territory
With works by Mire Lee, Liu Yujia, Gala Porras-Kim, Tan Jing, Zhang Ruyi
Opening – 26 APR 2024, 6-9 pm
On the occasion of Gallery Weekend Berlin 2024, Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers are pleased to present territory, a group show of works by Mire Lee, Liu Yujia, Gala Porras-Kim, Tan Jing, and Zhang Ruyi, curated by Shi-ne Oh. It will be Sprüth Magers’ first group exhibition focusing exclusively on female Asian artists. The title, territory, naturally associated with aggressive political policies and behaviours, questions the vast definitions of borders and boundaries and how they both limit and liberate our transgressive desires on physical as well as psychological terrain.
The five artists will transform all of the gallery’s spaces, premiering works that examine the bounds of the body, disgust and morality, and the restraints of language, history and memory. Diverse in media and approach, the artworks on view employ unpredictable materials to engage and challenge viewers’ senses.
Gala Porras-Kim
Out of an instance of expiration comes a perennial
showing, 2022–ongoing
Propagated spores from the British Museum and potato
dextrose agar on muslin
172 × 300.5 cm
68 × 118 in
© Gala Porras-Kim
Courtesy the artist
Photo: Andy Keate
Liu Yujia
Mushrooms, 2023 (still)
Single channel 4K film Color, stereo sound 13′ 14″
© Liu Yujia
Courtesy the artist
Mire Lee
Look, I’m a fountain of filth raving mad with love
Installation view, Museum für Moderne Kunst (MMK),
Frankfurt, May 21–September 4, 2022
© Mire Lee
Courtesy the artist and Museum für Moderne Kunst
(MMK), Frankfurt
Photo: Axel Schneider
Tan Jing
Inlet of Arid Dreams
Installation view, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai,
November 8, 2023–February 25, 2024
© Tan Jing
Courtesy the artist and Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai
Photo: Yan Tao
“Since its earliest days, the gallery has supported the work of women artists and has organised many female group shows over the years. Territory is the next chapter of this mainstay in the gallery’s history. We are lucky to have Shi-ne Oh working with us in Berlin (as Senior Director), who has spent the past couple of years researching in Asia and curating an exhibition with works by Mire Lee, Liu Yujia, Gala Porras-Kim, Tan Jing, and Zhang Ruyi. It is exciting to present the work of these five great female Asian artists for this year’s Gallery Weekend Berlin, one of the most important slots in our exhibition calendar.”
Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers
territory
Installation view, Mire Lee, Sprüth Magers, Berlin,
April 27–June 29, 2024
Photo: Timo Ohler
territory
Installation view, Liu Yujia, Sprüth Magers, Berlin,
April 27–June 29, 2024
Photo: Ingo Kniest
territory
Installation view, Tan Jing, Sprüth Magers, Berlin,
April 27–June 29, 2024
Photo: Ingo Kniest
“The feminist slogan of the 1960s ‘the personal is political’ is the most prominent sentence that dominates my mind these days when seeing all the territorial conflicts going on in the world around us. We are fed with news 24 hours all around the world and we are constantly here but not here. For me, territory is expressed in all forms of invisible limits and borders that often both restrict and liberate us. Throughout the entire gallery space, the works by Mire Lee, Liu Yujia, Gala Porras-Kim, Tan Jing, Zhang Ruyi explore what a territory is, who defines it, do I belong in my own territory? Is there such thing? Etc. As a Korean native, this is a question that resonates with myself deeply, and I think will echo with many people from completely different backgrounds.”
Shi-ne Oh
Zhang Ruyi
Modern Fossil (Pipe)-3, 2022
Wood panel, metal, concrete, fishhook, mosaic tiles
33.5 × 27 × 21 cm
13 × 11 × 8 in
© Zhang Ruyi
Courtesy the artist
Photo: Yang Hao
territory
Installation view, Gala Porras-Kim, Sprüth Magers, Berlin,
April 27–June 29, 2024
Photo: Ingo Kniest
territory
Installation view, Zhang Ruyi, Sprüth Magers, Berlin,
April 27–June 29, 2024
Photo: Timo Ohler
territory
Installation view, Gala Porras-Kim, Sprüth Magers, Berlin,
April 27–June 29, 2024
Photo: Ingo Kniest