Exhibition Details
The Goethe-Institut New York is pleased to present Likenesses: Speaking with the Selves, a two-artist exhibition featuring Li-Ming Hu and Charmaine Poh, serving as the first pairing of their works. Central to this exhibition is a biographical experience shared by both artists—television fame at a young age.
In the 2000’s, Hu received a breakout role on New Zealand’s popular soap-opera, Shortland Street, and was later cast as the silver operator on Power Rangers RPM, among other roles. Similarly, Poh starred as the character E-Ching in a hit Singaporean children’s detective show, We are R.E.M., around the same time.
Coinciding with the unmoderated internet of Web 1.0, both artists experienced a great deal of prejudice and hate alongside their fame, ranging from racial typecasting to sexual harassment and cyberbullying, sometimes breaking the fourth wall of the screen and spilling over into real life.
In the 2000’s, Hu received a breakout role on New Zealand’s popular soap-opera, Shortland Street, and was later cast as the silver operator on Power Rangers RPM, among other roles. Similarly, Poh starred as the character E-Ching in a hit Singaporean children’s detective show, We are R.E.M., around the same time.
Coinciding with the unmoderated internet of Web 1.0, both artists experienced a great deal of prejudice and hate alongside their fame, ranging from racial typecasting to sexual harassment and cyberbullying, sometimes breaking the fourth wall of the screen and spilling over into real life.
Additional Details
Hu’s and Poh’s works on display in this exhibition respond to this time in their lives. Revisiting their former roles, the artists now use performance, installation, and video to re-create and manipulate the context in which their likenesses were used.
Hu utilizes humor and absurdity to examine the performance of identity and the particular demands made of minoritized subjects, often remarking on behind-the-scenes activities and metacognitive reflections.
Poh, on the other hand, often situates her experience in Eastern and Western philosophical terms, and employs emergent technologies, such as the deepfake and chatbot, to give voice to her younger self and say now what she could not then.
Hu utilizes humor and absurdity to examine the performance of identity and the particular demands made of minoritized subjects, often remarking on behind-the-scenes activities and metacognitive reflections.
Poh, on the other hand, often situates her experience in Eastern and Western philosophical terms, and employs emergent technologies, such as the deepfake and chatbot, to give voice to her younger self and say now what she could not then.
Location
Goethe-Institut New York
30 Irving Place
New York, NY 10003
Image: Graphic design by Moritz Kreul/ courtesy of Goethe-Institut New York