Obscenely Bad Guggenheim Joke #1 - #5
2011 | Inkjet print with matt lamination (Signed and dated verso) | 118.9 x 84.1 cm (each) | Edition of 8 + 1 AP
 
 

artist statement
Five extremely obscenely rude and bad jokes about the internationally famous museum chain, The Guggenheim, are presented here as publicity posters for an event scheduled in 2017: the grand opening of a spectacular franchise in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

The work is deliberately crafted as a mirror of reality where marketing has completely transformed art museums into ultra-populist spaces, not unlike shopping malls, multiplex cinemas or sports stadiums.

The foul language in the work presents an engine that veers on the edge of the loss of self-control; emulating what seems like a crack in the system, a mass psychosis. Anything and everything can and will be expressed to gain a foothold in mass-media (or worse, social media) in order to cause a stir in people's desires.

This work is probably as much a bad idea as opening a Guggenheim in Johor Bahru. Total complete disasters.


 
HEMAN CHONG
artist profile
Heman Chong is an artist, curator and writer. His art practice  involves an investigation into the philosophies, reasons and methods  of individuals and communities imagining the future. Charged with a  conceptual drive, this research is then adapted into objects, images,  installations, situations or texts.

The artist has developed solo exhibitions at NUS Museum (Singapore),  Kunstverein Milano (Milan), Motive Gallery (Amsterdam), Hermes Third  Floor (Singapore), Vitamin Creative Space (Guangzhou), Art In General  (New York), Project Arts Centre (Dublin), Ellen de Bruijne Projects  (Amsterdam), The Substation (Singapore), Kuenstlerhaus Bethanien  (Berlin), Sparwasser HQ (Berlin).

His work has also been shown extensively in group exhibitions  including Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Kroeller-Muller  Museum, Stedelijk Museum Bureau, Nam June Paik Art Center, Gertrude  Contemporary, Arnolfini, Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Museum  of Contemporary Art Denver, Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami,  Hamburger Bahnhof, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Kadist Foundation,  Daejeon Museum of Art.

He has participated in numerous international biennales including  Momentum 6 (2011), Manifesta 8 (2010), 2nd Singapore Biennale (2008),  SCAPE Christchurch Biennale (2006), Busan Biennale (2004), 10th India  Triennale (2000) and represented Singapore in the 50th Venice Biennale  (2003).

In 2006, he produced a writing workshop with Leif Magne Tangen at  Project Arts Center in Dublin where they co-authored "PHILIP", a  science fiction novel, with Mark Aerial Waller, Cosmin Costinas,  Rosemary Heather, Francis McKee, David Reinfurt and Steve Rushton.

Heman Chong is represented by Motive Gallery (Amsterdam) and Vitamin  Creative Space (Beijing/Guangzhou).