Haus Der Kunst curator Xue Tan on Aphex Twin and Alexej von Jawlensky

"A recent transcendent experience was seeing Aphex Twin's last major performance at Sónar Festival in Barcelona in 2023. Although it was framed as a concert, the ninety-minute live set felt more like being pulled into the veins of an audiovisual system. Richard D. James performed a volatile mix of familiar tracks and unreleased material; with an "elastic," unpredictable structure, the transitions between sounds felt almost otherworldly. Algorithmic imagery and light transformed the concert hall into a total environment."

"Defiantly genre-fluid, the work unapologetically folded rave culture, experimental cinema, and media art into one single architecture. If you could have attended any show in art history, which one would it be? I would have really loved to witness the ten-day exhibition "China/Avant-Garde" at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing in 1989."

"Much of what I know about this legendary exhibition comes from archival documents and anecdotes. This was a pivotal moment: More than 180 artists participated from across the country, showcasing the experimental energy that had been building up throughout the 1980s. In that moment, months before a nationwide student movement began, artistic experimentation and intellectual debate seemed to converge in one place."

A recent transcendent experience involved Aphex Twin’s last major performance at Sónar Festival in Barcelona in 2023. The ninety-minute live set felt less like a conventional concert and more like being pulled into the veins of an audiovisual system. Familiar tracks and unreleased material were combined through an elastic, unpredictable structure, making transitions between sounds feel otherworldly. Algorithmic imagery and light transformed the concert hall into a total environment. A separate desired historical experience was the ten-day 1989 exhibition “China/Avant-Garde” in Beijing, featuring more than 180 artists and showcasing experimental energy built through the 1980s. Artistic experimentation and intellectual debate converged months before a nationwide student movement began.

Read at Artforum