Lotus L. Kang

Trinh T. Minh-ha

Please join us to celebrate CAG's fall 2023 exhibitions, *Lotus L. Kang: In Cascades* and *Trinh T. Minh-ha: Reassemblage*.

All ages welcome. Cash bar.

### RSVP
No advance registration required.

Edge of a suspended sheet of film visible on the left of the photo, in a white room in front of a partially unfolded patterned tatami mat with silver discs arranged in a curved line on its surface.

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Fall 2023

Opening Reception

Unfolding across sculpture, installation, drawing, and photography, the practice of Lotus L. Kang takes up questions of “becoming” on expansive terms. Known for her use of unstable, continuously sensitive materials and a visual language that melds structural, organic and entropic forms, Kang’s dexterously layered works explore self and environment as contingent, continuous and inseparable. 

At the Contemporary Art Gallery, Kang presents her most recent installation, *In Cascades*, a scaffold of industrial steel joists sheathed with lengths of unfixed photographic films. Presented in a palette of visceral hues, these films — described by the artist as “skins” — remain sensitive to their environment, developing over the course of the exhibition as they’re exposed to the light and humidity of the gallery. A series of intimate sculptures punctuate the installation, provisional, often changeable forms in arrangements that nod to processes of reproduction, exchange, inheritance, and transformation.

Alongside *In Cascades*, Kang will present a suite of new public-facing works on the façade of the gallery’s Nelson Street building and at nearby Yaletown-Roundhouse Station.

*In Cascades* is co-commissioned by Chisenhale Gallery, London, and the Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver.

#### Biography
Lotus L. Kang (b. 1985, Toronto) lives and works in New York. Her recent exhibitions include the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Mercer Union SPACE, Toronto; Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY;  the 2021 New Museum Triennial, New York; SculptureCenter, New York; Remai Modern, Saskatoon; and Oakville Galleries. In 2022, Kang was the inaugural resident of Horizon Art Foundation, Los Angeles and was also in residence at Triangle Arts Association, New York. She has also been artist-in-residence at Rupert Vilnius; The Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity, Alberta; and Interstate Projects, Brooklyn. She holds an MFA from the Milton Avery School of the Arts at Bard College.


CAG - Lotus L. Kang - Exhibition Guide - Large Print.pdf

CAG Fall 2023 Program Guide.pdf

CAG - Lotus L. Kang - Exhibition Guide - Regular Print (1).pdf

Long earth tone sheets of film of various colours suspended from metal ceiling beams. A small box supporting three fruit is visible between two perpendicular sheets of film.

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Long earth tone sheets of film of various colours suspended from industrial steel ceiling beams. 

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01 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

A wide view of long earth tone sheets of film of various colours suspended from industrial steel ceiling beams. 

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02 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

Long earth tone sheets of film of various colours are suspended from the ceiling. A sculpture, made of tatami mats and cast aluminium objects, sits against a white wall in the background.⁠

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03 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

Folded tatami mats are stacked against a white wall with cast aluminium objects visible between the folds of the mats.

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04 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

Folded tatami mats are stacked against a white wall with cast aluminium objects, silicone and nylon visible between the mats and the wall.

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05 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

Long earth tone sheets of film of various colours are suspended from industrial metal ceiling beams. Two sculptures, made of tatami mats and cast aluminium objects, sit on the cement floor in the background. Large windows are visible near the ceiling.

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06 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

A yellow-coloured cast glass sculpture depicting three rat pups sits near the edge of the floor and the wall.

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07 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

Long earth tone sheets of film of various colours are suspended from the ceiling. Two sculptures, made of tatami mats and cast aluminium objects, sit on the cement floor.

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08 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

Edge of a suspended sheet of film visible on the right of the photo, in the centre lies a partially unfolded patterned tatami mat with silver discs arranged in a curved line on its surface.

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09 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

Detail view of a patterned tatami mat with one bronze and ten silver discs arranged in a curved line on its surface. The edge of a manila envelope is tucked underneath the mat.

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10 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

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11 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

A yellow-coloured cast glass sculpture depicting a rat pup sits near the intersection of the floor and a wall.

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12 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

Three fruit wrapped in green tissue sit on folded tatami mats wrapped in silicone on a concrete floor in front of suspended sheets of film.

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13 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

Silver sculptures hanging in a vertical arrangement from a string are surrounded by hanging sheets of photographic film in various earth tones.

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14 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

Silver sculptures hanging in a vertical arrangement from a string cast shadows on a hanging sheet of yellow photographic film.

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15 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

Long earth tone sheets of film of various colours suspended from industrial steel ceiling beams. In the foreground silver sculptures hang in a vertical arrangement from a string. 

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16 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

Long earth tone sheets of film of various colours suspended from metal ceiling beams. A small box supporting three fruit is visible between two perpendicular sheets of film. A sculpture of tatami mats and cast aluminum objects sits in the background.

thumbnail_17 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

17 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

A brown-coloured cast glass sculpture resembling two rat pups sits near the edge of the floor and the wall.

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18 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

Long earth tone sheets of film of various colours are suspended from industrial steel ceiling beams. The edge of one sheet is visible along the side of the image.

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19 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

A sculpture, made of small pieces of silver and silicone, sits on a concrete floor surrounded by large sheets of suspended photographic film that curl at the ends.

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20 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

A sculpture, made of small pieces of silver and silicone, sits on a concrete floor casting a reflection on the bottom edge of a large sheet of suspended photographic film.

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21 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

Long earth tone sheets of film of various colours are suspended from industrial steel ceiling beams. On the floor near the back of the room sits an unfolded tatami mat with cast aluminium sculptures laying flat over it. 

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22 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

Two silver discs depicting lotus roots are perched inside of an industrial steel beam with silicone wrapping one side.

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23 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

A copper sheet of film is suspended from the ceiling. On the floor sits an unfolded tatami mat with cast aluminium sculptures laying flat over it. Sunlight from the window is refracted on the white wall behind both sculptures.

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24 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

Detail of cast aluminium cabbage sculptures sitting on a flat tatami mat. 

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A small gold sculpture resembling a lotus root is wedged between a cement wall and white drywall.

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26 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

"CAG’s façade with Lotus L. Kang's Synapse across eight street-facing windows. The artworks are photograms, each depicting nylon produce bags against backgrounds of various neon colours. "

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27 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

"A pair of windows featuring a pair of photograms depicting nylon mesh produce bags against neon orange backgrounds."

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28 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

Three windows featuring three photograms depicting nylon mesh produce bags against neon photographic paper. From left to right the photograms colours' vary from orange to pink and red.

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29 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

"CAG’s entrance doors. Windows on either side feature photograms depicting nylon produce bags stretched against photographic paper in tones of pink and red."

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30 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

"A pair of windows featuring a pair of photograms depicting nylon produce bags in neon pink and red colours. "

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31 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

"A frontal view of a SkyTrain station with three photograms in its windows depicting mesh nylon bags against neon photographic paper. The left photogram resembles an orange X. The centre is red and pink. The right photogram is green and yellow "

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32 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

A diagonal view of a SkyTrain station with four photograms in its windows, each depicting various forms of nylon mesh bags against neon photographic paper.

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A frontal view of a SkyTrain station with one photogram in its window. The photogram depicts a yellow nylon produce bag against dark photographic paper.

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34 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

In Cascades

*Reassemblage* (1982), Trinh T. Minh-ha’s first film, is a classic of postcolonial cinema. Set in rural Senegal, the film introduces Trinh’s career-long methodology of “speaking nearby.” Throughout the work, Trinh scrutinizes the presumption of anthropological and documentary filmmakers to speak *about* or *on behalf of* their subjects, a critical lens that she also extends to “the missionary, the Peace Corps volunteer, the tourist, and last but not least at myself as onlooker.”

Cinematic techniques themselves are the subjects of *Reassemblage*. Treating film editing as a language, Trinh composes a rhythmic montage in which the repetition and discontinuity of audio-visual footage cohere into a new filmic genre that lies between poetry and theory, the essay and the anti-essay.

#### Biography
Born in Vietnam, Trinh T. Minh-ha is a filmmaker, writer and music composer. She is Distinguished Professor of the Graduate School in the departments of Gender & Women’s Studies and of Rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley. Spanning nearly four decades, Trinh’s complex, theoretical and poetic practice includes moving image, writing, musical composition, installation, and teaching. She dedicates her practice to questioning systems of knowledge, representation and experience related to cultural identity and memory, and has made profound contributions to filmmaking as well as to the fields of postcolonial and feminist studies. Retrospectives and surveys of her films have been presented widely, including at the Institute of Contemporary Art, London; Secession, Vienna; Jeu de Paume, Paris; and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, among many, many others. In 2018, M+ Museum of Visual Culture, West Kowloon Cultural Council, Hong Kong, in collaboration with ICA London and Hong Kong Arts Centre, presented a retrospective of Trinh T. Minh-ha during Art Basel Hong Kong. She has participated in the 2012 Contemporary Art Triennale at the Palais de Tokyo; the 1987, 1992 and 2022 Whitney Biennials; Documenta 11; the Guangzhou Triennial (2008); and the Shanghai (2004), Busan (2004), and Kyoto (2003) Art Biennales.


CAG - Trinh T. Minh-Ha - Exhibition Guide - Large Print.pdf

CAG - Trinh T. Minh-Ha - Exhibition Guide - Regular Print.pdf

A photo of a Senegalese woman looking to her right with one arm outstretched and her chin in her other hand.

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A video on a wall in a dark room depicting a lush green landscape.

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01 Trinh T. Minh-ha 2023.jpg

An oblique angle view of a video on a wall in a dark room depicting a group of people seated outdoors around a pot; part of a couch is visible in the foreground behind a title wall.

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A video on a wall in a dark room depicting a person looking at the camera; a couch is visible in the foreground.

Opening Reception

RSVP

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