Kiang Malingue is pleased to present at Basel Social Club a series of photographic and video works by Kwan Sheung Chi, including new “One Million” videos made specifically for the occasion.

Known for dealing with monetary subjects in many videos and photographic works, Kwan Sheung Chi explores a kind of absurdist political economy throughout his career. The celebrated series of “One Million” (2012–ongoing) deals directly with counting money: a deadpan close-up of the artist’s hands counting banknotes of different currencies. On closer inspection, however, one realises that it is a very short video loop of the artist counting a thin stack of bills until the sum hits one million.

Another commentary of absurdist political economy, Kwan’s My Nephew (2019) served as an excuse for a trip up north: based in Hong Kong, Kwan was not able to travel to Shanghai in an artist’s capacity, and he brought along a fellow artist (as his “nephew”) to disguise as businessmen. In the set of four photographs, they gestured at real estate construction sites, and posed while smoking expensive cigarettes, evoking a bygone era of capitalist speculation steeped in the luscious aesthetics of the golden 90s of Hong Kong and Shanghai.