【展讯】童安雅个展“潜思与留音”——青年艺术家陪跑计划｜北京

展览前言

作品预告

艺术家

童 安雅

童安雅，现为艺术家、设计师。本科墨尔本大学设计系，研究生毕业于伦敦大学金匠学院纯艺专业。曾任Farrago Magazine插画师和澳洲Four Letter Word Theater剧团音效设计师及舞台剧演员，参与多项实验话剧演出及设计，后转向更多跨媒介的艺术创作。曾多次参加本地及国内外群展和个展。目前的研究着重于心灵哲学及精神分析学的方向，创作形式包括装置、行为、声音、影像等。

The futile act of folding a piece of paper, waiting for a reverberation of muted notes, listening to the fading whispers, as we navigate through the exchanges of everyday dialogues and messages, a moment of pause is nothing but a daydream.

In Anya Tong's work, she attempts to seek and locate the "attention" that is of scarcity in our time, which is not only an awareness of the external world but also a kind of inward reflection. This reminds us of the subtle distinctions between "hearing" and "listening," "seeing" and "looking"—the former is always imbued with a deep sense of presence, a complete encounter of perception and consciousness; the latter often remains on the surface of sensory experience. As Simone Weil said, a gaze of pureness and non-attachment is not a forced imposition of external will, but a nearly passive state of acceptance—here, the subject withdraws prior judgments and interpretations, opening itself to await the manifestation of truth.

When we truly enter this state of passive attention, a strange transformation begins to occur: perception is no longer the subject's possession of the object, but rather constructs a mutually permeable domain. In this state, established perceptual patterns are temporarily set aside, and the boundaries between subject and object begin to blur. This also evokes the concept of the "body without organs," where in this yet-to-be-solidified perceptual field, perception is no longer limited by established functional classifications, but exists in its original, fluid form. The boundaries of different senses are deconstructed, yielding to a pre-linguistic, raw experience that is solely on the matter of intensity.

This seems somewhat out of place, especially at a moment when "collective" and "public" so facilely integrated within the discourse of contemporary art. How can we imagine an incommensurable negativity? How can an individual’s sensibility become a bridge for genuine understanding and empathy? Perhaps it is precisely in this seemingly contradictory tension, in the deep contemplation of one’s perception, that we touch upon a collective authenticity—each person perceives the external world through their unique lens, yet all share this characteristic of being a perceiving subject. Anya Tong's work delves into the realm of sensory and feelings, allows us to discover a fundamental resonance in every one of us. The boundaries of hearing, touch, and vision are redefined here, as they are no longer mere sensory stimuli but becoming a polyphonic experience of our very existence.

Navigating through the light and dark spaces, the artist invites us to sit on our present experiences, the unspoken words and the echoing thoughts. She calls upon the very ends of our thoughts, wandering, guarding, and maneuvering in subtlety, delving deeper into delicacy, pausing and resonating at a certain fine node, and providing us with a space for contemplation. " Moral gravity makes us fall towards the heights. "—an insight from Weil that gives a new annotation here. Attention is a stone that sinks into the deep sea, and in the ever-rippling waves, we are yet to re-imagine a different connection back to ourselves.

● Text/Huang Yuting

Anya Tong is an artist and graphic designer. She graduated with a Bachelor of Design from the University of Melbourne. She recently completed the MFA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths, University of London. She worked as a sound designer, illustrator and cast member of the Four Letter Word Theatre in Australia. She was involved in several stage performances at the Melbourne Fringe and other art festivals. She participated in various group and solo exhibitions locally and overseas. Anya's art explores concepts surrounding liminality, the unconscious and semi-fictional narratives. She mostly works with found objects, video, sound, photography, and performance. Anya’s projects are stretched across extensive time periods, while she incorporates repetitive acts, rituals, meditations and endurance practices into her works.

Curator

Huang Yuting

Huang Yuting, writer and curator, currently lives and works in Hangzhou.

Three Shadows Education Program

As one of the core components of the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, the "Three Shadows Education Program" deeply explores and efficiently integrates top resources such as artists, researchers, scholars, and curators from both domestic and international backgrounds, constructing a public event and practical ecosystem centered around its two main locations in Beijing and Xiamen. Upholding the notion of photography as an independent art form, this program is dedicated to exploring its cross-media integration and innovative expressions. It consistently initiates a series of projects including master workshops, creative exchange meetings, mentorship programs for young artists, overseas study tours, and portfolios for overseas studies, aiming to provide diverse learning resources and growth paths for the public, enthusiasts, and creators.