It’s a strange but intriguing request. Kit Yi Wong, one of the artists participating in EXCHANGE, the new international artist residency based in Baltimore — through MICA’s Curatorial Practice program — is currently soliciting local residents (rather mysteriously) to let her venture inside their houses and apartments for “one hour.” If she and her “assistant” can be let inside your space while you’re out, they swear they’ll make art out of the experience.
“All I want is to put myself in a world of yours, where I don’t belong,” writes Wong, a Hong Kong native, who studied at Yale and has lived and worked most recently in Brooklyn. “I promise I won’t take any of your things, I will only steal some memory of your space, nothing else,” continues her classified ad. “If you can kindly let me in for an hour sometime between late February and early March 2013, let me know via kityi.wong@aya.yale.edu.”
According to her self-written bio, “[Wong] works because she cannot understand; she tries to understand herself through others. In the habit of seeking advice from others, she does not necessarily consider their opinions but she uses their words as a mirror. Her work has dealt with and continues her investigations with the body, time, space, power relations, and various ways of encountering strangers to explore hidden chances.”
I asked the artist for a bigger hint into the avant-garde art project. She confessed only this: that a cat will assist her; this cat will wander your realm, wearing a video camera around his or her neck, before Wong herself arrives. So if you’re allergic — even if you’re into the avant-garde — you might want to be cautious about accepting or issuing this invitation. Otherwise, I say go for it!
Read more about EXCHANGE next week.
