I pointed to my corner and asked @akira.kawahata : “How do you like my work?” AKIRA being himself, taking everything very seriously, looked at the cardboard boxes, paused a second and asked me: “It’s in there right?”
I hope so, AKIRA!
MFA thesis exhibition opens at the Lenfest Center for the Arts April 25th this Saturday from 3-6pm.
Curated by Amal Issa @esperanzajesus.2.0 and featuring close to 30 fellow artists.
@columbiamfavisualarts@soundartatcolumbia@wallachartgallery
Mar 1, 2026
the night we gathered to read
to activate the archive of Stories from the Room
an earlier work returning in a new time
to re-enact is to revisit the past
through the conditions of the present
to activate a collective action
is to read the air
to sense tone,
to attune to each other’s mood, emotion, spirit
and let it move
an intimate night
with friends I trust, old and new
with:
Kyle Colon
Violet Handforth
Yuyu Hu
Madge Yang
K.W. Zhao
Stories from the Room (2020–2023)
re-activated for “Séance for Underground”, curated by Samuel Kim
I have often hesitated to exhibit this long-term project. Stories from the Room is less about reproducing an archive from a specific time and more about assembling a collective effort within each hosting institution. Its realization depends on collaboration and a willingness to engage in a slow, labor-intensive process. Not every context can sustain that commitment.
I trusted Sam and his peers at SVA to re-activate the project in a way that resonates with the two-chapter structure he envisioned for the exhibition.
Special thanks to those who contributed their time and care to bringing this iteration into being:
Arthur Channon
Anajoara Eom
Rafaela Foz
Chaieun Lee
Hongjin Zhou
With gratitude to Beth Kleber at the SVA Archive for loaning the Banker Boxes.
A group reading performance will take place on March 1 at 6:30pm, followed by a potluck to close the exhibition. All are welcome. 🤲🏼
Photo courtesy of Sam and Chaieun Lee
@svacuratorialpractice
Hey everyone, it’s Open Studios tomorrow! All of us second-years will have our studios open. Come up to the third floor of Prentis Hall and you’ll find mine right away.
Inside, you’ll see:
a carpet generously lent by @darylinapdf ,
an armchair borrowed from @heyuyu ,
a plant gifted by @huiqi_he_ ,
another plant stolen from @irswu ,
a bookshelf purchased from @ann_dree_uhs ,
the other shelf gifted by @ahzelzel and organized (with a style) by Iris,
a kettle I used to brew green tea (twice!) for Rirkrit,
a drawing I did with Kenny @champaint_papi
more drawings I attempted on my own,
and a small history of me trying to understand myself as an artist.
But more importantly,
come eat, come drink, come sit, come rest,
come share a little time together.
I arranged a cluster of helium-filled balloons drifts upward, only to be gently restrained by a suspended net. At once barrier and container, the net holds the balloons mid-ascent, allowing them to press and shift restlessly against its surface. Air currents and the movements of visitors subtly animate the piece, creating unpredictable ripples and the occasional, fleeting escape of a balloon—reminders of tension, release, and the delicate balance between freedom and containment.
Title: Together We Rise
Date: 2025
Materials: helium, mylar, latex, monofilament nylon, fishing weights
Dimensions: 5 × 6 × 12 feet
I once witnessed a miracle.
This has been my studio during the first year of my MFA. A typical day started with an egg-and-cheese sandwich, an overly sweet coffee, and a banana. I’d come in, space out a little, answer some emails, maybe continue an unfinished chat with my AI.
Soon someone would drop by. Then two, then three. I always made sure there were enough chairs, and enough table space to eat. Sometimes a fourth would enter mid-rant. A fifth might drift in, still texting. By day, it became a chat room. By night, a bedroom.
“I guess I don’t need a studio,” Rirkrit once said after dinner, while we all sat on the floor in his apartment. Do I need one? Maybe not. But the people around me needed mine. That used to feel like enough.
The miracle? A helium filled balloon I got for a test piece. It was supposed to last five days, max. It floated for nearly two months. At week four, I was totally amazed. Then I stopped noticing.
When it finally sank, quietly, without drama, just two days ago, I had already moved on to other problems. But sometimes I think about how long it lingered, how easily I adjusted to its quiet persistence.
Honored to be part of The Book as Artistic Medium, a group exhibition at ASE Foundation curated by Biljana Ciric, bringing together over 20 projects that explore the artist’s book as a vital form of artistic expression in China over the past three decades.
The artist’s book is an often overlooked yet deeply intimate medium—one that allows for storytelling, reading, touching, and thinking all at once. As the exhibition beautifully highlights, books can be spaces of resistance, of care, and of conceptual experimentation, offering sensorial experiences that traditional art objects cannot.
So grateful to be in conversation with such an incredible range of artists and projects that have shaped this ongoing history.
On view April 24 – October 10, 2025, at ASE Foundation, Shanghai.
#artistsbook #chinesecontemporaryart #artistasmedium #contemporarypractice #curatorialresearch #researchbasedpractice #asefoundation #biljanaciric
Hey hey, dear friends in NYC, (yes, if you don’t know yet, I’m back in the city full-time now!)—Join us for the opening of our First-Year MFA Exhibition this Saturday, March 29th, from 3–6 PM at Wallach Art Gallery @wallachartgallery 🫶🏼
Participating in a group show where I actually know and work alongside the other artists feels so different and so special.
For this show, I’m taking on a new approach I’ve never explored before. (And to everyone who’s been asking, “What are you gonna show?!”—thank you for the caring curiosity!) Everything is a new beginning, and everything is part of the experiment. ✨👹🫰🏽
Come say hi! See you tomorrow!
@columbiamfavisualarts@wallachartgallery
