Conflations between authenticity, mimicry, natural, man-made, historical and anachronistic are important to the work. To this end, Lim finds inspiration in sites and objects that are both ‘contemporary’ and ‘out of time’, embodied and virtual. Model homes, suburban sprawl, CCTV, online chat rooms, fake food, historical parks and the Australian landscape have all featured in the work. Counterpoint to these sites, Lim has performed the identities of Japanese hikikomori; a Bowie-eyed rock star; the cannibal Issei Sagawa; a suburban beautician; Miranda from Picnic at Hanging Rock and currently, a gold Mao-suited ‘Ambassador’. This dialogue between place and performance reflects the push-pull between Australian and Asian, the mono and the multicultural. Lim’s work has been exhibited, performed and screened locally and internationally at venues, festivals and fairs that include: Tate Modern, ACCA, GOMA, ACMI, HUN Gallery NY, Next Wave, FACT Liverpool, 24HR Art (Darwin), Substation (Singapore), Schoolhouse Studios, Experimenta, Sydney Contemporary, Melbourne Festival, ACAF (Shanghai), TINA, Dark MOFO, Bus Projects, West Space and MPavilion. Current projects include The Australian Ugliness, a video work exploring contemporary Australian identity and culture through its architecture and built environment; and The People’s Currency, a performance-cum-factory that explores the human impact of globalisation in the era of Foxconn. Her work is held in a number of private and public collections. Collaboration, artistic community and the intersection between art and society informs her practice: in addition to her solo work, she co-directed the inaugural Channels: the Australian Video Art Festival, was the founding editor of Assemble Papers and co-founded Tape Projects. In 2019, Lim is the incoming co-director (with Mish Grigor and Lara Thoms) of Aphids, a 25-year-old experimental artistic company based in Melbourne.
EUGENIA LIM: THE AMBASSADOR
28 February – 5 April 2019
Opening 2 March, 5–7pm
Forum and performances 10am–5pm
Adelaide//International
Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art
Hawke Building, City West campus, University of South Australia
55 North Terrace, Adelaide
This is the first institutional solo exhibition of Eugenia Lim’s work, a compelling and witty examination of contemporary Australia. The Ambassador unearths multiple dimensions of the Asian-Australian narrative – drilling down into racial politics, the social costs of manufacturing, and the role of architecture in shaping society – exploring how national identities and stereotypes cut, divide and bond our globalised world.
Curated by Mikala Tai, Director, The Ambassador is a 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art and Museums & Galleries of NSW touring exhibition. This project is assisted by the Australian Government’s Visions of Australia program
APHIDS CO-DIRECTORSHIP
Eugenia Lim joins Mish Grigor and Lara Thoms as co-directors of Aphids in 2019
Aphids is thrilled to announce a new direction for the company, with the appointment of three leading Melbourne-based artists – Eugenia Lim, Mish Grigor and Lara Thoms – who will form a new co-directorship for Aphids. Driven by a feminist methodology in which collaboration, deep listening and radical leadership is key, the trio of artists will lead the company into its third iteration from 2019.
This announcement sees the artists’ individual practices evolve with the support, history and vision of a 25-year-old company. As a co-directorship, Aphids will privilege diversity as a guiding principle of its remit, bringing over 10 years of collective experience across experimental theatre, live art, performance and visual art. In 2019 and beyond, Aphids will make and present art that is provocative, loud, ambitious, urgent and formally promiscuous.
Stay tuned for more:
aphids.net
THE AUSTRALIAN UGLINESS
A video installation by Eugenia Lim
23 July – 25 August 2018
Exhibition opening Fri 27 July, 6pm
Melbourne School of Design
The Australian Ugliness pays homage to modernist architect Robin Boyd (1919–1971) and his book of the same name, while exploring the ethics and aesthetics of Australia today. The three-channel video installation brings forward a female, performative and Asian-Australian perspective to the screens and spaces of Australia. With visual poetry, pathos and wit, this is Australia rendered both familiar and strange, a country at once confident and ever-anxious. Led by the gold-suited figure of The Ambassador (performed by Lim), the artist-filmmaker shape-shifts as student, tourist, client, property investor and resident across more than 30 sites and spaces across Australia, interrogating the diversity, liveability and the sustainability of “the Australian Dream”.’
For gallery hours and public program bookings, visit:
openhousemelbourne.org/the-australian-ugliness
hello at eugenialim dot com
