The Apotheosis of the Fish Market

Marc Strauss

October 14—December 4, 2016

Curated by Marc Strauss director Ken Tan, The Apotheosis of the Fish Market takes over a building in Chinatown that once operated as a seafood market run by a Chinese family. Presenting works by two Korean artists Jong Ho and Jinsu Han, this site specific exhibition turns a 1976 Artforum article by Nancy Foote into an exhibition concept, discussing the dialogue between site specific works and their “sites”. Waiting to take its share from the rapid gentrification of Lower Manhattan, the building will soon disappear to accommodate to an upcoming high end residential project. 

Jong Oh, Room-Installation, 2016

In her essay, Foote discusses how site specific artworks have the capacity to add further momentum to their surroundings if installed in an articulate context, referring to the then-recently opened PS1 in Long Island City, before MoMA brand was added to its name. For this project, Jinsu Han repurposes redundant materials collected from the space, divorcing them from their utilitarian aspects. Jong Oh’s sculptures, including string, Plexiglass, tiny chains and weights, on the other hand are described as “ethereal, ephemeral, and considered”.