London, January 6, 2012 - Rossi & Rossi are delighted to present LEM1, the first solo exhibition in the UK by the Singaporean conceptual artist Heman Chong.
For the duration of LEM1, Heman Chong will transform Rossi & Rossi’s London gallery into a functioning bookshop, specialising in Science Fiction and Fantasy. Visitors will be able to browse and purchase the books on offer, priced at £1 each, transforming the viewing experience into an exchange of goods and money. The title of the exhibition LEM1 pays tribute to the Polish philosopher and sci-fi writer Stanislaw Lem, most known for his novel Solaris. For Chong, LEM represents a highly mutable space which manifests itself within the spaces of hosts as a way of examining the inner workings of particular systems and worlds.
The books available for purchase in LEM1 are selected especially by the artist, identified as the source of inspiration for a sci-fi novel that he is currently working on, due to be completed in 2013. Nestled within the bookshop is a small gallery, exhibiting Chong’s paintings of the sci-fi book covers available for purchase in the bookshop. A special artist’s book by Fato! Üstek, entitled The Book of Confusion, a playful, philosophical disquisition based around the work of Chong, will be produced to coincide with the show and will be launched at the opening.
Chong’s art practice enables him to investigate into the philosophies, reasons and methods of individuals and communities who are imagining the future. This research in turn informs the objects, images, installations, situations or texts created. LEM exemplifies such an investigatory space which can be configured to house specific fields of research in diverse forms of presentations ranging from an anthology of short stories, an archive, a performance, a novel, an installation or a bookshop. LEM1 represents the latest of this sublimation of Chong’s ideas as reader and collector of writings about the future, and how it signals a possibility for political imagination.
About Heman Chong
Heman Chong was born in Muar, Malaysia and grew up in Singapore. He is an artist, curator and writer. Chong has developed solo exhibitions at NUS Museum (Singapore), Kunstverein Milano (Milan), Motive Gallery (Amsterdam), Hermes Third Floor (Singapore), Vitamin Creative Space (Guangzhou), Art In General (New York), Project Arts Centre (Dublin), Ellen de Bruijne Projects (Amsterdam), The Substation (Singapore), Kuenstlerhaus Bethanien (Berlin), Sparwasser HQ (Berlin). He has participated in various international biennales including Performa 11 (2011), Momentum 6 (2011), Manifesta 8 (2010), 2nd Singapore Biennale (2008), SCAPE Christchurch Biennale (2006), Busan Biennale (2004), 10th India Triennale (2000). Chong represented Singapore in the 50th Venice Biennale (2003).
About FATOS ÜSTEK
Fato! Üstek is an independent art critic and curator based in London. She is the founding editor, with Veronika Hauer, of the web-based publication Nowiswere Contemporary Art Magazine. Born in Ankara, Turkey, she studied for a BA in Mathematics at Bogazici University in Istanbul and a MA in Contemporary Art Theory at Goldsmiths, University of London. She is a guest tutor at Vision Forum, Linkopings Universitet, Sweden and a regular contributor to magazines including Camera Austria, Austria; Kunst(h)art, Belgium; Artluk, Poland.
