“There is another world, but it is in this one,” said Surrealist poet Paul Éluard. In this exhibition, artists look to the future, imagining how we move forward from the tumultuous events of the past year. [read more]
Art in the Plague Year is an online exhibition organized by UCR ARTS: California Museum of Photography and curated by Douglas McCulloh, Nikolay Maslov, and Rita Sobreiro Souther. UCR ARTS’s programs are supported by UCR College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, the City of Riverside, Altura Credit Union, and Anheuser-Busch.
All works in this exhibition are reproduced with permission of the artists/copyright holders. Works (images, video, audio or other content) must not be used or reproduced for any purposes other than fair use without prior consent of the artists.
(b. 1984 Hong Kong, Lives and works in Las Vegas, NV)
Pas De Deux, in the Time of Quarantine
It may not be too much to say that the fate of the world will depend on human connection, on cross-cultural concord, harmony, union. Pas De Deux, in the Time of Quarantine offers a model. The project forges remarkable connections, does so under challenging circumstances, and, almost as a bonus, spins off graceful, substantial, meaningful art.
The ballet term “Pas De Deux” describes a dance of two people. This is difficult to achieve with physical separation and particularly so during a worldwide pandemic. In Pas De Deux, in the Time of Quarantine, quarantined dancers film themselves dancing—in Santiago, Chile; Los Angeles, California; Berlin, Germany; Sofia, Bulgaria; Buseyi, Iganga, Uganda; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and many other locations around the world. The instigating artist, Sapira Cheuk, pairs the videos and transforms paired stills into paintings. In the artist’s images, doubled dancers transcend space, time, and virus. They occupy a single space, dancing and connecting together—a “Pas De Deux.” The project documents art produced in the time of pandemic, but at more profound level it points to the irrepressible power of art and human connection.