One Hand Clapping

Catalogues the third and final exhibition of the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Chinese Art Initiative at the Solomon R. Guggenhem Museum, New York. The culmination of an ambitious multi-year commissioning and collection building initiative at the Guggenheim Museum, One Hand Clapping asks five artists from Greater China Cao Fei, Duan Jianyu, Lin Yilin, Wong Ping and Samson Young to investigate our changing relationships to visions of the future. From a film shot at the automated industrial facilities of mainland China to a virtual reality intervention into the Guggenheims iconic rotunda atrium and musical compositions for imaginary instruments that defy the laws of physics, their works identify the reflexive, poetic spaces that both escape and exist alongside the homogenizing logic of globalization. This bilingual catalogue is conceived as a critical component in the thinking and production of the exhibition. In addition to essays by the exhibitions organizers, Xiaoyu Weng and Hou Hanru, it includes a theoretical text on technology and culture by the philosopher Yuk Hui, selected poems by millennial poets, and special sections presenting materials related to the commissioning process for each of the participating artists.