Host / TheBLANC Gallery
Artists / Chuyuan Ning, Yucheng Liao, Rosie Kim, Masha Lyass, Jingyao Huang, Chunbum Park, Qipeng Deng, Doi Kim, Anna Danyang Song, Luna Hao, Zelene Jiang Schlosberg, Kai Ming Yang
Curator / Hongzheng Han
Assistant Curator / Yimeng Sun
On View / 11 AM - 6 PM, 3/16 - 3/22/2024 Address / 15 E 40th, 2 Fl, New York, NY 10016
“Let Rome in Tiber melt,
and the wide arch of the ranged empire fall; here is my space. ”
–– William Shakespeare
TheBLANC is honored to present Safe Space - a new exhibition exploring the idea of belonging within individuals and communities. The concept of the "safe space" has been extensively examined across literature, philosophy, and the social sciences. While often romanticized as a refuge from the outside world, recent scholarship has complicated this notion, revealing the paradoxical capacity for such spaces to both empower and restrict individual expression. Taking its cue from this rich interdisciplinary discourse, Safe Space aims to construct a nuanced, globally-minded discussion through the lenses of twelve Asian artists working across diverse mediums.
The exhibition takes as its launching point the famous line from Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, wherein Cleopatra proclaims her lover Antony as her sole sanctuary, consecrating him as an idealized "safe space" insulated from the world's chaos. However, this romantic literary conception represents just one perspective within a larger contemporary theoretical discourse surrounding the multifaceted concept of the "safe space." Contemporary multidisciplinary research and critical inquiry have scrutinized how these designated "safe spaces," while purportedly nurturing individual identities and communal belonging, may conversely induce an insular mindset of "groupthink" that suppresses perspectives deviating from collectively accepted norms.
The artists in Safe Space grapple with these varied dimensions, navigating the oscillation between desires for community and the dangers of uncritical conformity. Their works decode the languages, rituals, and social norms at play within environments positioned as safe havens. Photography, paintings, sculptures, and multimedia installations plumb the psychological complexities - realms of liberation and subjugation - precipitated by membership in "safe" group settings. Through this multifaceted approach, the exhibition aims to open an intersectional dialogue around the construction of belonging across geographic, cultural, and ideological borders.