Dates
Jun 19 – Jul 26, 2026
Nunu Fine Art New York is pleased to present Tactile Synchronicity: The End of Linear Time, the first solo exhibition of Taiwanese artist Ya-Ting Kao (b. 1981) in New York, as the next installment of the Project Space: Asian Voices program. In a series of new textile works, the artist disrupts the irreversible progression of linear time to propose a world where multiple states of being exist simultaneously. The exhibition contemplates the Buddhist visual tradition of the nine stages of decay, which describes states of impermanence and transformation. Each stage refers to a different state of decomposition, from the cessation of life to swelling and putrefaction and ultimately to bone and dust, illustrating the process through which life moves from existence to dispersal. Kao reinterprets this concept, transforming the nine stages from a linear sequence pointing toward dissolution into a symbolic framework in which multiple states of life and death coexist simultaneously. In doing so, she reframes these stages not as a chronological progression, but as a meditation on temporality. This selection of textile works envision existence beyond the physical form, constructing a space where our earthly remainstransform into celestial bodies. In The Sun, The Moon and The Stars(2023), Kao embellishesthe embroidered surface with shimmering nodes of intricate beadwork. The “stages,” no longersymbols of decay, are instead transformed into stellar trajectories of becoming. In the Name of the Mother (2024) expands the horizon of becoming to encompass and revere the maternal body asthe origin of life. Layers of accumulated satin, tweed, and cotton present the dissolution of the flesh not as an end but rather as a gentle process of “returning to the mother,” where the fear of death gradually dissolves and is replaced by a sense of care, containment, and regeneration. In stark contrast to the accelerated pace of contemporary society, Kao employs meticulous handcrafted techniques to weave what might be understood as a “slow force,” guiding viewers away from the anxiety produced by linear time. Through this dual transformation of perception and temporality, we are no longer compelled to wonder what comes next but are instead invited to experience ourselves as many simultaneous moments in a space where past, present, and future collapse. Ya-Ting Kao works across painting, installation, and textile to examine the connection between motherhood and cycles of birth, death, and decay. Kao received her MFA in painting from Taipei National University of the Arts in 2021. She was shortlisted for the CTBC Painting Prize in 2023 and has twice been nominated for the Tai-Hsin Art Award. She was selected for the Asian Artist Scholarship at the Vermont Studio Center in 2012 and for the MIT project at Art Taipei in 2011. Kao has been featured in solo exhibitions at Fotoaura Institute of Photography, Tainan, Taiwan; Absolute Space for the Arts, Tainan, Taiwan; and Nunu Fine Art. She has been included in group exhibitions at New Taipei City Art Museum, Taipei, Taiwan; Chiayi Art Museum, Chiayi, Taiwan; Hong gah Museum, Taipei, Taiwan; MOCA, Taipei, Taiwan; Culture Station Seoul, Seoul, Korea; and Gwangju Museum of Art, Gwangju, Korea, among others. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Taoyuan Museum of Fine Art, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, and Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Fine Arts.