Taking novelist Ning Ken’s concept of chaohuan (which literally translates to “surpassing the imaginary”) as a loose point of departure, “Ultra Unreal” chimed in on recent conversations at major Australian arts institutions exploring myth-making, and queer and speculative world-building as tools for reimagining new worlds and futures.
The show brought together six artists and collectives who are “connected to nightlife ecosystems”—fundamental sites of inclusion and liberation (2021–22) and (2020–22)—inflatable worlds populated by creatures perceived as degenerate. Such installations have been used for Saeborg’s group performances at Tokyo’s fetish party Department-H, where performers are dressed in latex bodysuits. in particular, included acts involving pigs led to slaughter, their innards and bones gradually revealed, ironically reflecting society’s treatment and expectations of women. For the show’s opening, Saeborg presented two 30-minute performances of . However, for the majority of the exhibition’s course, the installation was displayed by itself. Without the live activation and the grounding of the underground fetish clubs where such spectacles could play out safely, the limits of state arts institutions in recreating genuinely emancipatory spaces for non-normative interests and marginalized people became clear.
