Artist Registry
The White Columns Curated Artist Registry is an online platform for emerging and under-recognized artists to share images and information about their respective practices. The Registry seeks to create a context for artists who have yet to benefit from wider critical, curatorial or commercial support. To be eligible, artists cannot be affiliated with a commercial gallery in New York City.
To apply to the Registry, click here. Join our mailing list here to receive our open call announcement and other programming updates. For any further questions about the Registry, please contact us at registry@whitecolumns.org.
Videos
Night Stroll
2024HD video with stereo sound, 15 minutes. Night Stroll examines queer desire, the quest for belonging, and the barriers between languages. The work revolves around the Chinese love song, Fragrance of the Night (Ye Lai Xiang), released in the 1940s and subjected to censorship by the National Government of the Republic of China due to the singer's identity following the Second Sino-Japanese War. The song, originally performed by Li Hsiang-Lan (Yoshiko Yamaguchi), whose identity spanned multiple cultures and ethnicities, was subsequently translated into various languages. The lyrics depict a couple meeting in a garden on a summer night, celebrating their mutual affection. In Night Stroll, an anonymous adolescent cruises through a dilapidated home environment reminiscent of a Taiwanese-style townhouse, intertwined with elements of construction sites, such as pylons, sirens, and scaffolding. The protagonist, bearing dirt marks on their body, delivers a monologue that explores sexual and cultural identities, as well as performs the love song with body gestures and movements that alternate between expressive and repressive. The night seems never-ending; the domestic space becomes alien, while the strange transforms into the intimate.
Added on: August 2, 2024
Endearing Insanity
2022HD video with stereo sound, 9 minutes. In Endearing Insanity, the interplay of mundane self-introductions, sensual and uncanny bodily gestures, and dramatic sound effects reflect a longing for connection and visibility within a displaced environment. Set within a confined apartment, the seemingly ragged protagonist constrained in various enclosed spaces such as a cabinet, microwave, and sink, performs a monologue waiting for someone to visit. The spoken words are composed of text sourced from online message boards, hovering between sincerity and absurdity. A composite of sounds—including liquid, wind, and drums—evokes a sense of instability, amplifying the theatrical tension of everyday life. Endearing Insanity employs elements of horror and erotica to explore the intersection of sensuality and terror. By using sensuality as a tool, the protagonist draws the audience into an intimate space, asserting agency within the displaced environment. The work embraces and interrogates contradictory notions, blurring boundaries and oscillating between the seductive and the repulsive, the private and the public, and the self and the other.
Added on: August 2, 2024
A Recital
2020HD video with stereo sound, 4 minutes. Under cherry blossoms, a half-naked boy-man figure is playing the piano. The protagonist appears melancholy and plays 'Am Meer' (By the Sea). Inspired by a poem by the German poet Heinrich Heine, the melody is composed by the German composer Franz Schubert, contemplating loneliness and mortality.
Added on: October 29, 2023
Recess
2020HD video, silent, 4 minutes. A series of dreamlike vignettes portrays a boy-man character sitting alone in a timeless, cave-like classroom. The wind blows the curtains; ceiling fans operate endlessly; clouds slowly pass through the blue sky; a group of butterflies subtly flap their wings on a bulletin board. A ray of sun breaks the darkness of the room through the window, almost like a rope, illuminating the statue-like figure.
Added on: October 29, 2023