Discover Jennifer Tee's Still Shifting, Mother Field Exhibition: Exploring Art, Nature, and Spirituality

Jennifer Tee's exhibition 'Still Shifting, Mother Field' investigates the human position in nature and the cosmos, exploring spirituality and transcendence through new works. The exhibition features a range of artistic techniques including ceramics, textiles, collage, and performance.

Jennifer Tee's exhibition 'Still Shifting, Mother Field' delves into fundamental questions about our orientation, spirituality, and transcendence, examining humanity's place within the natural environment and the cosmos. The artist, who developed most of the works specifically for this exhibition, employs an experimental approach to a variety of artistic techniques. Tee combines collages, sculptures such as ceramic domes and knitted floor objects, and textile installations to explore the fragile interconnections of life. Focusing on forms of transition, passages, and processes of continuous change, her work references the idea of a wandering spirit or a lost soul. The exhibition's starting point is the series of works 'Tampan Tulips,' developed since 2016 and presented here for the first time in an extensive compilation. These ten collages, made from pressed tulip petals, are based on Tampan weavings from the Lampung region of Sumatra, Indonesia. These ceremonial textiles, historically exchanged during rites of passage, feature ships as a central motif, symbolizing a journey to another world. The geometric, often mirror-symmetrical patterns represent social and universal orders, serving as a portal between the material and spiritual realms. Tee's most recent work, 'Tampan Sessile Beings, Sacred Shrine' (2022), exemplifies this, juxtaposing two ships and featuring a life tree emerging from a womb-like ornament, weaving together symbols of origin and change. By combining the Sumatran Tampan tradition with tulips and their cultural history, Tee evokes narratives of global networks, cultural exchange, and intercultural identities, also referencing migration and hybrid identities. This combination holds personal significance for the artist, whose Chinese-Indonesian ancestors migrated to the Netherlands. The exhibition also touches upon the cultural history of the tulip, its symbolism of love, its representation in 17th-century Dutch still lifes during the 'Tulip Mania,' and its connection to early stock market speculation. Tee's 'Shrouds' (2022) are textile sculptures that schematically outline the human body, representing empty shells and marking the moment of departure. These forms are activated through weekly performances developed with choreographer Miri Lee, where dancers interact with the textile sculptures, evoking associations of sleep, cocoons, and metamorphosis. The 'Shrouds' are made from a novel fabric of pineapple waste and recycled buffalo leather, showcasing Tee's material experimentation. Other works include knitted floor pieces made from hand-dyed wool and ceramic objects, integrating applied techniques with philosophical considerations. In the apse of the exhibition space, the installation 'Tao Magic' (2022) features ceramic domes that allude to cosmic orders and invisible forces. Their arrangement evokes a constellation, and the glazes in earthy tones resemble moons, referencing the Taoist philosophy of the universe's constant renewal and the Western tradition of expressing spirituality through abstraction, seen in works by artists like Hilma af Klint and Wassily Kandinsky.

Information about tickets can be found via a link to the ticketing platform. General opening hours for the Secession are Tuesday to Sunday, 10 AM to 6 PM. Specific exhibition ticketing is integrated with the general museum access via the provided link. The exhibition was commissioned and produced by Secession, Vienna, and Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam, and made possible with support from the Mondriaan Fonds. There is no specific ticketing information provided beyond a general link to purchase tickets and museum opening hours for the period, suggesting standard museum admission applies for the duration of the exhibition at Secession Wien. Further details may be found on the museum's ticketing page or the exhibition's specific listing on the Secession website. The exhibition dates are 16.9. – 6.11.2022, with a related exhibition at Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam running from 20. January – 23. April 2023, indicating separate access information likely applies to each venue and time frame. For specific details on admission and ticket purchasing for the Secession exhibition, visitors are directed to the provided ticket link and general museum information.