Angela Su proudly presents: Lauren O—The Greatest Levitator in the Polyhedric Cosmos of Time

M+, Asia’s first global museum of contemporary visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong Arts Development Council are pleased to co-present Angela Su proudly presents: Lauren O—The Greatest Levitator in the Polyhedric Cosmos of Time.

Artist Angela Su’s exhibition representing Hong Kong at the 59th International Venice Biennale is now on display at M+ as an adapted and site-responsive showcase. Presented in two parts, the exhibition stages Su’s research about Lauren O, an enigmatic figure with the power of levitation who played an instrumental role in the 1960s anti-war movement in the United States. Featuring a collection of her notes and study models, the exhibition illustrates Lauren O’s obsession with transformation and levitation. Su discovered the archives of Lauren O, unearthing her fascinating life as well as her studies into levitation and polyhedral forms. This exhibition is also an invitation to the world of Su’s idiosyncratic practice that combines her interests in the history of science and somatic experience with her wild imagination.

The first part of the exhibition presents Lauren O’s study models of polyhedra, mostly from the 1960s, and her journal. Ranging from solid forms to open frames, the irregular polygons Lauren O constructed advance a theory of levitation that challenges classical ideas about geometry and the universe. Lauren O’s journal reveals that her dream of levitation emerged from and alongside counterculture movements that sought to break social structures as closed and static as the classical polyhedra. 

The second part of the exhibition presents Su’s response of Lauren O’s beliefs. Lauren O was possibly a member of Laden Raven, an activist group catalysed by the US anti-war movement in the 1960s. The group’s raven symbol can be found throughout the space, including in a series of hair embroidery works of birds. The exhibition also features a film that narrates the story of Lauren O and her involvement with Laden Raven.

Angela Su’s works investigate the perception and imagery of the body through processes of metamorphosis, hybridity, and transformation. Her research-based projects materialise into drawing, video, hair embroidery, and performative and installation works, which explore the interrelations between our state of being and the advancement of technology. Central to these projects are video essays and texts that weave together fact and fiction, and reality and fantasy. With a focus on the history of medical science, her works question dominant biomedical discourse and contemplate the impact of technology on the past, present, and future.

Co-commissioners
Bernard Charnwut Chan, Chairman of the Board of M Plus Museum Limited
Kenneth Fok Kai-kong, Chairman of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council

Guest Curator: Freya Chou
Consulting Curator: Ying Kwok
Assistant Manager: Jenny Tam
Curatorial Assistant: Dorothea Lam