︎︎︎下拉至中文
Liquid Body, Leaking Frontier
11/09/2026 - 17/01/2027
Curator: Tang Yifei
Goethe-Institut China, Beijing, CN
Artists: Chen Tianzhuo, Chen Ruofan, Chen Zhe, Isaac Chong Wai, Liao Wen, Lucy McRae, Man Mei To, Wang Yuyu, Yin Yunya
Archives: Freud Letter, Xiaozu Corridor – Performance Art Video Zine
Special Support: 69 Art Campus
As part of its “Teahouse 798” project, the Goethe-Institut China will launch the exhibition “Liquid Body, Leaking Frontier” from 11 September 2026 to 17 January 2027, curated by TANG Yifei. The exhibition’s archival lead draws on Sigmund Freud’s letters written during the 1920 Spanish Flu, which will be juxtaposed in time and space with artists’ paper paintings, sculptural installations, and video works. Taking body imagery and embodied perception as its vessel, the exhibition unfolds a process of delayed digestion and prolonged reaction. This project also received special support from 69 Art Campus.
Amid the aftermath of the 1920 Spanish Flu, Freud noted in a letter to his close friend Oskar Pfister: “The loss of a child seems to be a serious, narcissistic injury; what is known as mourning will probably follow only later.” This observation, stemming from a private experience of bereavement, reveals a collective experience: when a structural shock occurs abruptly, the subject’s perception, digestion, identification and processing of the event are often delayed. Just as the social-historical panorama presented by Laura Spinney in *Pale Rider*, after a crisis, social mechanisms prioritise restoring order and returning to normalcy. Many forms of grief, contradiction and turmoil that cannot be accommodated by mainstream narratives lack public channels for expression, commemoration and placement, and consequently sink into the depths of individual lives.
In this context, the exhibited works, created in the last few years and the present, feature both abstract and figurative representations that are intimately connected to the body itself. The body serves as a container for storing memories and projecting the traces of dislocation within social structures. It is also a form of expression beyond language; as an alternative perceptual ritual, it brings to light individual experiences and subconscious reflections that existing discursive systems cannot categorise. All video works in the exhibition contain no dialogue; instead, they utilise advances and retreats, movements and gestures, and non-linear visual rhythm to capture the subject’s suspension, negotiation, and adaptation to possible orders. The sculptural installations explore varying scales of bodily perception, traversing boundaries and growing in deviation. This exhibition examines how enduring vulnerability and chronic violence are ingrained and attempts to bring a resilience that arises not from recovery but from internal transformation and a reimagining of existence.
Photo 4 by ©️Zhao Yi
About the featured work
On the brink of wet void, there burns a sun
439x50x50 cm (dimensions variable）
Saltwater, linen, universal joint, iron, hot plate, PC water tank, PU tubing, stainless steel valve, water pump
“On the brink of wet void, there burns a sun" serves as the preface to Liao Wen’s long-term project, Anatomy of Melancholy. The work draws inspiration from the artist's repeated encounters with weeping individuals on the streets and in public spaces of Hong Kong. In a poetic gesture, the artist translates suppressed tears in public spheres into water droplets that instantly evaporate upon contact with a hot iron plate—highlighting the panic when confronted with grief, while reflecting deeply on the shame associated with exposing vulnerability and sorrow, both individually and collectively, within East Asian society.
《湍湍之身》
2026年9月11日至2027年1月17日
策展人: 唐一菲
藝術家: 陳天灼、陳若璠、陳哲、莊偉（Isaac Chong Wai）、廖雯、露西·麥克雷（Lucy McRae）、文美桃（Man Mei To）、王玉鈺、尹韻雅檔案: 弗洛伊德書信、小組通道計劃
在“798茶館”項目框架下，2026年9月11日至2027年1月17日，北京德國文化中心·歌德學院（中國）將舉辦由策展人唐一菲組織發起的展覽項目“湍湍之身”（Liquid Body, Leaking Frontier）。展覽的引子檔案來自1920年西班牙流感期間的弗洛伊德書信，現場將與紙本繪畫、雕塑裝置及影像作品時空並置， 以身體意象和具身感知為容器，引入一場延遲的消化與漫長的反應過程。此項目同時致謝69 Art Campus的特別支持。
1920年西班牙流感餘波中，弗洛伊德在致好友菲斯特的書信中提到：“失去孩子或許是沈重的自戀創傷，真正的哀悼恐怕在之後才會到來。” 這句話源自私人喪親經歷，卻揭示出一種集體經驗：結構性沖擊驟然發生，但主體對事件的感知消化、辨認與處理，往往滯後。正如勞拉·斯賓尼在《蒼白的騎士》 中所呈現的社會史圖景，危機過後社會機制優先推進秩序修覆與常態回歸，許多無法被主流敘事收納的失落、矛盾與震蕩，缺少公共的言說、紀念與安放的通道，轉而沈降於個體生命內部。
在此語境之下，創作於近年的參展作品兼具抽象與具象的表征更直接的關聯於身體本身。身體既成為儲存記憶的容器，投射社會結構的錯位痕跡；同時構築起語言之外的表達，作為替代性的感知儀式將那些不被話語體系歸置的個體經驗與潛意識反思顯現。展覽中的影像皆無對白，以某種進退往覆的動作姿態、非線性的視覺節奏，摹仿主體的懸置、周旋、適應以及想象可能的秩序；雕塑裝置則由不同的身體感知尺度展開，穿過邊界，在偏差的間隙中生長。這場展覽探究持續的脆弱感與無法消解的慢性傷害如何堆積與如何被承載，試圖闡釋一種並非來自覆原，而是源於內在轉變與重新定位的韌性。
参展作品：
《在潮濕的空洞邊緣，灼燒著太陽》
439x50x50 釐米 (尺寸可變）
鹽水、亞麻布、萬向十字軸、鐵、電熱板、PC水箱、PU水管、不鏽鋼水閥、水泵
作為長期項目《對憂鬱的解剖》之引子，《在潮濕的空洞邊緣，灼燒著太陽》源於藝術家在香港街頭與公共空間中多次目擊的哭泣。作品將公共場合中隱忍的淚水，詩意地轉化為接觸高溫鐵板即刻蒸發的水滴——既呈現了面對憂傷時的慌亂無措，也深究在東亞社會語境下，將脆弱與悲傷暴露於人前的羞恥感。