Shu Lea Cheang. Kiss Kiss Kill Kill

Press Release

Shu Lea Cheang survey exhibition “KI$$ KI$$” takes the taiwanese-american net artist and filmmaker’s first feature film, Fresh Kill (1994), as a starting point to present the artist’s world-building practices. In three landscape formations, the exhibition combines updated and previously unrealised works and goes beyond the execution of individual objects. The internet-based installation, software interaction, and multiplayer performance invite the audience to explore and to play. Play as a form of embodied knowledge will become a theme for 2025, following the experiences of Fujiko Nakaya’s “Nebel Leben,” the group exhibition “Inside Other Spaces,” as well as “Voices” by Philippe Parreno.

“KI$$ KI$$” reimagines the exhibition as a transformative journey orma “machine of experience.” From a different angle, but in dialogue with Parreno, Shu Lea Cheang’s daring science fiction narratives centre on non-human intelligences (both natural and artificial). Engaging with new and ancient technologies, the exhibition continues Haus der Kunst’s engagement with contemporary and emerging media, following exhibitions by Dumb Type, Tony Cokes, and WangShui.

Curated by Sarah Theurer with Laila Wu.

Link the recipes used in the exhibition.

Duration

14.2. – 3.8.25

Film Screenings at Theatiner Kino and at the Auditorium 8. – 22.6.25

In conjunction with the exhibition and in collaboration with the Cultural Ministry of Taiwan and the MUNICH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Haus der Kunst is presenting a selection of Shu Lea Cheang’s seminal films at Theatiner Kino. The first evening on 8.6.25 with films I.K.U. (2000) and UKI (2023) delves into themes of technology, sexuality, and identity, offering a provocative exploration of our digital and corporeal realities. With an introduction by the artist and producer Jürgen Brüning. The second evening on 21.6.25 features the experimental short Sex Fish (1993) followed by Fresh Kill (1994), Cheang’s debut feature which also serves as a starting point for her survey exhibition. The “eco-cyber-noia” film is an inventive critique of toxic capitalism and digital surveillance.

The politics of image (and the image of politics) is a central theme in Cheang’s work and can be further explored in a special video installation of Cheang’s community television productions How History was Wounded (1989) and Making News, Making History (1989), on view at the Auditorium of Haus der Kunst from 8.–22.6.25. Admission is free.

Exhibition Film

Exhibition film on „Shu Lea Cheang. KI$$ KI$$“

Note

Due to technical problems with the display of the exhibition title "KI$$ KI$$" on Google and various websites, including our own Haus der Kunst website, the full title "Kiss Kiss Kill Kill" may be used. The dollar signs might not be displayed correctly when they are arranged several times in a row.

Downloads

Exhibition catalogue

Shu Lea Cheang. KI$$ KI$$
Published by Sarah Johanna Theurer with Mousse Publishing.
Photo: Milena Wojhan

Download JPG (2.76 MB)

Credit

Shu Lea Cheang. KI$$ KI$$
Kiss Kiss Kill Kill, 2024
Exhibition view
Haus der Kunst München, 2025
Photo: Milena Wojhan

Download JPG (1.29 MB)

Credit

Shu Lea Cheang. KI$$ KI$$
Exhibition view
Haus der Kunst München, 2025
Photo: Milena Wojhan