6 November – 30 November 2024
Opening 6 November at 6pm
Live performance 16 November from 6.30 – 7pm

Deliciously Authentic
Li-Ming Hu

When I was showing art in NZ before I went to grad school, the word race was never mentioned, nor foregrounded in my art. In the US, it was dropped in my first class crit and kept buzzing around ready to bite me in the ass if I fucked up. In the many open call/residency and grant applications that followed, it seemed increasingly expedient to drop the terms ‘Asian’, ‘diaspora’ and’ ‘subjectivity’ in the make believe projects for those applications. As often happens, the make-believe leaks into the actual, and here are some of the results.

When I was showing art in NZ, I never mentioned my 3 year stint on Shortland Street or the one series I spent as a Power Ranger. While my teachers were quick to make links with my ‘background’ I was slower on the uptake, worried perhaps, that this association with the murky world of b-grade entertainment might tarnish any art world credibility I might develop. In the US however, people thought this was REALLY COOL and perhaps the most interesting thing about me. No surprise then, that I turned to this experience with scripts, set and cameras as ‘a useful methodology with which to explore ideas and practices of performance while being in dialogue with a history of performance art that has often taken pains to distance itself from the theater and ideas of the spectacle that the entertainment industry embodies’¹.

¹From an application essay for a program for which I was not accepted.

Image 1. Still from Deep within her almond eyes, 2024. Single channel video, 5:26 minutes

Image 2. Sweet Thai Chilli, 2024. Glazed porcelain, dimensions variable.

6 November – 30 November 2024
Opening 6 November at 5:30pm

Models
Eiko Olykan

RM Gallery and Project Space
Hours
Thursday and Friday 1pm - 5pm
Saturday 12pm - 4pm

Samoa House Lane
Auckland Central 1010

We are located in the centre of Auckland, off of Karangahape Road, on Samoa House Lane, just off of Beresford Street -- look out for the incredible fale of Samoa House and you're nearly there. We are 2 minutes walk from Artspace and Michael Lett.

The RM Archive Project

Help us identify what is in our Archive! We have digitised many slides in our archive and invite participation to identify them. Please click here to access the collection.
https://www.rm.org.nz/thearchiverm

Our Boxed Archive
Since 2009 RM has been building an archive of material related to our exhibition and event programme. An index to the collection is available here.
https://www.rm.org.nz/thearchiverm/artist-boxes-index/

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RM is a member of Safe Space Alliance

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A safe space does not guarantee 100% safety, rather, it’s a space that has your back if an incident (violence, bullying, or hate speech) were to occur.

Click here to find out more about Safe Space Alliance

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