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U.Va. Multimedia Visiting Artist Exhibits Work At The Off Grounds Gallery In March
February 18, 2005 --
WHO: Christina Nguyen Hung, McIntire Department of Art Visiting Professor in Digital Art
WHAT: Exhibit — “Colonies and Cultures: New Work by Christina Nguyen Hung”
WHEN: Opening Reception
Friday March 4,4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
WHERE: Off Grounds Gallery
300 West Main Street
Charlottesville, Va.
(entrance on Ridge Street)
Gallery Hours
Friday 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday noon to 5 p.m. and by appointment (434) 924-6122
Multimedia artist Christina Nguyen Hung investigates the boundaries between individual and collective forms of identity in her work by exploring how tensions are expressed in the materials and rhythms of urban space. The artist explores feminist issues as well as issues related to free trade zones, industry and borders in her work.
As a former member of the group subRosa, a cyberfeminist art and research collective, Hung created “information theater” performances and installations, which were designed to instigate an informed critical public dialogue about the effect of technology, and especially biotechnology, on the lives of women.
In her most recent work, Hung continues her exploration of scientific modes of representation and knowledge formation by using basic lab techniques to create overtly political imagery. In this work, she uses brightly colored bacteria to map out contemporary “colonies” and sociopolitical boundaries by coaxing the cultures to grow into particular shapes. Using this live medium to create her maps, Hung succeeds in incorporating the properties of the living material into her representations. Through this, she is suggesting that our borders are living, growing forms — zones of negotiation — rather than the more common perception of borders as hard edges created by the meeting of two distinct and self-contained forms.
The exhibition ‘Colonies and Cultures’ features large-scale digital prints of her living map experiments. During March, some of her living map experiments may be viewed via Web cam at http://homepage.mac.com/xtinaxtina/. They are based on information Hung gathered from her research in areas devoted to international trade and industry, such as Federal Trade Zones and maquiladoras, the industrial plants and warehouses on the border between Mexico and the United States.
Hung, the recipient of Pennsylvania Council of the Arts’ Media Arts Fellowship, received her M.F.A. from Carnegie Mellon University in 1997. Her work has been widely exhibited, including at the 2001 Festival Intermediale in Mainz, Germany; St Mary’s College of Maryland; and at the Digital Secrets Conference at Arizona State University’s Institute for Studies in the Arts. Her work has been published in “Tilting the Continent: Southeast Asian American Writing,” and “Domain Errors!: Cyberfeminist Practices.” Other projects include production of motion graphics for the experimental documentaries "Memories of a Forgotten War" and "Views of Nine Mile Run: A Landscape Transformed by Industry."
Hung is a visiting assistant professor in the McIntire Department of Art at the University of Virginia this year.
Contact: Jane Ford, (434) 924-4298 |
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