Ruiji Han.

Press release, February 2024

When the circuit shatters, madness erupts. In HARD(core)DRIVE, Ruiji Han & Li Yi-Fan presents a harrowing straggle to retrieve what is bound to be lost, when the intangible realm is wrest apart from the tangible. As the cracks created by the march of progress sprawl across the collective consciousness, visions from alternate worlds incite an internal reflection of the human condition.

While both artists mount a relentless pursuit to address the expanding void carved into their universes, the direction of their search diverges and splits into the digital plane and spiritual practice, both characterised by their ephemeral nature. The encounter with Ruiji Han’s harsh spirituality exposes the human ego and retraces the current condition back to a more primal state of being, while Li Yi Fan’s meta-human struggles to reconstruct a sense of humanity within an age of unrelenting technology. Stretching between past and future, HARD(core)DRIVE recalls uncharted and forgotten areas of awareness. However, how shall we maintain our composure as we thread deeper into the darkness of uncertainty?

Li Yi-Fan, How do you turn this on.

Li Yi-Fan.

Li Yi-Fan (b. 1989, Taipei, Taiwan) is a Taipei-based artist who utilises game engines, self-developed software, and animation accessed through VR headsets and body controllers to impromptu sculpt and script video works delving into the escalating complexity of technological subjugation, digital existence and the mutated memories of cyberspace. Embedded in the aesthetic context of machinima, he creates absurd and eccentric narratives by immersing himself in the metaverse to explore the alternate realities of the post-internet generation, while manipulating virtual spaces to discover its illogical and limitless nature. Li Yi-Fan holds an MFA from the National Taiwan University of Art, Taipei, and a BFA from National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei. His works have been exhibited at recognised institutions in Taiwan including MOCA in Taipei, the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art in Taichung, the Taipei Biennial (2023), the Asian Art Biennial (2021) in Taichung, and the Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts in Taipei. Li Yi-Fan has received several nominations and awards, including Taishin Visual Art Award in 2022, Next Art Tainan in 2017, S-An Cultural Foundation Awards in 2017, and Digital Art Awards Taipei in 2013.

Ruiji Han.

Ruiji Han.

Ruiji Han (b. 1992, Shandong, China) is a London-based artist primarily working with sculpture, installation, and performance. Crafted from raw materials such as steel, concrete and biological remnants, Ruiji raises shrines of brutality that evoke a transcendental nature, detached from the present. Drawing from ancestral belief systems of Shamanism and ritual practices in the northern part of China, they explore spirituality as a means of rediscovering alternative worldviews to challenge anthropocentrism, establish a closer connection to the natural world, and engage with identity, memory, and transformation of self in a disintegrated society. Ruiji Han holds an MFA from the Royal College of Art, London, and a BFA from Central Saint Martins, London. Their works has been exhibited at pal project in Paris, and various venues in London, including Ugly Duck, Artsect Gallery, Crypt Gallery, Bargehouse, and Assembly Point.

Tofu Space is a non-profit gallery for Sinophone contemporary art operated independently by the association Tofu Collective. As a community-building platform, Tofu Collective works to bring new cutting-edge perspectives to the European art scene––while disrupting its West-centric structures––in collaboration with an international network of art institutions and professionals affiliated with the Sinophone regions, diasporas, and communities. Tofu refers to the blank box (☐) appearing as a placeholder when using a Latin-letter font not compatible with Sinitic scripts. Through Tofu Space, we endeavour to bring meaning into this void, bridging the gap that separates East and West.

Opening: February 23, 2024. From 5-11pm.
17.00: The exhibition and the bar opens.
19.15: Sound performance by Ruiji Han – (Where) the sun does not rise (2024).
23.00: Thank you for the evening.

Exhibition period: February 23 - May 10, 2024.