In Conversation: Nicole Coson, Peng Ke, Anqi Li, and Tobias Berger

In Conversation: Nicole Coson, Peng Ke, Anqi Li and Tobias Berger

On the occasion of the group exhibition 'Aura Within' at Hauser & Wirth Hong Kong, please join us for a conversation with Anqi Li, the curator of the exhibition, and the artists Nicole Coson and Peng Ke to discuss their inspirations and creative practices as Asian artists working in different contexts, as well as the curatorial idea behind the exhibition. The talk will be moderated by Tobias Berger.

About the Artists

Nicole Coson works in printmaking, video, and sculpture, exploreing the process of image-making as it pertains to personal memory, history, and material culture. Coson’s printed canvases oscillate delicately between surface and depth; by integrating symbolically-loaded found objects into the etching press, the concrete material culture transforms into analog, indexical images through their negative imprint. This oscillation between pattern, image and object is embraced by Coson to tell stories of family, society and coloniality, but never in straight-forward ways. Rather, the artist is deeply committed to the aesthetic politics of opacity and by extension, privacy, secrecy and intimacy. Rather than alluding to a hidden meaning behind her barrier motifs (camouflage patterns, window blinds, woven baskets, food crates), Coson invites us to study them as such—barriers—and the critical potential of visual obfuscation. Born in 1992 in Manila, Coson lives and works in London.

Peng Ke both works with images and writes, her experimental practice wandering between images from photography books and personal experiences from reality. Peng explores the experience of living in the fast-developing urban environment, such as small cities in China. One can peek into the colorful corners of these rural cities through the finely tuned images captured by Ke’s lens. Peng's primary concern is with the relationship between the human condition of urban spaces and the collective experiences of the people there. In her photographs, the tasteful colors, charming forms, strange outlines and varied textures of the indoor and outdoor daily scenes of China, among other places in Asia, are vividly and incisively displayed in their very original forms. Born in 1992 in Changsha, Peng lives and works between Los Angeles and Shanghai.

About the Curator

Anqi Li is an independent curator and museum scholar based in Hong Kong. Currently a PhD candidate at the University of Hong Kong, she focuses on the cultural politics of contemporary art institutions. Formerly Curator of Education and Public Programs at Para Site, she has worked at the Harvard Art Museums, Hammer Museum, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Her recent projects include Supper Club (2024), Liminality (West Bund Museum, 2023), Lost in Translation (Galerie du Monde, 2023), and Curtain (Para Site, 2021). Her writings have been published in Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, Artforum, and ArtAsiaPacific, among others. She holds an EdM from Harvard University and a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute.

About the Moderator

Tobias Berger, Curatorial Director, Serakai Studio. Prior to joining Serakai, Tobias Berger was Head of Art at Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Arts Head of Art between 2015 to 2023. In this role he spearheaded the inaugural contemporary visual arts programme for Tai Kwun Contemporary. From 2010-2015 Tobias served as the first Curator of Visual Arts for the M+ Museum in Hong Kong, working with the Museum Director to finalise the museum plans and set curatorial direction. During his career, Tobias has served in various curatorial roles for institutions across the region and globally including at the Nam June Paik Art Center (Korea), Fotofestival Manheim, Ludwigshafen and Heidelberg, Para/Site Art Space (Hong Kong), the Hong Kong pavilion at the Venice Biennale, the Sao Paolo Biennale, ARTSPACE, Aukland and Museum Fridericianum (Germany).