Kay Shi (KS) with Artspace Exhibition Coordinator, Kiana Hoang (KH)

KH: Can you tell me what this exhibition is about?

KS: I don't think I can, I mean, just like how this work was formed in the beginning, I thought it was a drop out piece, or a work about not showing, but in the process it was transforming, now I guess I'm showing the idea of "not showing".

KH: Isn't “showing the idea of not showing” still showing?

KS: I think when I decided not to show anything, the act or maybe just the decision already became something that could, in some way, be shown.

KH: So is it possible to not show anything at all?

KS: I don't know. Maybe if I just didn't show up, didn't tell anyone, didn't make a statement about it, then maybe. But the moment I decided to say, "I'm not showing anything," I had already made that decision visible. So maybe I wasn't really showing anything. I was showing my decision not to show.

KH: Does it matter if anyone knows?

KS: I thought it didn't. At least, in the beginning, I didn't think I cared if anyone saw it or understood what I was doing. But then someone walked into the room and asked me, "Who cares?" And for some reason, I started writing it down.

I think from that moment, the work started to shift. It was no longer only about my refusal to show. The refusal somehow moved from me to the audience. And then I took that refusal from the audience and used it as material for the work.

KH: When did the work end?

KS: That's a really good question. I think even at that time, I was already questioning what it means to finish a work. I don't really know what it means to complete something.

Maybe that's also why some people dropped out of painting, and why I dropped out of photography. There is something about these things that gives you a clear ending, you make an image, you finish it, and then it's done.

When I was writing on that piece of paper, I gave myself a rule: I would keep writing until the show ended. That way, I wouldn't be the one deciding when the work was finished. I would just be forced to leave.

But on the last day, I stopped by myself.

I remember feeling extremely sad because I knew that maybe this was the day the work would end. I think that was the only moment in the whole process when I really allowed emotion into the work. Maybe that's the difference between a person and a machine.

But actually, the work didn't end there. Later, the rejection I received when I submitted the work became part of the work too. And then I felt again that the work might have ended when I received the email from Artspace saying that the exhibition had been accepted.

So maybe the work doesn't end when I finish it. It seems to stop whenever the rejection stops, when acceptance begins.

KH: So, who cares?

KS: Yeah, who cares.

‘Who Cares?’ is on display from October 9th to November 7th, 2026