“In Bahasa Melayu, the word for coral is karang; while the verb mengarang derived from it, means to compose, to arrange, to weave and to create. After looking at corals closely under and above the water closely for months, I start to comprehend get it: it’s the shape of coral that describes structure, classification and gradual formation, the porousness communicates endurance, and the unfathomable otherness of marine creature, the dim and yet wild colors, suggesting some sort of fictional fabrication – I am composing a language with corals, I’m creating a feral literacy. I arrange the relationship among shape, sound and meaning, I weave a web that preys on name, thing, soul.” – Chang Yuchen

In Coral Dictionary – an Interpretation Performance, co-hosted with Art Switch, artist and nature linguist Chang Yuchen will share her readings of coral bodies: their gesture, their texture, their propensity and more. Exercises of interpretation will be facilitated, meanings generated, multiplied, and exchanged by the participants.

This performance is part of Art Switch’s 2023 Art and Climate Edition, Nature Thinking, taking place between October 21-29, 2023 in New York, made possible through collaborations with Amant, Hauser & Wirth, the Swiss Institute, and the support of Teiger Foundation.

More information on the event can be found here.