Humans look into the past for knowledge to understand the present, which will ultimately inspire ideas for the future. Discovering and learning from archaeological sites, museums, publications, artifacts, and the natural world have allowed humans to realize the transience of being and their relationships to the various modalities of time found in nature. As much as such revelations compel some to wonder what will remain once they cease to exist, others beg the question, how would systems of knowledge accumulated in a person’s lifetime, along with what their ancestors have accrued, be relayed to future generations? Driven by both questions, Chris Oh’s first solo exhibition, Passage, at Capsule Shanghai, as suggested in the double-entendre of its title, showcases painted objects as relics of the future.
