Event
Living in the (Un)Real | Hsin-Chien Huang
The connection between Milan and Taiwan continues with Living in the (Un)Real, the first solo exhibition in Italy of Taiwanese new media artist Hsin-Chien Huang.
Huang is known for his interdisciplinary approach that combines gaming, design and art. His works stem from collaborations with iconic figures such as Laurie Anderson and Jean-Michel Jarre.
Living in the (Un)real marks the Milan debut of acclaimed Taiwanese new media artist Hsin-Chien Huang. Mr.Huang is a pioneering Taiwanese new media artist known for his interdisciplinary approach, blending art, design, engineering, and electronic gaming. His unique blend of narrative storytelling, immersive technology, and philosophical inquiry has established him as a leading figure in the contemporary art world, continually pushing the boundaries of how we perceive and interact with reality.
Mr. Huang has received numerous international nominations and awards for his VR artwork and has exhibited in museums and festivals such as MoMA (New York), Taipei Fine Art museum, and Louisiana Museum of Modern art (Denmark), Ars Electronica (Austria), Festival de Cannes (France), GIFF (Geneva), and Transmediale (Germany) to name a few.
At the core of Huang’s artistic vision is the concept that “we are always in a state of becoming”. His work challenges viewers to reconsider the boundaries between the real and the unreal, offering immersive experiences that make the invisible visible. His works often invite viewers to embody different avatars or perspectives, allowing them to experience altered states of consciousness and question their perceptions. Hsin-Chien Huang looks to a variety of sources for inspiration, from surveillance, AI and big data collection, Buddhism, folk influences from Taipei, and childhood stories told to him during Taiwan’s period of martial law.
Mr. Huang thinks that the following themes are of paramount importance: the relationship between technology and humanity, the nature of consciousness, and the impact of political history and social trauma. Huang’s art often delves into the complexities of surveillance, big data, and AI, questioning how these technologies influence our perception of reality and how the unseen forces of big data and AI subtly choreograph our lives.
In his solo exhibition, Huang challenges viewers to rethink their understanding of reality and the unseen forces that govern it. By integrating technology and art, he invites us to contemplate the ethical and existential questions posed by our increasingly surveilled and digitized world. Ultimately, Huang’s work is a call to engage with these issues, urging us to explore and expand our spiritual and intellectual horizons.
We look forward, from 14 November, to an experiential journey that will make you reflect on the complex relationship between technology, art and spirituality, addressing crucial issues including surveillance, privacy and the transformative power of AI. Curated by Julie Walsh, the exhibition reflects MEET’s commitment to building cultural bridges and promoting global dialogues through digital art.
Living in the (Un)real: An Immersive Journey Between Art and Surveillance
On the first floor of MEET until 19 January 2025, an immersive journey through interactive installations and virtual reality experiences with Living in the (Un)real. We will take you through installations in the first Gallery into the artistic life of Hsin-Chien Huang, letting you discover his creative processes, from drawing to video.
You will then be able to discover his works in the exhibition:
Samsara
Samsara, the first VR work you will encounter in the exhibition, explores the Buddhist concept of the endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth, setting it in a post-apocalyptic world.
Huang addresses the theme of ‘embodied cognition’, the idea that our perception of the world is influenced by the very nature of our bodies. In the work, you will transform into different people and creatures during the VR experience, experiencing the universe through new bodies. Through these avatars, you will explore different realities, seeing the world from different perspectives depending on the form you take. Hsin-Chien thus offers the opportunity to expand our consciousness, immersing ourselves in new species and worlds.
The post-apocalyptic narrative of Samsara invites us to reflect on the condition of contemporary humanity and the environmental crises afflicting the Earth. The work conveys a message of warning about human choices and possible future destiny, urging greater awareness.
The Eye And I
Huang’s work, The Eye and I, explores the theme of surveillance through the ages, accompanied by the revolutionary music of Jean-Michel Jarre. The soundtrack can be enjoyed in two modes: in a linear mode, where all viewers in VR listen to the same music at the same moment in the narrative, or in a non-linear mode, allowing visitors to create a customised sound experience based on their unique path through the work, flying through its scenes.
In the VR experience, the viewer assumes the role of an inmate inside a prison with 12 cells. Each cell represents a different historical era of surveillance, examining how control has influenced religion, art, science and people’s personal lives. Through a series of intense and often disturbing journeys, visitors will discover the various forms of surveillance that have shaped our culture and even influenced our perception of reality.
In an era where we are constantly monitored, The Eye and I transports viewers back in time and space, inviting them to reflect on what it means to be observed and how this experience changes our view of the world.
Shall We Dance, Milano?
Shall We Dance, Milano?, designed specifically for MEET and the city of Milan, offers the public a unique interaction with Milanese architecture. Visitors merge their movements with the city structures, animating the buildings and creating a dialogue between body and urban space. This process invites a profound identification with the city, where visitors become protagonists, occupying the spaces and marking the rhythms of Milan with their gestures.
Shall We Dance, Milano? is an interactive generative artwork that, thanks to artificial intelligence, involves the public in a completely new way of experiencing the city. In an urban context often perceived as cold and frenetic, visitors interact with images of Milanese architecture: their bodies merge with the buildings, animating the structures with their movements. In this way, the spectator becomes an integral part of Milan, populating its buildings and creating a personal animation of the city’s architecture.
The experiential journey offered by MEET invites us to reflect on technology not only as a practical tool, but also as a way for man’s spiritual evolution. Through Hsin-Chien Huang’s virtual reality works, it is possible to lose perception of the physical body and immerse oneself in an alternative state, exploring new physical and psychological dimensions of being.
Omni Channels
The work invites us to immerse ourselves in an alternative dimension, where the boundaries between the real and the vistrual merge. With Omni Channels, Huang takes us to Taiwan, to the streets of Tapei, where a broadband receiver collects 500 fragments of everyday life without most people being aware of it.
The images are (un)real, combined and anonymised to dissolve the identity of the people filmed, to give life to a world where privacy and the invisible become art materials. These fragments of life are thus transformed into visual abstractions, creating an experience that prompts us to reflect on what it means to observe and be observed.
Bodyless
Bodyless is an intimate and profound performance, a dive into Hsin-Chien Huang’s memories and the stories his mother used to tell him as a child. When the woman aged, developing a form of dementia, the artist created this work with the hope of helping her remember some of the stories she had told him. Memories will come to life through images and sounds.
You will join in this personal journey, which is intertwined with a darker, more universal theme: the dangers of technology gone out of control. In the 1970s, during martial law in Taiwan, people were reduced to mere numbers within an oppressive system. Although that chapter seems to be a thing of the past, today it resonates with an eerie familiarity as emerging technologies tread that same path.
New technologies have become powerful means to observe, monitor and control, turning us into a set of data to be tracked and manipulated. The work invites us to question what it means to live under surveillance and how our identity can be broken down and reassembled through data.
The exhibition is in collaboration with the Taipei Representation in Italy – Milan Office.
Until 19 January 2025, do not miss the opportunity to visit Hsin-Chien Huang’s first solo exhibition in Italy. Immerse yourself in the interactive installations, to reflect together on the relationship between technology and human beings, the nature of consciousness, its impact on political history and social traumas, and meditations on time and memory.
For more information on costs and opening hours, please visit this page. Please note that the exhibition is recommended for audiences over the age of 14.
