WHAT
This is the American artist’s first solo show in Greater China and is a follow up to ‘standard pose’, which was exhibited in Paris in 2021, and ‘Footwear (Adapted for Use)’ from New York in 2020. In this follow up, objects of mundanity are on display for audiences to witness in sharp photographic detail. Deeply political and historical, Williams’s work addresses the visual and informational structures that define everyday life. Working in a variety of media, including photography, video, and installation, his multifaceted practice incorporates references to multiple sources and precedents, including the artist’s own ever-expanding inventory of imagery and discursive materials.

WHY
Epitomising, while also critically undermining, many discursive binaries within Cold War society – such as supposedly male versus female content, and Eastern soviet versus Western capitalist culture – these seemingly disparate but influential magazines served as source material for Williams, who, over the course of several years, assembled detailed archives devoted to each. Laid out on large tables within his studio, they became a kind of visual play script, which was then adapted to produce these photographic works. See how some closely recreate his source materials, and how others recast their formats and structures that reflect on the social conditions of modern life.