Antenna Space is delighted to present Li Ming’s works in Art Basel’s online viewing room which can be accessed from Artbasel.com directly. VIP preview will start from May 24, 2 pm to May 26, 2 pm, and the public day will start from May 26, 2 pm to May 29, midnight.

The works on display, created between 2019 and 2021, are based on the continuation of the pandemic and the relevant horrific events that occurred and eventually went silent. The theme “Waiting for a Stoke of Fortune” is derived from a slogan in Li Ming’s latest solo exhibition Being Consumed (2021) at Antenna Space. The term “encounter” is explicitly defined by the artist as “non-casual events that happen simultaneously and coincidentally”, of which the concept is further interpreted and fermented in Li Ming’s video work Inspired by Transliteration – Chapter Four: Cracks. The works on view freeze moments of “encounter”, which may be captured in transient space, dropping into time marked by time, or an occasional balance. In the end, the “encounter” generates an act of pain.

After completing Inspired by Transliteration – Chapter Four: Cracks, Li Ming came up with the idea of sewing six buttons onto his body. This act is driven by the polyphonic Chinese character “缝”(feng, in the pinyin system, the fourth tone, fèng, is a noun, meaning “crack”; while the second tone, féng, is a verb, meaning “to sew”), the artist intends to leave six dark marks of scars on his body, which echo the six chapters of the video, linking them into a line.

A Chance Encounter with Li Liao (2019) is a photography documenting the artist Li Liao standing on an inclined ladder with a flame gun who try to keep his balance. The flame emits in the opposite direction of the ladder’s inclination, both of which imply a situation of danger and confrontation. However, the people standing between look askance, just like the attitude embodied in the word “nothing”, eliminating the tension of being there.

Féng/fèng and Memories with Relation to Féng/Fèng #NOTHING (2021) captures a pot of boiling water, tossing and turning from the bottom up. In the face of this boiling water, the desire to cook something is always driven, in most cases not necessarily by hunger. In a space named ‘kitchen’, to boil water in a pot and to boil water in a metal kettle, are two sets of very different motivations. When we do not throw food into a pot full of boiling water and wait for the water to evaporate, to disappear, this act of waiting dissolves the kitchen. Beyond that, we often make this one mistake — we forget about the heat.

5:45 is a time marker in Li Ming’s Inspired by Transliteration – Chapter Four: Cracks, including:

1.Two years ago, today, 5:45 p.m.
2.A year ago, today, 5:45 p.m.
3.Today, 5:45 p.m.
4.Seven years ago, afternoon, 5:45 p.m.
5.About 5:45 in the screen
6.In the future, the moment when you see 5:45

One day, Li Ming’s electronic cigarette fell into a bowl of soup. He found that the angle of the e-cigarette and a spring onion happened to form an angle between hands of clock, nearly 5:45. It also feature the quality of “non-casual events that happen simultaneously and coincidentally”.