13/03/2009 - 05/04/2009 joint exhibition
SHIAU-PENG CHEN
I DON'T BELONG HERE BUT THERE II
Curator's note:
Melbourne based Shiau-Peng Chen addresses issues of Taiwanese cultural identity and
displacement with I Don’t Belong Here but There II at Immersion Therapy.
Shiau-Peng’s trademark abstract and geometric work is fuelled by a keen sense of spatial awareness and a sensitivity to geographic and social placement. Drawing from her ongoing
China Series, I Don’t Belong Here but There II presents a unique reflection on the socio-political tensions that currently exist between Taiwan and China.
In the ambitious I Don’t Belong Here but There series, Shiau-Peng uses the map of China as the spring point from which she creates an abstract, temporal sequence marked by evolving color and spatial arrangements that are designed to symbolize the shifting political landscape of North East Asia; particularly the complicated relations between mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Shiau-Peng Chen’s practice is based in painting, text work and installation. She continues to indulge her guilty habit of education, currently undertaking a PhD at RMIT after previous studies at the Pratt Institute in New York and at TNUA in Taipei. In addition to a wide range of previous exhibitions, she previously participated in the GroupTherapy show at Immersion Therapy in 2008.

13/02/2009 - 05/04/2009 joint exhibition
MENG-SHU YOU
MELTING DOWN
Curator's note:
Meng-shu You, currently a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney draws from her experiences of being based in Taiwan, the US and Australia in transforming the main space at Immersion Therapy into a mini retail precinct.
Making comment on the continual rise of Western Culture at the expense of traditional cultures, Meng-shu’s sculptural works create an economical and social smorgasbord of confused values as a direct response to the incessant commoditization of culture being experienced in Taiwan and beyond.
Adopting an approach of mass production in the face of mass consumption, Meng-shu’s work uses a combination of mixed media to accentuate her ceramic work. In Melting Down, media as disparate as wax, concrete, wood, as well as clay, are transformed through her use of molds and casts which are then replicated at volume.
The sacred and the profane are brought together, mirroring our new world economy, where religious and traditional motifs hold no more value those of commercial powerhouses such as Nike, Coke and the Disney brand. In the quest to merge art and commerce, traditional Taiwanese motifs and values are absorbed and recast, their initial significance forever lost in the influence of the global market and the quest for marketability.
Meng-Shu has previously exhibited in the US, Taiwan, China, South Korea, Germany and in Sydney at the Armory Gallery, 4A and Sydney Design 2006. Melting Down marks her Melbourne debut.
Immersion Therapy hosted a special event to coincide with Earth Day 2009 in which the exhibition was lit only by candle light, in keeping with Meng-Shu's wax works and the Earth Day philosophy.

05/12/2008 - 21/12/2008
HUA CUN CHEN
SHIAU-PENG CHEN
ALAN COTTON
BENEDICT ERNST
ANDREA INNOCENT
DAMON KOWARSKY
JESSICA MAIDEN
FATEMEH VAFAEINEJAD
NAOKO YENEHARA
Exhibition: GROUP THERAPY

Curated by Dave Di Vito, curatorial assistance: Julia Johnston
Part and parcel of the modern experience is the sensation of duality; the underlying feeling
that one never truly belongs in one time or place.
The competing pulls in our lives; geographic, emotional or temporal are symptoms of a world in which our borders are crumbling and our boundaries are constantly on the move. For many, the reality is that whilst we remain rooted in our daily existence we do so without the same level of grounding we once might have expected.
Articulating the sensation of these oppositions, Group Therapy brings together nine of
Australia’s most interesting established and emerging artists in a show which explores the
push and pull between cultures and times that are now so prevalent in modern life.
The artists undertaking Group Therapy are united in that they all to some degree juggle the
influence and pull of multiple cultures although their individual approaches and use of media adds another layer and point of difference to the equation.