u – New Project Spaces

Eyrie Alzate, Jason de Haan, Nancy Lupo, Na Mira, Malcolm Mooney, Yuki Okumura, Hikari Ono, Francesca Percival, Bea Schlingelhoff, Jo-ey Tang, Cici Wu, Bruno Zhu and u

Opening of part 1:
February 23, 2024, 7 pm

Opening of part 2:
May 16, 2024, 7 pm

u is part artist, part vessel—a transferable personal alias, and a social interaction. u’s project spaces (2018–ongoing) are small boxes made of clear packing tape that act as a medium for collaborations with other artists and curators. u initiates the process by sending an empty project space to selected practitioners as an invitation to join an artistic dialogue, a new relationship and often a finished artwork. Thus u also performs the role of a curator by providing each participant carte blanche within an exhibition space that is small, but very flexible. As a result, the individual collaborators are foregrounded, while the initiator takes a backseat behind the easily overlooked lowercase letter ‘u’ (shorthand for the English word ‘you’). This collaborative way of thinking and working deliberately resists elaborate, commercial production mechanisms and allows for collaborations far beyond national borders. The heart of the project is to expand the concept of curating to include the interests of artists and to promote artistic exchange.

For Backrooms, new collaborations have been initiated with the artists mentioned above. The exhibition unfolds in two parts: first, the plain project spaces will be exhibited before being sent to the participants, and in the second part, the outcomes of the collaborations will be showcased.

All participants have created a joint playlist, which is played shuffle mode in the exhibition.
To the playlist on YouTube

Venue:
Kunsthalle Zürich, basement

The project is generously supported by Canada Council for the Arts