countercurrent magazine

“Many of our friends actually live nearby. They might pass by on their scooters, stop for a cigarette, and fall into a conversation, and by the next day a performance takes place.” — Yu-Ching Chen Founded in 2021 in Tainan during the COVID-19 pandemic, Absence Space is an experimental theater that understands space not simply as a site for performance, but as a living structure of relationships. Located on Zhengjue Street, this three-story renovated old building hosts residencies, reading clubs, exhibitions, and book fairs, bringing together artists, dancers, musicians, researchers, and audiences from diverse backgrounds. In conversation with Jiani Wang, founders Yu-Ching Chen and Yi-Lin Ku reflect on Absence Space as an open-ended medium through which energy, knowledge, and sensations circulate through encounters. Here, performance begins long before anyone steps onstage, and the physical space becomes a container that allows connections to take on a tangible form. @absence_space0810 @uchingchen @elina1202_ @jennijenni_iii This conversation was originally conducted in Mandarin Chinese. English and Chinese versions available on our website. Photo credit Exterior of Absence Space Screening at Nanmen Park, Tainan Arts Festival, 2024

“Artist-led spaces will be necessary in the future, but they have always been there. People are assimilating indigenous cultural and community systems that have always been there. The contemporary is not something that is totally opposite to what is indigenous.” — Tracy Naa Koshie Thompson Founded in 2022, Compound House is a nomadic, artist-led gallery based in Accra. Working without a permanent space, it develops projects across shifting sites—from shipping containers to storefronts—adapting each exhibition in close dialogue with artists and their conditions of making. Rooted in the communal logic of the compound house, its model centers shared knowledge, collective labor, and a refusal of fixed hierarchies. In conversation with Colleen Foran, founders Nuna Adisenu-Doe and Tracy Naa Koshie Thompson reflect on improvisation as both necessity and method, and on building structures that remain open, responsive, and grounded in care. What becomes possible when a space is shaped not by permanence, but by the conditions at hand? @compoundhousegallery @nunadoe @tracynkthompson @colleen_foran Photo credit Installation view from its Tamale location, Hassan Issah, KUM ASE: A Field Filled with Golden Spikes, curated by Tracy Naa Koshie Thompson, Ghana, 2023. Image courtesy of Compound House Hotel Archive intervention at Avenida Hotel, Accra, Ghana, 2025. Image courtesy of Compound House

“What is precious about an independent space, by contrast, is the continued possibility of letting things grow organically, in a human way. We have the flexibility to respond quickly, and more importantly, we can give expression to our own character, our own positions, and those commitments and sensibilities that may not yet be recognized or accepted by the majority.”  — Jeph Lo, TheCube Project Space Founded in 2010 in Taipei’s Gongguan district, TheCube Project Space approaches curating as a long-term, research-driven practice. Rather than simply organizing exhibitions, TheCube develops projects that unfold gradually—through broadcasts, publications, and collaborations. In conversation with Yihsuan Chiu, curator Jeph Lo reflects on how TheCube has taken sound culture as a way to rethink Taiwan’s modern history, opening other ways of sensing and narrating the social landscape. What can an independent space make possible when research, listening, and experimentation are allowed to accumulate over time? @thecube_space @jeph945 @yixichiu This conversation was originally conducted in Mandarin Chinese. English and Chinese versions available on our website. Photo credit Talking Drums Radio at TheCube, 2019. Image courtesy of TheCube Project Space Sonic Shaman at Auspic Paper, 2024. Image courtesy of Lee Hsin-Che and TheCube Project Space

On February 1st, we held countercurrent’s first public program with gmtc: Making Space: Relations, Sustainability, and the Work of Art Platforms. We talked about the beginnings, design, and everyday work of building art platforms—without rushing toward concrete answers. We're grateful to share this moment of thinking together, and to have met everyone who joined us and stayed with the conversation. @countercurrentmag @gmtc.nyc Thank you, @accentsisters , for hosting! Participants Yindi Chen @cyd_chen Yutong Shi @starrysyt Daedalus Li @fakewingmaker sunmi yong @yongsunmiii hebin rachel shin @binvin.hrs Photo by Yulin Gu @little9173 #countercurrent #gmtc #artspace

The panel discussion Making Space: Relations, Sustainability, and the Work of Art Platforms is organized by @countercurrentmag in collaboration with @gmtc.nyc , hosted by @accentsisters . countercurrent is a publication focused on in(ter)dependent spaces; gmtc is a newly established performance laboratory in Chinatown, New York. Bringing a publication and an art space into conversation, the panel will share how art platforms begin and sustain their practices. Reflecting on how care, commitment, and long-term thinking shape art spaces, the participants will discuss how emerging platforms collectively think through questions of sustainability while remaining responsive to artists, communities, and their broader cultural contexts. Time Sunday, February 1, 2026 2 pm – 4 pm EST Location Accent Sisters 89 5th Ave, Suite 702, New York, NY 10002 Participants Yindi Chen (countercurrent) @cyd_chen Yutong Shi (countercurrent) @starrysyt Daedalus Li (countercurrent) @fakewingmaker sunmi yong (gmtc) @yongsunmiii hebin rachel shin (gmtc) @binvin.hrs Register here: /klcmo0sv Link in bio.

“Engaging with our relationship to the environment—and with practices of care for other living ecosystems—requires recognizing that the human condition is only one among many forms of life. This shift in perspective feels especially urgent in the current moment.” — Adriana Flores, LAVA LAVA, as its name suggests, flows with vitality. Founded in Mexico City, the curatorial platform operates nomadically, engaging with the city’s vibrant art scene while concerning pressing themes of the present—environmental justice, multispecies relations, and more-than-human times. In this conversation, Adriana repeatedly returns to a central question: how can we take a relational approach to curating, writing, and collaborating? @lava__mx @sad.riana Read the full conversation on our website. Photo credit Tiempos Pendulares, Islera, 2024. Image courtesy of LAVA Mineralia indisciplinada, Museo Universitario del Chopo, 2025–26. Image courtesy of Museo Universitario del Chopo

“When it comes to nature, or stories about nature, they’re always from a human perspective. Too often, that makes nature feel flat, empty. But I think aesthetics can help—maybe it can tune the experience a bit, so there’s no flattening of our experience of nature.” — Robert Zhao Renhui, Institute of Critical Zoologists In our conversation, Robert reflects on the nearly two decades of the ICZ’s evolution: from zoology to botany, from the aquarium tanks of his childhood to slow walks through secondary forests with his young son. The Institute has grown with him—not as a static concept, but as an ecology of ideas, continually branching. Part archive, part artwork, part philosophical prank, the ICZ resists easy definition. Instead, it invites us to look again—at nature, at truth, at the stories we tell to make sense of the world. @robert_zhao Read the full conversation on our website. Photo credit Robert Zhao Renhui, Durian Tree, Bukit Panjang. Teo Teah On, 66, carpenter., 2015 Robert Zhao Renhui, A Monument to Thresholds, 2020

“It raises a real question: what is our responsibility to the community that actually lives there? We are outsiders looking in. Yet, in that position, we can also be more critical of how culture is perceived in the city. And because we have nothing to lose—unlike other organizations—we aren’t afraid to speak up.” — Anouk De Clercq, Monokino The sea can be a movie theater. With Monokino, a nomadic film platform, the coastal city Ostend starts to revive its cultural legacy of art cinema. Moving beyond fixed venues, Monokino treats cinema as both art practice and a shared experience, unfolding wherever people are willing to gather. @monokinooostende @anouk_de_clercq Read the full conversation on our website. Photo credit Screening of Blue, 2019. Photo by Eva Claus Shhh, 2022. Photo by Barbara Jarque

“I see space as more than architecture—it’s a living organism, a vessel for encounters, gestures, and time. When I first moved to Mexico City, I needed something tangible to root myself in—a place that could hold not just work, but daily rhythms, conversations, and the unpredictability of process.”—Jo Ying Peng, Vernacular Institute Vernacular Institute resides in the verb, traversing the linguistic to the physical. Here, projects unfold at their own rhythm, forming a collective practice that blurs the boundaries between art and life. Within its open walls, artists gather, talk, and create. What does it mean to build a space that listens, adapts, and breathes with its community? @vernacular.institute @joyingpeng Read the full conversation on our website. Photo credit Por invitación, 2025. An exclusive site-specific performance by Arrogante Albino exploring the body as both medium and subject in dialogue with spatial narratives Memory War, 2022. A film screening exploring the power and peril of remembrance in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In collaboration with Marathon Screenings, Los Angeles

“Tutu is more like a network… Sometimes I’d like to think about it as a political body. We as a polity should be able to make things happen together. That’s the key: the more agency we feel like we have, the better. I don’t want it to function like a government, but I like the idea of this space being more than just a safety net—maybe it can be a space with magical powers.” — April Z, Tutu Gallery At Tutu Gallery, art spills into everyday life. From the kitchen to the backyard, exhibitions unfold in unexpected ways, reminding us that creativity thrives in playful, intimate, and unorthodox spaces. What does it mean to create a space that’s more than just a gallery? Tutu offers a network, a safety net, and a spark of magic—where artists and visitors gather, share, and co-create. @gallerytutu Read the full conversation on our website. Photo credit Cherrie Yu, Verb List, 2025. Image courtesy of the artist and Tutu Gallery Gentle Mist, curated by Seung Jun Lee and Sha Luo, 2024. Image courtesy of Sha Luo and Tutu Gallery

countercurrent is a publication dedicated to uncovering in(ter)dependent spaces that exist beyond the confines of the mainstream art scene.  Our first four interviews are now live—conversations with those who create and sustain these spaces. Visit the link in bio to read more. #countercurrent #countercurrentmagazine

Rooted in the energy of collaboration and dialogue, we begin with conversations with those who create spaces for art—visual, literal, musical, or cinematic. While these spaces may pause or face suppression under economic or political pressures, their practices endure—continuing to spark inspiration and resonate over time. Like water navigating its own way, countercurrent traces unexpected routes—subtle yet unyielding, shaping new terrain with each turn against the flow. Find out more via link in bio. #countercurrent #countercurrentmagazine