Ocula Magazine Shines a Light on ‘Black Box’ at Ames Yavuz

30 Aug 2024

As part of its coverage of Singapore Gallery Month, Ocula Magazine has highlighted Black Box at Ames Yavuz, an exhibition featuring works by 12 Chinese artists. Curated by Beijing-based Yang Zi, the show explores themes of confinement, transformation, and the human spirit’s capacity for renewal.

Inspired by the metaphor of a “black box,” the exhibition reflects the complexities of political and personal boundaries. Video artist Zheng Yuan’s piece, What Is To Be Done? (2023), filmed during Beijing’s 2022 lockdown, captures the ways limited perspectives shape our understanding of reality.

Elaine YJ Zheng writes in Ocula Magazine describing the works in Black Box to “reflect Zi’s belief that, in the battle for freedom, sometimes bodies must ‘forfeit their original structures’. Yet, ultimately, it is language itself, with metaphor and allegory as its conduits, that casts light amid obscurity.”

The exhibition continues at Ames Yavuz in Singapore until 12 October 2024.

Image: Installation view of Black Box, Ames Yavuz, Singapore, 2024. Photographed by Ken Cheong.