For his first US museum exhibition, Hong Kong-based sound artist Samson Young looks to the idealism presented at the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago to explore varying concepts of social progress and utopia through a trilogy of animated music videos. The catalog addresses questions of how people adapt to societal changes that they have little control over. For Young, “progress” as it was defined in the 1933 fair’s subtitle “A Century of Progress” represents a specific variant of aspirational thinking. From cars to shopping malls and houses designed for the future to political change, progressive thinking has had contrasting consequences as it made its impact felt across the globe in the decades that followed.
The accompanying catalog acts both as an introduction to Young’s work and a lavishly illustrated document of the exhibition. It features an essay by curator Orianna Cacchione contextualizing Young’s work, an essay by G. Douglas Barrett exploring the tension between modern visions of utopia and the musical version of the contemporary, and an interview between Seth Kim Cohen and Young about the form of the music video and its variations in the exhibitions. Additionally, the catalog also contains full-color video stills of the works, original drawings, and archival materials included in the exhibition.
- ISBN10 0935573615
- ISBN13 9780935573619
- Publish Date 23 January 2020 (first published 1 August 2017)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Publisher The University of Chicago Press
- Imprint University of Chicago,David & Alfred Smart Museum,US
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 184
- Language English
- URL http://wiley.com/remtitle.cgi?isbn=9780935573619