Announcement // Migrant Birds: ‘Game of Codes’ by Ma Li and Silia Ka Tung

Article by Britannie Seaton in Berlin // Tuesday, Sep. 13, 2016

In a playful and inventive exploration of material and object, Migrant Birds Berlin presents ‘Game of Codes’ – a joint exhibition featuring works by interdisciplinary artists Ma Li and Silia Ka Tung. The project space showcases cross-cultural communication, particularly that of China and Europe, with a focus on young, contemporary art and design. Silia Ka Tung, currently living and working in London, creates sculptures, paintings and installations which form a dialogue with Berlin- and San Francisco-based Ma Li’s video works, collage and on-site live performance. Together, they offer an endearing world of surreality with influences from Chinese culture and traditions. The notion of magic and creation also holds significance in ‘Game of Codes,’ and the title stands in reference to the programming of video games, which the artists consider a metaphor for the development of their artistic practice.

Ma Li: ‘Ladder’ (work in progress // courtesy of Migrant Birds

Ma Li uses ordinary materials such as fabric, cardboard and plastic in extraordinary ways. In her installation works, she combines intricate sculptural pieces, which relate to where the materials were originally found, forming an intriguing territory of binary opposites such as the everyday vs. fantasy, or nature vs. artifice.

This modest ability to disguise the mundane can also be interpreted in the soft sculptures of Silia Ka Tung, which discard conventional expectations of representation and context in favour of a contemporary approach to conveying the mystery and charm of ancient cultures. In reference to her wishes to evoke a childhood nostalgia and distraction from the prevalence of the everyday, Silia Ka Tung explains that she hopes to be able to “guide the audience to reflect back on their lives and find the origin of their own escapism.”