Diagonal
Magician Space
Beijing
“Diagonal,” curated by Leo Li Chen, opened at Magician Space amid the aftershocks of another wave of Covid-19 cases in Beijing. Exploring the performance of identity through the video works of eight artists in East and Southeast Asia, the show also inadvertently exemplified the fragility of identification via the gallery experience: identity became a literal question as mask-wearing visitors struggled to recognize their acquaintances. Against the backdrop of a pandemic that has abruptly shifted our experience and understanding of isolation and connectedness, how might we re-examine and re-imagine the boundary between self and other? How might we advance toward new solidarities that transcend the deep social, geographical, and ideological divisions of the present?