Su-Mei Tse: Floating Memories
July 16 – October 18, 2009

Su-Mei Tse (b.1973) works in a wide range of media that encompasses photography, sculpture, video, and installation practice where she often merges sound and image into a single poetic form. Her work has the pared-down aesthetic quality of minimalism with an emotional charge. She also expresses herself through neo-surrealist strategies of symbol and metaphor while relying on the immediacy and poetry of her materials; one finds a deep appreciation for craft and gesture in her work. Su-Mei Tse’s vision springs from an existence rooted in a Sino-European culture, her work often echoing Eastern themes. Her attachment to music and sound stems from her training as a classical cellist and a very musical family.

Tse came to the Gardner Museum as an Artist-in-Residence in 2007. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including one-person shows at Art Tower Mito, Japan (2009); Seattle Art Museum, Seattle (2008); PS1, New York (2006); the Casino, Forum d’Art Contemporain, Luxembourg (2006); the Renaissance Society, Chicago (2005); Museet for Samtidskunst, Roskilde, Denmark (2005); and the Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden (2004).

In 2007, Tse collaborated with artist Lee Mingwei on a two-part exhibition, Duologue, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Taiwan. Her work has also been shown at the 2006 Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial in Japan; the 26th São Paulo Biennial; and the 2003 Venice Biennale, where she was awarded the Golden Lion for Best National Participation for her three-part installation, Air Conditioned.

Tse has recently been awarded the prestigious Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco Prize for Contemporary Art (May 2009). She is represented by the Peter Blum Gallery, New York, where she will be opening an exhibition in November. Su-Mei Tse lives and works in Berlin and Luxembourg.

Floating Memories is realized in collaboration with Jean-Lou Majerus.

Related Programming

Artist Talk
Saturday, July 18 @ 1:30pm
Join Su-Mei Tse and Curator of Contemporary Art Pieranna Cavalchini for a discussion about the exhibition and Tse’s work. FREE with museum admission.

Artist Conversation and Book Signing
Thursday, September 24 @ 6:30pm
Conversation and book signing with Su-Mei Tse, Pieranna Cavalchini, and Enrico Lunghi, Director of the MUDAM Museum, Luxembourg.
Tickets

Gallery Talks, Gardner After Hours
Third Thursdays, July – October @ 7pm
Join us for Gardner After Hours – third Thursdays from 5:30 to 9:30pm – and, from July through October, for 7pm gallery talks in the Special Exhibition Gallery. Guest speakers will include Peter Blum, Cliff Evans, and Lee Mingwei. Gallery talks are FREE with After Hours admission.
Gardner After Hours tickets

Summer Night, Gardner After Hours
Thursday, August 20 @ 5:30-9:30pm
Celebrate summer and Su-Mei Tse: Floating Memories tonight with music, sketching, and gallery talks on the exhibition – plus a special concert by Belgian songwriter and performer, Niko Hafkenscheid, FREE with museum admission.

The Artist-in-Residence Program is made possible, in part, by the Nimoy Foundation, the Thomas A. Pappas Charitable Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and generous individuals. The Gardner Museum receives operating support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Media sponsor for Floating Memories: Boston Phoenix.

 

JOURNEYS EAST
Isabella Stewart Gardner and Asia
February 21 – May 31, 2009

Journeys East considered Isabella Gardner’s continuing dialogue with Asia, from her trips to the Near and Far East, to the formation of a personal museum where Asian art played a significant role. Later in life, her close friendship with Okakura Kakuzo initiated a new phase of collecting Asian art and led to a rearrangement of the museum. The exhibition explored the complex interaction of travel, collecting, and museum formation. On display were Gardner’s travel albums and Asian objects ranging from Japanese screens to a monumental bronze Buddha, Indian jewelry to Chinese snuff bottles.

The exhibition was been made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Additional support was provided by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.

Preview the fully illustrated exhibition catalogue.