a provocation, a place far upon the sky,
a promise too seducing, and a pressing warning.

THE SHOPHOUSE is pleased to present Gentle Again, a curated exhibition of 8 artists in a dialogue surrounding intimacy, distance, ease, and effort. We crave for comfort in the mere moments between the violence and anxiety, and we search endlessly for places of rest. Featuring Huang Ko Wei, Rachel Lancaster, Robin Megannity, Ciarán Murphy, Paul Robas, Tung Wing Hong, Yu Shuk Pui Bobby, and Zhang Lian, the exhibition examines our innate yearning for tenderness. In a world of trials and trouble, suffering is inevitable – all we can do is ask that our discomfort be gentle now, and gentle again.
 
Featuring a body of works on canvas, video artworks, and kinetic installations, the exhibition plays with a precarious balance of soft tensions. The works highlight moments of suspense, either captured through an isolated image or prolonged via time-based media with postponed or indefinite endings. The artworks collectively allude to the notion of ‘the moment before’ – namely the moment before a conclusion is revealed and before relief or devastation is confirmed. In this moment, we are safe – we are swaddled in a liminal space between speculation and reality, where anticipation and our inner optimist can exist. Bound together by broken stories, the exhibition underscores a sense of incompletion that is paradoxically evocative of placidity and disquietude.
 
An array of non-contiguous narratives – reflecting topics of iconographic duality, identity construction, affective phenomena, geographical mobility, and more – is brought to the surface, elucidating glimpses of conflict that breach the peace. As if a distorted mirror of real life, the underlying significance of each work, where our distress is quiet unless disturbed. A haven enveloped in hushed chatter,  the exhibition proposes a choice – should we acknowledge the pain, or do we accept the comfort?

「一次挑釁，一個遙不可及，
一個太誘人的承諾，一個緊迫的警告。 」

THE SHOPHOUSE 欣然呈獻群展 「柔軟的再造」（Gentle Again），圍繞親密與疏遠、緊張與
鬆弛展開對話。人們不斷尋找平靜之地，渴望在充滿不安的生活碎片中獲得慰藉。本次展覽展出
黃可維、Rachel Lancaster、Robin Megannity、Ciarán Murphy、Paul Robas、董永康、余淑培
以及張聯的作品，探討人們與生俱來的對「柔軟」的渴望和對其無數次的再次定義。


展覽匯集了一系列架上繪畫、影像及動態裝置，旨在動態平衡中達到一種軟張力（soft tensions）。展覽透過孤立的圖像捕捉，亦或是基於時間的媒介延長和無限期延時，強調諸多懸疑的時刻。
這些作品共同暗示「之前的時刻」（the moment before）的概念—即在某個結論被揭示之前的時刻，在破壞被證實之前的時刻。那一刻前，在被包裹著猜測和現實之間的有限空間裏，人們感到
安全，心存希望與樂觀主義。展覽透過碎片化的故事聯繫在一起，以一種不完整感矛盾地喚起了
平靜與不安。

「柔軟的再造」呈獻一系列關於圖像二元性、情感與認同建構、地域流動等主題的敘述，意圖展現衝突與柔軟感的一瞥。每件作品的潛在意義形成強烈的對比，彷彿是現實生活的一面扭曲的鏡子，痛苦於此格外安靜、不被打擾。如同一個靜謐的避風港，展覽提出了選擇－是承認痛苦，還是
接受安慰?