Upon the opening of dual exhibitions, Chronologies and Scenographies (Vanguard Gallery, 13 September-1 November), artist Ho Rui An, curator Zian Chen, and curator Joni Zhu will reflect on the thinking that unfolded through their collaborations, as well as the questions that emerged in moving between different exhibition contexts. 

Chronologies begins and ends with Ho’s new film, The World of Lines (commissioned by and on view at the ICA at NYU Shanghai), which traces the historical development of China’s textile industry, focusing on the shifting relations between capital, labor, and technology across the Yangtze and Pearl River Delta regions. Concurrently on view at Vanguard Gallery, Scenographies brings together Ho Rui An’s constructed sets and installations to explore the entanglement of landscape and power in East and Southeast Asia, weaving historiography, critical fictioning, and speculative storytelling into immersive scenarios.

While the two exhibitions differ in content and form, they both continue the artist’s sustained inquiry into how images and narrative structures reflect and mediate political, historical, and economic forces.  Rather than offering a summary, their conversation invites us to consider broader questions: How can art participate in knowledge production? How might artistic and curatorial practices revisit overlooked structural histories and make archives otherwise?

Visitors are invited to join their conversation after the 14:30 screening of The World of Lines.

This event is co-hosted by the ICA at NYU Shanghai and Vanguard Gallery.

The conversation will be held in Chinese. 

Free and open to the public. 

In conjunction with Chronologies, an exhibition by Ho Rui An and co-curated by Zian Chen.

The exhibition Chronologies and related events are presented as the third season of the ICA's artistic research program Lightless Fires (2024–26), exploring fermentation as a figure and technique of collective memory, autonomous archiving, and writing history.