Duruo Zheng

‘Hear the Light’ brings together work by artists Chibuzor Adiele, Anat Ben-David, Simnikiwe Buhlungu and Chen Zhe to explore ‘awakening’ as a concept and metaphor capable of introducing new possibilities and raising awareness, restructuring our futures while shaping brighter, challenging presents. Starting from the conviction that the Internet is a luxury, the exhibition is an invitation to think together about our present moment, which is full of inheritances, repetitions and comings, while questioning the notion of accessibility.

Chibuzor Adiele contributes with a sonic triptych, a journey across sound, music and noise in which each element references the other. Using ‘imagination-technology’, Anat Ben-David in turn re-imagines space and time. Simnikiwe Buhlungu’s collection of narrative sonic material invites collective action, while Chen Zhe extends daily transient moments via audio tracks and recording into psychological experiences.

Both as a theme and impetus, ‘awakening’ is a powerful concept because of the action and repetition it implies. In our age, it is strongly connected with political, social and environmental movements striving for change. We ask: does this notion hold the same potential to transform that the period known as Enlightenment did? Or that literature like Kafka’s Metamorphosis held? What can a non-human perspective of insects’, plants’ and planets’ awakening reveal in an unfamiliar world? How can cycles of suffering and awakening relate to the unfolding events of the post-information age?

With 2021 as a backdrop, ‘Hear the Light’ is also an experiment in thinking about the question of connectivity. Are we really all online? In a world of unreliable or slow connections the only way to ensure that information is readily available to semi-connected or disconnected audiences is through the distribution of a physical copy. Alongside the idea of the USB as an offline copy of the exhibition, there is the USB as an artefact, allowing audiences to revisit the exhibition again at different times and places. USBs will be displayed and available upon request at Gasworks after its reopening on 19th May.

‘Hear the Light’ takes place 11 –17 May 2021 online and offline. The exhibition is curated by Ludovica Bulciolu, David Lisbon, Kechun Qin, Hyeona Shin, Haoyang Wang, Shiying Wang and Duruo Zheng from the MA Curating Contemporary Art Programme as part of the Graduate Projects 2021, Royal College of Art, London, in partnership with Gasworks.

Duruo Zheng is an independent researcher and curator. Her research lies on violence and vulnerable subjects in human societies, she is interested in collective memories and responses as forms of knowledge production, and how curatorial practices could reveal, respond to, and reform the dominant narratives.

In her graduate dissertation Imagining Futurities: queer curating in the contemporary Chinese art scene, she critically examined queer curating practices inside and outside of institutions in different geopolitical contexts and considered an imaginative and fictional curatorial practice as an alternative strategy and resistance to censorship and precariousness in exhibition-making.

Duruo co-curated ‘Hear the Light’ exhibition as her graduate project in partnership with Gasworks. The project resides both online and offline, exploring ‘awakening’ as a concept and metaphor capable of introducing new possibilities and raising awareness. This project is also an invitation to reflect on Internet connectivity and the digital transition in our time.

Duruo has recently co-curated the exhibition Immunity Geography at Enjoy Museum in Beijing, which explored the tension of human bodies in a global crisis. Prior to her study at the RCA, she studied Art History at China Central Academy of Fine Arts, and worked both in art institutions and media.