The East Asian modernity unfolded through a unique path, and following this historical genealogy, contemporary art in East Asia has also revealed qualities different from the West. With regards to urban studies and gender, what kind of cultural attributes and possibilities have the young generation of artists benefited from traditional East Asian Cultures?

Yuko MOHRI was born in 1980 in Kanagawa, Japan. Lives and works in Tokyo.The recipient of the Nissan Art Award 2015, Mohri is an installation artist who recasts reconfigured everyday items and machine parts collected in cities around the world into self-contained ‘ecosystems,’ channelling and conducting intangible energies such as magnetism, gravity, temperature and light.With an artistic background in new-media art, Mohri’s practice engages with circuits and connectivity. She states that: ‘I prefer gravity, magnetism, light, and wind to control my work.’ Mohri positions forces such as gravity and electricity as otherworldly and unpredictable, and her installations insist on the powers of the nonhuman and the uncontrollable. The artist establishes her systems and then steps back, relinquishing her agency – her circuits are left to their own devices.In sound-based assemblages, Mohri’s approach has alluded to experimental artists Erik Satie, Marcel Duchamp and John Cage, particularly though their relationship to chance. Mohri brings contingency and improvisation into her installations, aiming to capture the appearance of the world and human essence through the eyes of new materialism.

In 2015, Mohri received a grant from the Asian Cultural Council for a 6-month residency in New York. In 2016, Mohri has undertaken a residency with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and had in residence at Camden Arts Centre, London. Mohri’s recent solo exhibitions were held at Camden Arts Centre, London (2018), Project Fulfill Art Space, Taipei (2018, 2016), The National Museum of Modern Art Kyoto, Japan (2018), White Rainbow, London (2017), Jane Lombard Gallery, New York (2016) and many group shows included “The 9th Asia Pacific Triennal of Contemporary Art,” Brisbane, Australia (2018), “14th Biennale de Lyon 2017,” Lyon (2017), “Japanorama: New Vision on Art since 1970,” Centre Pompidou-Metz, France (2017), “Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2016,” Kochi, India (2016), “Yokohama Triennale 2014,” Kanagawa, Japan (2014), etc. Her Works are in the collections of M+, Hong Kong; Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon, Lyon, France; Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan etc.

Ma Qiusha was born in 1982. She received her BA in Digital Media Art from China Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2005 and MFA in Electronic Integrated Arts from Alfred University in U.S. in 2008. She currently lives and works in Beijing.

Ma Qiusha’s artistic creation is not limited to specific media, and her works include photography, video recording, painting, installation, etc. The content of her works is mainly based on specific and subtle personal experience, but she can often get away from daily life and go beyond the direct narration of emotions into a more essential formal level.

As one of the most dynamic figures of the emerging generation in China’s contemporary art community, Ma Qiusha’s art have been widely exhibited across the international art scene. Her works have been shown at Tate Modern, UK; Groninger Museum, the Netherlands; Centre Pompidou, France; Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Germany; ZKM (Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe), Germany; Borusan Contemporary, Turkey; Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, U.S.; International Contemporary Art Foundation, Bergen; the Chinese Arts Centre, UK; Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, UK; Stavanger Art Museum, Norway; Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing; Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai; OCAT, Shanghai; OCAT, Xi’an; National Art Museum of China; and Art Museum of Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, etc. Her recent exhibitions include “Moscow International Biennale for Young Art” at Museum of Moscow; groupshow at Daimler Art Collection and Wesleyan University, etc. She was nominated for the Pierre Huber Prize (2014) 、“Young Artist of the Year” by Award of Art China (AAC) in 2013 and “Young Artist of the Year”by Award of Art China (AAC) in 2017.