iHayward Gallery · South Bank
Musquiqui Chihying: A Life of Navigation
This exhibition has ended.
A multimedia exhibition from the Taiwanese artist, blending humour and societal critique to explore urban life, AI, gaming culture and the tension between manual labour and automation.
Museum websiteMusquiqui Chihying's father couldn't find parking for his Toyota Corolla in Taipei. The fix was a life-size inflatable Corolla that held the space while the real car was out, then deflated into its boot. It sits mid-room, beside six photos of his father setting it up in the street.
Four works share the HENI Project Space, a small room split by grey metal bars. The Jog (2014) is a minute of the artist running in a supermarket. The two new videos turn to the labour behind technology: The Annotation to how self-driving systems are developed in Africa, The Gamer to Nigerian players paid by clients in China and Japan to level up their accounts. You watch that one from a gaming chair.
Time Out gave it four stars: the humour keeps "pretty knotty ideas about labour, consumerism and technology" from getting bogged down. It's free, open until 9pm, and closes on 18 October. Chihying tours it with curator Yung Ma on Saturday 17 October at 2pm.
Look for
The Toyota (2015)
A life-size teal inflatable Corolla fills the floor, with photographs on the wall of the artist's father parking it on Taipei streets.
The Jog (2014)
On two side-by-side screens, the artist in gym kit jogs on a supermarket checkout belt while the cashier watches.
The Gamer (2026)
Nigerian gamers on five screens describe being paid by clients in China and Japan to level up their accounts, watched from racing-style gaming seats.
The Annotation
On portrait screens with headphones, people run through alleys and empty buildings in a work about how self-driving systems are developed in Africa.
Good for
- An Hour Or Less
- Cheap Culture
- Evening Visits
- Locals Who've Seen It All
With kids
For all ages, and under-12s must be with an adult.
Also at Hayward Gallery
On now nearby
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Image credits
7
- Hayward GalleryMykReeve / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Salman Toor: Someone Like You© Salman Toor; Courtesy of the artist, Luhring Augustine, New York, and Thomas Dane Gallery. Photo: Genevieve Hanson
- Winifred Gill: A Bloomsbury Pioneer© Bodleian, Oxford
- Courtauld GalleryAnthony O'Neil / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
- London Transport MuseumColin Park / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
- National GalleryCarlos Delgado / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- National Portrait GalleryIstvánka / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0