice during the past few years, which put an emphasis on historical narration and individual’s stories. “Not My Intention” will center on the legendary experiences of several missionaries coming to China in different times and construct new narrative in the form of drawings, photography and sculptures. During Hu Yun’s preliminary study, He followed the path of those missionaries and revisited several relics in South China (Guangdong), including a church on an isle only hours away from Hong Kong by boat, which has been abandoned for many years.

Similar to western expeditioners, businessmen and naturalists, missionaries also had their specific missions when they start this one-way journey. Seeds of modern institutions were spread during this process. It seems nothing was ever done on purpose. But what they encountered reflected the response from local context, intentionally and unintentionally.

“Not My Intention” endeavors to probe into a particular period in history from a personal perspective reflecting further upon questions such as “Where does our modernity come from?” and “Where does today’s social structure come from?” by connecting several independent and yet closely-related narratives through a group of works featuring varied media.

Hu Yun was born in 1986 in Shanghai, now lives and works in Shanghai. He graduated from China Academy of Art. He had artist-residency in IASPIS, Stockholm, Sweden, 2014 and in the Natural History Museum London in collaboration with GASWORKS in 2010, and final outcome of residency project was on display in the Natural History Museum throughout 2011. Hu Yun’s recent solo exhibition includes “Lift with care”, Aike-Dellarco, Shanghai, 2013; “Our Ancestors”, Goethe Open Space, Goethe Institut, Shanghai, 2012; “Image of Nature”, Natural History Museum, London, 2011; Group Exhibition includes “Degeneration”, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal, Shanghai, 2013; “Evolution: A Question”, Yuan Space, Beijing, 2013; “Cross-Strait Relations”, Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Gallery, Parsons The New School for Design, New York, 2013; “Alternatives to Ritual”, Goethe Open Space, Goethe Institut, Shanghai, 2012; “The Unseen”- The Fourth Guangzhou Triennale, Guangzhou, 2012; “Accidental Message-Art is not a system, not a world”, The Seventh Shenzhen Sculpture Biennale, Shenzhen, 2012; “Arbitrary Triangle: Three Passages Through Shanghai, Katzman Kamen Gallery, Toronto, 2011”.

*image (left)
courtesy of AIKE-DELLARCO