Chairs, clothespins, vacuums, floor tiles, and toys—Things in My Living Room focuses on objects in the house and scenes of their placement, arrangement, and circulation. Items are not only viewed as objects, but as substances with their own vitality and capabilities. Things in My Living Room explores the relationship between the objects and their impact on people and society. As a metaphor that reflects the connections between these objects and their human users during the pandemic, this programme focuses on the material that makes up a home, the issues of individual and collective experience, unconsciousness, and the identity the home represents.

Due to M+'s temporary closure under COVID-19 restrictions, the screenings and post-screening discussion associated with this programme have been cancelled.

Kawita Vatanajyankur | 2021 | Colour | Silent | 8 min 55 sec

Loan courtesy of the artist

In this performative work, Vatanajyankur transforms her body into a vacuum. She constructs a makeshift house to highlight the invasive result of air pollution, imitating the reality of dust pollution. Using a living space as a factor, she challenges the idea of ‘assumed’ safety. The structure of the space is compared to the corporeal, which acts as a container—an outer skin. The interior, on the other hand, resembles internal organs such as the human lung. In other words, the constructed house is itself the human body.

Yuan Goang-ming | 2014 | Colour | Sound | 5 min

Loan courtesy of the artist and TKG+

Dwelling shows an ordinary living room that has been built underwater. A sudden, massive explosion completely disassembles the living room, only for it to immediately return to its original state. The suffusing movement of objects between the everyday living room and the incident that suddenly sends knickknacks flying in every direction, makes us link the way the pandemic has destroyed our daily lives and the calm that will eventually return.

Oh Min | 2016 | Colour | Sound | 12 min 50 sec

Loan courtesy of the artist

Combining objects, performance, music, and video, ABA Video is an interpretation and visual manifestation of the logical and systematic structure of music. Inspired by Rachmaninoff's Piano Sonata No. 2, Movement 1, a performer organises various objects to construct scenes in which the spatial composition changes sensorially to express the process of conflict, development, harmonization, and resolution. The scenes in the work are familiar, yet charged with an exquisite sense of controlled regulation and tension.

YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES | 2008 | Colour | Sound | 1 min 49 sec

M+, Hong Kong

AM I ALL ALONE HERE? is a text-based work showcasing the artist’s signature quick-fire narration flashing on screen against a dramatic soundtrack. With a robotic and oddly calm voice, the protagonist calls for attention as he frenetically bursts out existential questions. As the animation unfolds, his plea triggers our anxieties and evokes a sense of disorientation.

Sara Cwynar | 2016 | Colour | Sound | 7 min 6 sec

Loan courtesy of the artist and Foxy Production, New York

Soft Film playfully explores how objects circulate through the internet, delving into the lives they have now which they could not have lived before. Sara Cwynar collects, arranges, and archives her eBay purchases of dated objects according to a logic based on colour, material, vintage, and use. The artist also performs simple actions in front of the camera, such as moving behind a potted plant and grasping a jewellery box.

Wang Gongxin | 1995 | Colour | Sound | 2 min 56 sec

Loan courtesy of the artist

Wang Gongxin dug a hole 3.5 metres deep in the middle of his family’s living room in Beijing and placed a television monitor at the bottom of the brick-lined well. The monitor displays a looped footage of the blue sky Wang had filmed outside his Brooklyn studio. The Sky of Brooklyn─digging a hole in Beijing represents the connections and distances—both physical and cultural—between the United States and China that Wang experienced, touching on the subjects of globalisation and national representation.