Antagonistic Superpositions

About

A question posed in a Chinese political examination probed the nature of time, through the lens of Chinese dialectical materialism, as linear, unidirectional, and irreversible. However, within the dialectical materialist framework, Zizek provided a different account of time. Drawing inspiration from quantum superpositions, the timeline is one of its multiple states, where the past is ontologically open to be readable in different ways. This radical reinterpretation of history prompts an antagonistic approach to uncovering hidden dimensions within historical narratives. We can transform the past through interrogation of the written history, to unearth traces of existence, resistance, and change. What awaits in the future is how we read the present.

Antagonistic Superpositions showcases four artists of Chinese descent, each adept at revisiting, restaging, and reimagining personal and societal narratives. They boldly challenge patriarchal, heteronormative, capitalist, and totalitarian frameworks, shaping alternative paths that diverge from the conventional linear, unyielding timeline. By liberating themselves from historical silence, they illuminate alternative histories to envision new realities and ignite possible alternative futures.

Yasmine Anlan Huang, in ‘Servitude: do not believe that Google Map’, crafts a speculative tale inspired by an 18-year-old Siberian accident victim, challenging the trajectory of a cognitive capitalist future. Wing Ka Ho Jimmi engages with young asylum seekers in the UK who participated in the 2019 Hong Kong Protests, offering new perspectives to the polarised debts, which are also receding from the official history. You Liang and Willian Zou, Queer artists shaped by multicultural backgrounds, grapple with the intricate interplay of personal and familial dynamics. Choosing to dive into the depth of family archives and childhood trauma, they envision alternative narratives of the past to initiate conversations that they otherwise couldn’t have.