Archive / "Mumbling Mud" Shanghai 2018

For the exhibition "Mumbling Mud" which took place at chi K11 art museum in Shanghai in 2018 and toured to Guangzhou in 2019 I’ve visited China two times to meet with fellow artists Cue Jie, Li Ming, Zheng Gougu, Zhang Enli and Cao Fei. The enriching dialogues with the fellow artists resulted in cross-cultural inspiration to the show. The exhibition led the audience through an immersive, labyrinthine passage as it was subdivided into five zones, each occupied by a large-scale installation produced almost completely on site evoking an uncanny spectrality. „Looking at ‚Mumbling Mud‘ in its entirety now, Grosse´s belief is clear that constant change is natural, and that the ability to embrace uncertainty provides a method by which we can perceive gender, race, society, and politics, which seems particularly resonating in our current climate.“ – Adrain Cheng, Foreword, Catalogue Mumbling Mud The show was curated by Venus Lau and Ulrich Loock and hosted by Adrien Cheng.

Image 1 – 2 Katharina Grosse Installation view of Mumbling Mud, Underground © Katharina Grosse and VG Bild-Kunst Bonn, 2023 / Photo: JJYPHOTO. Image courtesy K11 Art Foundation

Image 3 Katharina Grosse Installation view of Mumbling Mud, Ghost © Katharina Grosse / Photo: JJYPHOTO. Image courtesy K11 Art Foundation

Image 4 Katharina Grosse Installation view of Mumbling Mud, Silk Studio © Katharina Grosse / Photo: JJYPHOTO. Image courtesy K11 Art Foundation

Image 5 Katharina Grosse Installation view of Mumbling Mud, Stomach © Katharina Grosse / Photo: JJYPHOTO. Image courtesy K11 Art Foundation

Image 6 – 7 Katharina Grosse Installation view of Mumbling Mud, Show room © Katharina Grosse / Photo: Zhu Rui; Courtesy Galerie Nächst St. Stephan, Vienna

Image 9 Conversation with Cui Jie (f.l.t.r.): Cui Jie, Ulrich Loock, Zhang Zheng, Katharina Grosse, and Venus Lau © Katharina Grosse / Photo: Lau Wei