[Comicsstudiessociety] IJOCA reviewer desired for Chicago - Kongkee: Warring States Cyberpunk

[Mike Rhode]

 Kongkee: Warring States Cyberpunk April 14-July 15, 2023
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://wrightwood659.org/exhibitions/kongkee-warring-states-cyberpunk/__;!!KGKeukY!yWJHj-6c9wcUVbbi4YfYsZHyVBjUn3oepFc8Gg3coMQILLf4_LlhHiqiqb563dOMEwMen5A_5phPt8xyEvlNstMslvU$ 

Tickets <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://tickets.wrightwood659.org/events__;!!KGKeukY!yWJHj-6c9wcUVbbi4YfYsZHyVBjUn3oepFc8Gg3coMQILLf4_LlhHiqiqb563dOMEwMen5A_5phPt8xyEvlNVyHDslE$ >
On this page

   - Overview
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   - People
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   - Image Gallery
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   - Video
   <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://wrightwood659.org/exhibitions/kongkee-warring-states-cyberpunk/*video__;Iw!!KGKeukY!yWJHj-6c9wcUVbbi4YfYsZHyVBjUn3oepFc8Gg3coMQILLf4_LlhHiqiqb563dOMEwMen5A_5phPt8xyEvlN56H0GRY$ >
   - Related Publication
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Interview with Kongkee
<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://wrightwood659.org/resources/interview-with-kongkee/__;!!KGKeukY!yWJHj-6c9wcUVbbi4YfYsZHyVBjUn3oepFc8Gg3coMQILLf4_LlhHiqiqb563dOMEwMen5A_5phPt8xyEvlNWGHaL4k$ >


*Kongkee: Warring States **Cyberpunk* features the work of London-based
Chinese artist and animation director Kong Khong-chang, known as Kongkee.
Through multi-screen videos, wall projections, neon installations, vibrant
graphic works, narrative texts, and ancient Chinese objects, the exhibition
tells the story of legendary poet Qu Yuan, who lived during the Warring
States Period (c. 481-221 BCE), as his soul journeys from the ancient Chu
Kingdom to a retro-futuristic Asia where he is reborn as an android in a
psychedelic cyberpunk landscape. Originally conceived by Kongkee as a comic
series in 2013, the exhibition transports viewers into an imaginary world
where past and future collide.

“Kongkee starts his creative process by researching and allegorizing the
historical figures of the Warring States Period,” explains Curator Abby
Chen. “He brilliantly draws ancient artworks into his own dazzling vision,
revealing how the past haunts the present and helping us imagine what a
vibrant strain of ‘Asian Futurism’ can look and feel like: one full of
energy, music, and color that creatively entwines the enigma of the past
with caution toward cutting-edge technologies yet to be discovered.”

Installed on the third and fourth floors of Wrightwood 659, the exhibition
traces the life of Qu Yuan (c. 339 – 278 BCE), one of ancient China’s most
revered poets. As the legend tells, Qu Yuan had been a trusted advisor of
King Huai of Chu, ruler of one of the Warring States from 328 to 299 BCE,
until he was banished. Left in despair, Qu Yuan eventually drowned himself
in the Miluo River, a tributary of the Yangtze. Qu Yuan’s legacy is so
important he is celebrated every year in Chinese communities around the
world during the famous Dragon Boat Festival—which originated as a search
for the poet’s body.

In the immersive world of *Warring States Cyberpunk*, Kongkee resurrects
the poet’s soul, transforming him into an android who struggles with
implanted memories from his past life. The android ponders the duality of
death and immortality, the body and the soul, and what it is to be human—or
machine.

Kongkee notes, “Like the Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, ‘No man ever
steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the
same man.’ I asked myself, what happens when a soul emerges after 2,000
years from underwater—does it seek out something new? Does it return to
familiar places? Qu Yuan’s poetry has a psychedelic, wandering quality that
I tried to reflect in my art, but I also wanted him to reflect the
disorientation, as well as the hope, of our era.” Throughout the
exhibition, recurring images of waves immerse the viewer in the android Qu
Yuan’s quest to recover his soul. Kongkee invites visitors to follow along
as Qu Yuan rises to become a pop icon with the help of other androids and
reconciles with the reincarnated King Huai of Chu. In the background lurks
the dark specter of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, whose conquest of Qu Yuan’s
homeland led to the poet’s suicide.

“The Warring States period was a time of political strife, but also a
moment of profound artistic exuberance when many of the most enduring and
potent motifs became embedded across ‘Chinese’ culture: snake-like dragons,
all-over geometric patterns, spirit guides to aide your pursuit of
longevity—even immortality,” said Jay Xu, the Barbara Bass Bakar Director
and CEO of the Asian Art Museum. “*Kongkee: Warring States Cyberpunk*
offers us all a way to connect the past to the present and to value how the
digital crafts and digital storytelling of today—animation, video art, even
video games—share the same kinds of hard-won techniques, inspiration, and
cultural influences as the bronzes, jades, and lacquerwares of old once
did.”
ABOUT THE ARTIST

This exhibition is presented by  Alphawood Exhibitions at Wrightwood 659.

*Kongkee: Warring States Cyberpunk* is organized by the Asian Art Museum of
San Francisco and curated by Abby Chen, Senior Associate Curator of
Contemporary Art at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.
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