The exhibition “Living in the (Un)real” by Hsin-Chien Huang, renowned Taiwanese new media artist, will be held at the MEET Digital Culture Center in Milan from Nov. 14, 2024 to Jan. 19, 2025. Curated by Maria Grazia Mattei and Julie Walsh, the exhibition is the artist’s first solo show in Italy and reflects on the impact of technology in daily life, exploring themes such as surveillance, privacy and a dystopian future.
The exhibition includes virtual reality works, videos and interactive installations, some created specifically for Milan. Huang, known for collaborations with artists such as Jean-Michel Jarre and Laurie Anderson, brings elements of Taiwanese culture and a harmonious vision between nature and human well-being. Prominent among the works on display are “Shall We Dance, Milano?” an interactive work that fuses human bodies with Milanese architecture, and “The Eye and I,” a collaboration with Jarre that reflects on a future dominated by machine control.
For his creative process, Hsin-Chien Huang draws inspiration from a variety of sources: from artificial intelligence and big data collection to Buddhism and folk influences in Taipei and history.
MEET president’s words.
“We are particularly proud of Hsin-Chien Huang’s return to MEET with this her first solo exhibition in Milan, one year after her lecture at Meet the Media Guru (Nov. 09, 2023) and after curating the group show “Blossoming: The Tech-Art in Formosa,” which highlights Taiwan’s innovative advances in the integration of art and digital,” says Maria Grazia Mattei, president of MEET.
“Huang’s artistic and cultural journey,” Mattei continues, ” is intrinsically linked to deep research and reflection on content and values, with the aim of raising public awareness of urgent and current issues. Through new expressive languages and a vision that is contemporary but deeply connected to the traditions of his country, Huang also seeks to give voice to social issues that are too often unheard: art, in this context, becomes a powerful tool to stimulate dialogue, solicit collective awareness and, above all, to generate awareness.”
“This is perfectly in tune with the mission of MEET, which actively works with artists and innovators to investigate the mechanisms of cognitive vision and raise awareness of these dynamics, exploring them through a poetics that is not only artistic and creative, but also deeply experiential. Digital art, in fact, is closely linked to social and cultural issues, and it is precisely this link that we want to put at the center of our reflections,” Maria Grazia Mattei concludes.
Useful information about the exhibition
MEET is located at Viale Vittorio Veneto 2, in Milan. The hours of the exhibition spaces are Tuesday through Sunday, h. 15.00-19.00 (closed Mondays). MEET entrance fee (with payment by electronic means only) €12 full; reduced (under 25/over 65) €10.
For further conventions, see the MEET website. The exhibition Living in the (Un)Real can be visited Wednesday through Sunday. Refik Anadol’s permanent work Renaissance Dreams can be visited on Tuesdays.