Miao Ying Studio
Solo exhbiiton at Art Museum at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Miao Ying: A Field Guide to Ideology (苗颖: 精神实用宝典) is the first presentation of Shanghai/New York-based artist Miao Ying in Canada. This exhibition features new iterations of her two recent projects Chinternet Plus (亲特网+, 2016) and Hardcore Digital Detox (硬核数据排毒, 2018). A first-generation internet artist in China and a dual netizen of the Chinternet and the World Wide Web, Miao Ying examines official and popular Chinese internet culture thriving behind the so-called Great Firewall.
Commenting on a recent Chinese economic strategy Internet Plus—involving the rebooting of traditional industries through cloud computing, big data, and lifestyle branding—Miao Ying’s Chinternet Plus is a parodic and critical take on the cultivation of a new, counterfeit ideology complete with promotional videos, seductive imagery, logo designs, wallpaper, and concept slogan. Its companion work Hardcore Digital Detox—a caricature of #spiritualretreatinchinternet—turns focus to the proliferation of experience economy and commodification of lifestyle in a post-materialist society.
Miao Ying: A Field Guide to Ideology is a Core Exhibition of the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival.
Curatorial Tour with Yan Wu
Saturday, February 19, 2pm
Justina M. Barnicke Gallery
Artist Talk with Miao Ying (in-person and online)
Tuesday, March 8, 6pm ETDaniels Building (DA170), University of Toronto1 Spadina Crescent
Presented in partnership with the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and DesignWatch the recording
Gallery Tour with Miao Ying and Yan Wu
Wednesday, March 9, 2pm
Justina M. Barnicke Gallery
Traumatic Bonding: An Interdisciplinary Discussion about State Stockholm Syndrome
Wednesday, July 20, 6pmOnline on Zoom
Exhibition Resources
Conversation with Miao Ying and Yan Wu on Ocula
Exhibition Review on Artforum (Chinese)
Exhibition Review on Artforum (English translation)
Large-Format TextExhibition Documentation
Our Supporters We gratefully acknowledge operating support from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council, with additional project support from the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival. Special thanks to the MadeIn Gallery in Shanghai for their support in the realization of this exhibition, and to Trinity Square Video and Gallery 44 for supporting the equipment.