“I don’t like being a prisoner in the art market,” artist Ken Lum told Observer. Lum is one of the most famous contemporary artists from Canada, and he enjoys a multifaceted career – he is an artist, writer, a curator, professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and a founding editor one Yishu Contemporary Chinese Art Magazine. His works are exhibited in museums and bienniums around the world, and are often criticizing the socio-political structure of class and racial identity in contemporary society.
Lum takes a unique position as a teacher and mentor to young artists. He believes that teaching is an extension of his artistic practice, but he also likes it in the classroom because it allows him to re-recognize himself for artistic purposes, forcing him to rethink and rethink things in an environment of dialogue between art and culture. Very upset.
He said he has long doubts about the art world. “I went into art and thought it was a more sublime idealistic pursuit, but I was not satisfied with many aspects of the art world. I didn't like being a prisoner of the art market. When the reality of the art world is parallel to many other worlds, we always It is to see art as a common good. It is also a social field where you have to learn how to negotiate yourself.”
Lum's work covers compelling themes from Pazyryk rug style to Asian-American history. exist Art and Ethnology: The Relationship of Irony (2005)Lum wrote that “the art game today is quite like the case of Don Quesinte”, reflecting the institutionalization of contemporary art and museums, both as cultural infrastructure and social space. In the 1970s, when he began to make art, the art world was opened to different constituencies, such as concept art, challenging the status quo of art and institutions. Among them, the most outstanding criticism of art is about the most prominent material form: painting. By contrast, Lum noted the return of painting in the art market: “Today, more than 90% of the modern art displayed in galleries are paintings,” he said, suggesting that the taste of painting among collectors turns from turning to Conceptualism, painting flavor in the 1970s.
In Lum's work, both in galleries and in public, the pursuit of art goes beyond the scope of the institutional framework. Asked about the key messages he expressed to young artists who navigate careers in the institutional landscape, he said: “We all know that the institutional framework defines a part of the art. I'm trying to pass on this sense of self to my students, To give them a complete understanding of art and its relationship to political, socio-economic forces and cultural biases. By negotiating, a degree of compromise will be constituted in the artistic ideal, but one should be aware of a person’s thematic status of an organization to the group of institutions around you.”
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Lum believes that a good artist needs to be proficient in negotiating with institutions, but at the same time, art should be a force of instability in many areas, including institutional frameworks. According to the German philosopher Theodor W., however, Lum believes that the avant-garde artistic spirit cannot be defined entirely by institutions. “In the international barbarians, especially in the less developed parts of the world, still In discussing art, especially in less developed parts of the world, important issues such as identity and immigration are still being discussed.”
Today, Lum teaches a course called Chinese human body and space production. Over the past few decades, several plans have been proposed to turn Philadelphia's Chinatown into a casino, a stadium, and recently the new stage for the Philadelphia 76ers. Although the plan was approved by the Philadelphia City Council, the Sixers abandoned the plan amid multiple protests among Chinatown residents and beyond. Before teaching this lesson and more recently activism, Lum wrote two scripts about Chinese-American history. The first script, scheduled in 1868, involves a van-train with Chinese workers carrying two vans working in Jintian, Idaho during the Gold Rush. The second script ended at the peak of anti-Chinese sentiment in 1885.
Lum's interest in Chinatown is linked to the fact that over time, the history of Chinese immigration has been expressed in an ambiguous and even fraudulent manner by the West. In terms of theoretical, practical and even teaching levels, topics such as contract labor are greatly insufficient. Lum gives countless examples of Chinese immigration history: they were one of the part of contract labor, and established most of the world's infrastructure in the 19th century, known as the “Chinese Experiment”. Not only are many Chinese dead, but countless massacres, such as the 1871 Chinese Massacre in Los Angeles. WaverleyIn 1855, 300 Chinese workers were transported to Lima, Peru, and locked up throughout the trip, all of which died of suffocation. “I've been wondering why I don't discuss this,” Lum said.
“On the one hand, the Chinese are seen as hardworking, skilled, smart and highly educated workers. On the other hand, all these attributes are also seen as wilderness of enemies, such as the description of Chinese fictional characters, such as Charlie Chan ) and Fu Manchu. These stereotypes of these Chinese immigrants remain as China is demonized again. “Lum's interest in speaking in Chinese communities sees him trace the history of the U.S. Chinatown. Chinatown in the late 19th century was an interesting place, for better or worse, as it was a safe and free space for immigrants, LGBTQ+ humans, etc., but it was also cruel and ruthless pimps that forced women over 12 to work at a young age. In contemporary America, the Chinese people still have a shortage of people in politics, art and culture. China's masculinity is still huge, and Chinese political voices are usually very quiet. False statements continue to influence people’s perception of the community – the purpose of Lum’s work (and its teachings) is to cope.
That is, Lum's work goes far beyond the conceptualization of art institutions and the exploration of Asian identity. One of his most influential public art works is Melly Shum hates her job (1989), he has been on display since 1990 with the center in Rotterdam, Netherlands, in the side exhibition at the Witte de, when he held a solo exhibition to begin the museum. In half of the billboard-style work, a friendly smiling Asian woman sits on a table in her office, while the big title “Melly Shum hates her job” takes over the other half. It leaves an open question of whether Melly Shum faces workplace discrimination due to gender, race, or other unfortunate reasons. The strong message received unprecedented attention and became a cultural idol in Rotterdam, so much so that at the end of the exhibition, the gallery directors received numerous letters and calls asking why the work disappeared. The work was then reinstalled and the center was renamed Kunstinstitut Melly.
The audience’s experience has always been a key but somewhat unpredictable part of public art creation, and Lum mentioned that he did not expect Melly Shum posters to be so popular in cities and around the world. Despite this, Lum kept the audience's reception in mind during his work. “I think every artist tries to keep the ideal reception in mind, and so do I,” Ideal reception is based on a foundation based on how he received his work in the past and how he knows his audience. “You not only say, ‘I hope the reception will be great’, it is based on a lot of research and think you’re putting in the work.” and Melly Shum hates her jobhe hopes people will like it, but its widespread popularity is surprising, “It has nothing to do with me,” he said modestly. “In fact, I'm lucky as a public artist. I'm lucky that what happened to the fusion at that moment. I'm lucky that it resonates with people. It says something about the lack of freedom to explore their own dynamics, Because they have something to do with their work. I'm lucky to be able to take advantage of this.”
exist move (2023), a group exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), Lum exhibits works from his furniture sculpture series, including The curse appeared on me. (2023). He continued the series since 1978, exploring the potential of seemingly mundane industrially produced furniture. Why has this work been attracting his attention for more than forty years? “The obvious answer is that I continue to do this because I feel like I haven't fully explored it yet,” he said. “The language and attention conveyed by the work are still relevant.” On the one hand, “they look weird.” On the other hand, “they look weird.” , “From people watching furniture work, they are also looking at double images of furniture that may end up or come from other spaces.” While the form, art and technology of stainless steel sculpture can be appreciated, furniture evokes invisible environments in all spaces. Corpse.
Furniture, whether it’s a luxury apartment on Fifth Avenue or a Wal-Mart, is characterized by economic class and different tastes that fluctuate with the background. If you collect it as a work of art, you might find a piece of Walmart furniture in your apartment on Fifth Avenue. “When something is displayed in a gallery, no one questioned its status as art.” Lum stops here to share an anecdote: In a speech in San Francisco, a listener asked him why he chose one A specific striped furniture, the questioner described it as Gaudy. Lum's answer is that this is his mother, who works in the sweat shop among Canadian immigrants. Strangely, the audience doesn't believe this is a real answer.
Lately, Lum has been working on many public art projects for his hometown in Vancouver, Canada. Previously, on East 6th Avenue in Vancouver, Lum Monument to East Vancouver (2010), it was dark after dark. A metaphor for public art is to recall things from the past. But when linking the sculpture to Vancouver’s former agricultural farmland history, Lum’s project reinterprets public art rhetoric by creating a sculpture of an Asian picker holding a huge container of berries, a sculpture that is a slogan of exploited immigrants Respect for labor. Here, Lum also shares the history of immigration in his thoughtful and innovative voice as an artistic and social critic.
