FUNA YE & PENGFEI YIN curated by YUANYU LI

UNSTABLENESS

This exhibition focuses on role-playing practice in contemporary art, addressing the contradiction between reality and virtuality as well as the separation and symbiosis of self and others. The artworks discuss how ‘role play’ reflects a self-defining anxiety that is affected by the continuous changes of personal and social values. Through the influence of social media and consumerism in society, more personas have been developed by us in different circumstances with wide disparities from one’s real personality.

Both Funa Ye and Pengfei Yin use ‘notorious’ characters or meme elements in their works, such as Sis Phoenix, who was an internet celebrity in the late 2000s; and ‘big eater’, a kind of freaky performance that was and still is popular on many internet streaming platforms. These iconic moments in mass culture have been reworked or redefined by the artists from the inside to apply new meanings and definitions. They are also an entry point into understanding how young artists look back and revive the subcultures in current Asian society with their own interpretations particular to this generation.

Unstableness as a status reflects the constant anxiety and questioning which underpins a person’s identity.