Espérance plays an important role in human history as an emotional term, a word to describe belief or virtue (Vertu) – it is the vision that is hastily left at the bottom of Hesiod's Pandora's box, and it is also the soul's yearning for a perfect world in Plato's Republic.
Top & Left & Bottom Right: Entrance to the exhibition "The Other Side of Hope / 9th", Paris, 2024.
摄影: Aurélien Mole
At 236 rue Saint-Martin in the Marais district of Paris, a group exhibition entitled "The Other Side of Hope / 9th" is on display. Co-curated by Birdy K. and Mongolian curator Dr. Wumen Ghua, the group exhibition brings together works by artists from 11 countries, and invites visitors to step into a transcendental space where music and visual art echo each other, inspired by experimental band Mola Oddity's new album of the same name. "Find hope in a world that may be broken, but incomparably precious." Curator Wumen told us on site.
Above: Group photo of the members of the band Mola Oddity, from left to right: Asr, Idel, Guo Caijie.
Bottom: Mola Oddity members in a boat-shaped set.
摄影：Yao Yuan
In Wumen's eyes, the exhibition is not just an exhibition, but more like "a personal journey". Compared to her previous more mature exhibition themes such as climate change and gender fluidity, the inspiration for this experimental exhibition can be traced back to the synaesthesia experience she had in the lyrics of her Mola Oddity album at the beginning of the year: "I feel as if each song has its own universe. The album was probably three years in the making, and there was a lot of inner self-examination of the relationship with the world, so each song was actually very expansive. ”
Installation view of "The Other Side of Hope / 9th", Paris, 2024.
摄影: Aurélien Mole
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In addition to the key word "hope", the "infinite loop" state represented by the Möbius ring is also the curatorial concept emphasized by Wumen, which is also reflected in the "9th" in the title of the exhibition: "9 is the largest single digit, but also a self-referential number, which represents both the end and the infinity, always returning to itself." In the midst of the many crises in today's world, it's easy to fall into despair and think that we are coming to an end. But if this is really the end, it must be a dream. Just like the number 9, it doesn't end quickly, we always go back to ourselves to find answers. ”
上：Elly Strik，《无题》（Untitled），2017
下：Joar Nango，《我父亲的救生衣》（My father’s lifevest），2014
Image courtesy of the artist
In a 1942 seminar, the French existentialist scholar Gabriel Marcel spoke about the two dualistic concepts of "hope" (Espérance) and "despair": "In a sense, despair is a conscious perception of closed time, or more precisely, a conscious perception of time as a cage – and hope is the penetration and breakthrough of this temporal consciousness." ”
Installation view of "The Other Side of Hope / 9th", Paris, 2024.
摄影: Aurélien Mole
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From this perspective, "The Other Side of Hope / 9 Days" is a reflection on the state of existence trapped in meaningless, mechanically closed time. "The journey of hope is like an endless cycle that we go through from the beginning of life to the end. In this journey, we follow the spiral path of the Möbius Ring, from the state of the unconscious to the awakening of our own existence. On the way to awakening, we experience various challenges such as loss, sadness, loneliness, and violence. Eventually, we came full circle and returned to the beginning of the journey. This is a cyclical but non-recurring journey of experience, a transition from "Temps Clos" to "Temps Ouvert", and the embodiment of the definite law of "Logos" in Heraclitus's concept of universal transformation.
上:Ronald Ophuis,《流产》(Miscarriage),2014
下:Ronald Ophuis,《科索沃2000》(Kosovo 2000),2008
Image courtesy of the artist
展览中的每日都有对应的一位艺术家:Joar Nango、Susan Kooi、Elly Strik、Agnes Scherer、Ronald Ophuis、李怒、Yehwan Song、Orkhontuul Banzragch、Katja Novitskova、Þórður Hans Baldursson、张培力,这些艺术家的作品分别呼应着Mola Oddity专辑中的歌曲意象。
挪威艺术家Joar Nango的作品《曾经吊起你的绳子终会将你拉起》（The Same Rope That Hung You Will Pull You Up in the End）
摄影:Vegard Kleven
On Day 0, Norwegian artist Joar Nango's The Same Rope That Hung You Will Pull You Up in the End is made from Bealljit (curved birch trunks), brass rings and reindeer leather ropes from his hometown. Birch is one of the earth's pioneer tree species, with roots deep underground, where they draw nutrients from deep soils and provide them to other organisms. In Joar Nango's work, the curved birch trees seem to contain an inner energy that can bring life back to life from the abyssal darkness. On the 0th day of the exhibition, a "bardo" space is provided, which refers to the intermediate state of existence after death and before the beginning of the next life. "The rope that once hoisted you will eventually pull you up is also a promise: at every finish there is a new beginning to choose again." Said the curator.
Left&Right: Installation view of "The Other Side of Hope / 9th", Paris, 2024.
摄影: Aurélien Mole
On the ninth day, a symbol of revival, circulation and rebirth, the exhibition chooses to re-examine "functional objects with negative social backgrounds and transform them into interactive works" through three works by Icelandic artist ÞÓRÐUR HANS BALDURSSON, including the installation Fountain, the painting The Peace Tower, and the acoustic installation Queue/Cue. Provide visitors with a new way to perceive the world.
The painting "Peace Tower" is inspired by "Imagine Peace Tower", which was built by Yoko Ono in 2007 in memory of her late husband John Lennon; The sonic installation "Queue/Suggestion" requires the artist and the musician to cooperate to control a 2-meter-high car wash brush through sound: the movement of this "living sculpture" car wash brush is controlled by the musicians' performance, and the movement of the brush in turn affects the musicians' performance, forming a two-way interactive dialogue, which is also the process of "attaching the soul of the installation through connection and music" according to Wumen, one of the curators.
左:ÞÓRÐUR HANS BALDURSSON,《喷泉》(Fountain),2024
右:ÞÓRÐUR HANS BALDURSSON,《和平塔》(The Peace Tower),2022
摄影: Aurélien Mole
Artist Zhang Peili's 1999 video installation "I Wish You Happiness", created especially for the Venice Biennale, is listed on the next day 0 before returning to the original point. In the video, ten people, including his daughter, brother and fellow artists, repeat the same simple phrase "Happy birthday to you", conveying the universality and universality of human emotions – care and love.
Zhang Peili, Happy Birthday to You, 1999
摄影: Aurélien Mole
Wumen uses "infinity", "circulation", and "return to the inner self" as an index to find the "other side of hope", and for co-curator Guo Caijie, "The Other Side of Hope" precedes the exhibition as the title of the first musical work by the band Mola Oddity, and is actually inspired by the 2017 film and television work of the same name by Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki.
Left&Right: Installation view of "The Other Side of Hope / 9th", Paris, 2024.
摄影: Aurélien Mole
This album, which has been in preparation for 3 years, is different from all her previous music works, with the production idea of electronic music as the basic framework, organically combining the ear-appropriate elements of pop music with West African music, free jazz, alternative rock and other music genres. At the same time, it also fulfilled the original idea of the exhibition.
At the exhibition in Paris, Life and Arts also met Mola Oddity's lead singer Birdy K., and started a conversation with her about this artistic practice.
左&右:Mola Oddity乐队成员、主唱郭采洁(Birdy K.)
摄影：Yao Yuan
L&A
Why did you come up with the idea to co-curate such an exhibition inspired by Mola Oddity's new album?
Birdy K.
In fact, at the beginning, during the entire creation process of the album, the album had already recorded the music part, and there were many creative novelties in the visual and design related to the album. In post-production, we wanted to record the creative parts outside of the music, and this was the precursor of this exhibition. If you analyze it further, in fact, what you want to express in each song is difficult to fully express through the injected lyrics, even if it has been placed in the lyrics, it is still very vague. The people around me suggested that maybe it could be presented in the form of an exhibition.
For me, I enjoy discovering exhibitions outside of work. Because I feel that most of the information is being dropped like a bomb now, and I don't have the opportunity to communicate with it. An exhibition can really make you pause, and in that moment, let the conversation start. Actually, there is no big idea, but we do collectively raise the question: what is the other side of hope.
Top & Bottom: Experimental band Mola Oddity
摄影：Yao Yuan
L&A
What does the "other side of hope" mean to you? Why did you choose Paris for this exhibition?
Birdy K.
It's a convergence of consciousness. There is no clear reason to find it, but it just happened. When I arrived in Paris on the 16th, I wondered why I wanted to hold an exhibition here, but then I realized that if I had to ask the reason for everything at the beginning, a lot of things would not have happened. Of course, Paris is also wonderful, although it is far from the place where we usually live, but it does have a lot of good friends, and it is probably because of this attraction that we are brought here.
Installation view of "The Other Side of Hope / 9th", Paris, 2024.
摄影: Aurélien Mole
L&A
In your opinion, what is the connection between the artworks in the exhibition and the music of Mola Oddity?
Birdy K.
In fact, people who come to the exhibition may not know about the band and may not have heard of the band's works. Although it is a group exhibition with this theme, it is not the creation of a proposition. We don't take the seeds buried in the song to invite artists. The number of days in the exhibition from 0 to 9 to 0 has become completely irrelevant to the order in the album songs. Wumen re-gives a sequence of life that she has defined, and I think this is also the present that belongs to Wumen.
For example, because of the song "tatalala" in the album (lyrics: When was last time, you had a good cry), a friend shared with me Yehwan Song's work "Cry, dont cry", and I entered her world, as if there was some information beyond time and space, which was originally placed there, and there was such a permutation and combination with the intervention of Wumen. As Alan Lightman depicts in Einstein's Dream, perhaps later, in different time and space, this permutation will change, and it will be very organic. Music is a medium, and I also enjoy connecting to different creative ways through the reach of music.
Yehwan Song，《Cry, dont cry》，影像，2023
Image courtesy of the artist
L&A
As a co-curator, how do you select artists?
Birdy K.
Of the 11 artists, three were the ones I was eager to invite, namely Li Nu, Zhang Peili and Yehwan Song, and the others were invited by Wumen. Today I went to see Brother Nu's "To Bull the Wall", and there is a sentence in it: "It looks like we can't do anything, but we have to do something." ”
I think if it's a presupposition, an inevitability, we really have to do something. This reminds me of the movie "Nine Days", where human souls need to go through a strict screening process by "gatekeepers" in order to return to Earth, because souls that are not strong enough cannot return to Earth. And if a person is desperate to return to the earth, then all the so-called unbearable things that he has experienced at this moment can actually bear. The reason why "hope" can be "hope" is also because of these (difficult) things, so that hope can always shine on its own.
李怒，《To Bull the Wall》，2020
Image courtesy of the artist
L&A
Under the pseudonym Birdy K, he formed Mola Oddity and felt a low-key choice leaning towards anonymity. Can you talk about the reasons for this choice?
Birdy K.
Quite simply, there are two reasons. Yider and Asr and I have performed and written together before, but it wasn't until 2022 that the three of us came together for the first time together for a clear project, when we scored the introductory short film for Ulay's first solo exhibition in Asia, "The Great Journey". On that creative project, we had a tacit understanding, and the three of us had a lot of fun working together, so we decided to do something together. This matter is certainly not summed up by my name alone. Also, my name has too many stereotypical labels and ways to be recognized, and Mola Oddity can stretch that out, and I can do more than myself.
实验乐队Mola Oddity
摄影：Yao Yuan
L&A
In recent years, you have made many cross-border attempts in art, what is the most attractive trait of this kind of cross-border collaboration for you? What are some new challenges you'd like to try in the future?
Birdy K.
I think this (exhibition) happened very accidentally, I'm a layman, this time it's definitely because Wumen is here, and I don't know the future. I used to help guide an exhibition as a guest, and I enjoyed the process. It was also because of this that I got to know SPURS Gallery, and through them, I invited PuraPharm and Li Nu to participate in the exhibition. The preparation time for this exhibition is very short, it seems that there is 6 months to prepare in the early stage, but in fact, there is not enough time. In the future, I will continue to explore music and collaborate with different musicians. At present, this exhibition presents more physical things, and I can try the theme of smell and other senses in the future, and I am looking forward to it.
"The Other Side of Hope / 9 Days"
策展人：Birdy K.、Wumen Ghua
Duration: 2024.06.21 - 2024.06.30
236 rue Saint-Martin, Marais, Paris
撰文:Island Bay
编辑:Cynthia
Typesetting: Yu Ziyao