End of the game
With the increased involvement of the Internet and electronic devices in our daily life, people are more easily distracted than ever. How to overcome this issue has been a headache for many people. To raise awareness about this problem, a group of artists are tackling this issue with a new exhibition, Final Del Juego, at Beijing's Hongkun Museum of Fine Art.
According to the exhibit's curator, Han Liya, although the Spanish title literally means “End of the Game,” the exhibition has nothing to do with a real game, but instead examines the hidden cost behind the convenience technology has brought humanity.
“Unfortunately, the game did not create a miracle. Most of the time, it brings side effects like numbness and depression. This is the ugly truth that this exhibition tries to reveal: The black magic of order and high productivity always creates a false impression of happiness and fulfillment,” the curator wrote in the preface to the exhibition.
For the exhibition, Han worked with nine artists from home and abroad to showcase “overlapping virtuality and reality, the blurred boundary of memory and fantasy, uncontrollable dreams, subtle perception and delirious ‘mental hyperactivity'” through videos, installation works and paintings.
One of the highlights comes from British artist Matt Hope's Quiescent rotor, a machine-like sculpture that stands around 2.3 meters high. Composed of a black structure, its central element is a large funnel that faces forward.
The exhibition is set to run until September 30.