The Importance of Good Conduct by Hong-Kai Wang

January 22-February 14, 2009
Opening reception January 22 6-8 pm

AC[Institute Direct Chapel]
a non-profit 501© 3

547 W. 27th St., 5th Floor
NY, NY 10001

hrs. Wed-Sat 1-6 Thur 8 pm

Director and Curator: Holly Crawford
Gallery Manager: Christine Licata
Fellow: Sonya Hofer

AC [Direct] I and II presents “The Importance of Good Conduct,” by Taiwanese artist Hong-Kai Wang. In her cross-disciplinary sound and audiovisual pieces, Symphony and The Broken Orchestra, Wang investigates cultural and political conformity, deconstructing the in¬fluences of social norms on the individual.

Through a re-contextualization of common sounds and spaces, Wang challenges convention and accepted behaviors. Often collaborating with visual artists, theater directors, music composers, filmmakersand choreographers, her work reveals unexpected expressions and meanings within the overlap of aesthetics and quotidian life. Filled with poignant ironies and an experimental “purposeful play” remi¬niscent of John Cage, Wang resists the prescribed confines of any situation or medium.

In AC [Direct] I, the audiovisual piece Symphony juxtaposes the con¬structs of individuality and nationality through Wang’s encounter with the Immigration Naturalization Service in Garden City, Long Island. Her mechanical interrogation is heard simultaneously over Debussy’s melodic piece, Clair de Lune, led by an anonymous conductor in silhouette. In a clash of orchestrated forced and free will, harmony and acceptance become incompatible, dissonant forces.

Located in the front of AC [Direct] II and played from a 5.1 sound system (including benches for the audience) is Wang’s The Broken Orchestra, which explores the boundaries of conventional uniformity and euphony within music’s standard complement. For this work, nine musicians separately recreated an early childhood performance of Bach’s Ave Maria by Wang and her brother. Isolated from the en¬semble and responding to the naiveté of an imperfect and distorted instrumentation, the musicians’ sensibilities were open to personal associations and idiosyncrasies. The results of their interpretations are remixed into the original recording in an eternal loop of creative chance and circumstance.

Born in Taiwan and now living and working in New York, Hong-Kai Wang has a MA in Media Studies from The New School University (New York) as well as a BA in Political Science from The National Taiwan University (Taipei). Her sound and audiovisual installations have been exhibited in Europe, Asia, Canada, the Caribbean and the United States including Taipei Biennial (Taipei), The Salon Inter¬national De Arte Digital (Havana), DiVA (Miami), The Institute of Contemporary Art (Dunaújváros, Hungary), “In-Presentable” (Madrid), “L Noche en Blanco” (Madrid), Yokohama Triennial (Yokohama), “Madrid Abierto” (Madrid), and the HOWL! Festival (New York).

Wang’s upcoming projects include a sound installation commission for the operetta Dew of Mei Wu (Taipei), an ongoing work-in-progress project in collaboration with the Taipei Women Rescue Foundation and an interdisciplinary project for the International Women Artist’s Biennale (Incheon).
Special thanks to Joshua Camp, Andy Cotton, Kathleen Edwards, Ben Gerstein, Michael Hearst, Kurt Hoffman, Ben Holmes, Meg Reichardt and Pei-Yao Wang for making The Broken Orchestra project possible.