What is Condo and Why?
Two years ago in her seminar, The Gallery Think Tank: The Evolving Gallery Model, Vanessa Carlos, owner of Carlos/Ishikawa gallery, pointed out that the core issue faced by gallery industry right now is galleries’ ‘sincere treatment,’ or lack thereof, towards artists. She proposed that it is irresponsible of galleries to focus too much on sales performance, instead of the artists’ works and intentions. To confront and tackle this problem, Carlos initiated a project called ‘Condo’, a co-sharing space for galleries. Condo took its name from ‘condominium’.
Condo is a large-scale collaborative exhibition of international galleries. Host galleries share their spaces with visiting galleries, and then present an exhibition by co-curating, or dividing their galleries and allocating spaces. After Condo’s 2016 success London, Carlos and her team extended their project to other cities, including New York, Mexico, Sao Paul, and Shanghai.
▲Condo’s founder Vanessa Carlos
The project’s initial goal is to help young galleries to participate in and learn the nuts and bolts of the art market at comparatively lower costs - Condo serves as the perfect entry for green hands. On top of this, Condo aims to build an art community for global galleries though creating a shared pool of art resources and talents.
2019 Condo Shanghai
Edouard Malingue Gallery’s director, Lorraine Kiang initiated Condo Shanghai in 2018. In its first edition, Condo Shanghai presented exhibitions by 9 local and 18 international galleries. This year, the second edition presents a series of exhibitions from July 13 to August 30, joined by 21 galleries across 7 Shanghai spaces, including A+ Contemporary, Antenna Space, Gallery Vacancy, MAO SPACE, Edouard Malingue Gallery, AIKE and QIAO SPACE.
1. A+ Contemporary: “Space/Reflection”
▲A+ Contemporary
Working with 1301PE (Los Angeles) and Springsteen (Baltimore), A+ Contemporary is hosting a group exhibition, “Space/Reflection”, which features Ann Veronica Janssens, Diana Thater, Pae White, SUPERFLEX from 1301PE, Alex Ito, Benjamin Horns, Sydney Shen from Springsteen, and two Chinese artists, Chen Wei and Xia Tao.
▲Ann Veronica Janssens, Srub Berlin 2, 2002, Single channel projection, 5’30’’. “Space/Reflection - Condo Shanghai” Installation view
The exhibition showcases a series of works in different medium, including installation, mural, painting and more. It presents various aspects of contemporary life through the eyes of different artists. They explore issues we face in the natural environment and social ecology.
2. Antenna Space × Foxy Production × Commonwealth and Council
Antenna Space is collaboration with Foxy Production and Commonwealth and Council. It presents different exhibitions of works by GAO Ludi, Cindy Ji Hye Kim, Young Joon Kwak, LU Yang, LIU Yin, XIA Joey and YU Honglei. Among them, Los Angeles based-Korean artist, Young Joon Kwak’s artworks are most attention-worthy, as she tackles heated topics of queerness and feminism.
▲Antenna Space
▲Cindy Ji Hye Kim, 《Character #10》, 2019, oil and canvas , 30.48 × 22.86 cm. Courtesy of artist and Foxy Production.
▲LU Yang, Electromagnetic Brainology Brain Control Messenger (Video Still), 2018, video, color, sound, 10’07’’. Courtesy of Antenna Space.
3. Gallery Vacancy × ONE AND J. Gallery × Itd los angeles
In the second edition of Condo Shanghai, Gallery Vacancy partitioned their space into three parts. The three galleries, ONE AND J. Gallery (Korea), Itd Los Angeles (US) and Gallery Vacancy, each occupies one floor of the whole gallery space to present an exhibition. Every exhibition explores the connection between forms and artists’ referential connotations through a variety of mediums, such as painting, photogram, and installation. Here, you can see five artists’ works from around the world: Antonia Kuo, NI Hao, SHEN Han, SHI Jiayun and Liu Yin.
▲Antonia Kuo, Untitled, 2017, Unique Silver Gelatin Chemigram Collage, 107 × 107 cm, 42 × 42 in. Courtesy of Gallery Vacancy.
▲Ni Hao, Structure Study I, 2012, Painted PVC pipes, wood, chairs, Approx. 183 × 137 × 167.5 cm, 72 × 54 × 66 in. Courtesy of Gallery Vacancy.
4. MAO SPACE:”THE Knowing Eye”
MAO SPACE is working with ROH Projects to showcase Indonesian artist Wimo Ambala Bayang’s solo exhibition, “THE Knowing Eye”, which tells the stories of the artist’s special personal journey through a series of photography. In the exhibition, Bayang intends to emphasize the importance of the relationship between images and reality in changing paradigms.
▲Wimo Ambala Bayang, The Romanian Academy Revealed, 2018, printing paper and aluminum, 80 × 106 cm. Courtesy of artist and ROH Projects.
5. Edouard Malingue Gallery: “The Spectre of Order”
Edouard Malingue Gallery is collaborating with three Latin American galleries to present a group exhibition, “The Specter of Order”, which features Jerónimo Elespe, Regina José Galindo, João Vasco Paiva and Fátima Rodrigo. Here, their works explore the connection between non-place and crowd, artworks’ physicality and how modernism and gender cognition in Latin America has affected it’s people’s desires and social customs.
▲Edouard Malingue Gallery
▲João Vasco Paiva, Paisagem/Objeto WA, 2016, Cured ink print on oak, 152.4 × 234 cm. Courtesy of Edouard Malingue Gallery.
6. AIKE × GALERÍA ENRIQUE GUERRERO × Misako & Rosen × Union Pacific
AIKE presents an exhibition of works by six artists: Fang Wei, Ricardo Muñoz Izquierdo, Trevor Shimizu, Ken Kagami, Alfred Boman and Agnieszka Polska. By displaying the artists’ most representative artworks, the show utilizes unique artistic practices and various medium. Japanese-American artist Trevor Shimizu’s paintings are very interesting as he uses humor as a form or signal to reveal secretive, immoral events.
▲AIKE
▲Trevor Shimizu, Meditating Transcending Earth, 2015, oil and canvas, 130 × 97 cm, Courtesy of AIKE.
7. QIAO SPACE: “Stuart Middleton”
QIAO SPACE is working with Carlos/Ishikawa to present artist Stuart Middleton’s complete frame-by-frame animations created in the past three years. In this exhibition, Middleton brings his four works of art together through carefully controlled sound. Music is the most significant part of the show.
▲Stuart Middleton, Beat, 2017, installation view, ICA London. Courtesy of QIAO SPACE.
