Difficult Knowledge
6 nov 2024 - 27 apr 2025
Australian Artist Kate Baker’s Solo Exhibition Difficult Knowledge premieres at the Shanghai Museum of Glass
Difficult Knowledge marks Baker’s first solo presentation in China, featuring the global premieres of three large-scale immersive installations showcased across the museum’s expansive 750m² Contemporary Exhibition Hall. Through these works, Baker explores the emotional conflicts and latent strengths within individuals and collectives when confronting complex, uncontrollable realities, inviting visitors to reflect on forces beyond mere understanding.
Baker’s installations blend video, sound, and glass, crossing traditional media boundaries to create an immersive environment that probes the core of “difficult knowledge.” The exhibition’s Chinese title “幽知” (Uneasy Knowledge) symbolizes hidden, hard-to-accept understandings, while “曲径” (Winding Way) guides visitors as they weave through the exhibition, experiencing the “winding path” as both a physical and conceptual journey into layered recognition. In this multi-sensory experience, the visitor is more than just an observer; they become a participant, immersed in Baker’s powerful reflections on the complexities of contemporary society.
Portraits of Anxiety 2024
4 x channel digital video, sound and glass installation
1800 (w) x 1800 (h) x 800 (d) mm (each portrait) x 4
Kate Baker Portraits of Anxiety, Installation view, Shanghai Museum of Glass, 2024.
Kate Baker - Portriatis of Anxiety, Install views various 2024
In Portraits of Anxiety, Baker places four performers within the four fundamental elements: wind, earth, fire, and water. The performers’ emotions gradually transition from calm towards peak anxiety and then return, symbolically enacting the natural cycle of anxiety and exploring its multiple layers as gestural expression. These elements not only constitute nature but also represent the fundamental aspects of existence that shape the world we rely on, suggesting an inseparable relationship between human emotions and the living environment.
Through the interplay of video and layers of reflective sheet glass an atmosphere is created, revealing the omnipresence of anxiety—showing how we seem perpetually caught in its whirlpool, reflecting not just personal perceptions but also a deep-rooted emotional fluctuation embedded in the collective consciousness of humanity. Baker reminds the audience that anxiety is a shared state of existence that transcends individual experience, harboring profound reflections on humanity’s relationship with itself and the environment.
Homage to Bausch 2024
3 x channel digital video, sound and glass installation
3500 (h) x 1800 (w) x 1800 (d) mm (each column) x 3
Homage to Bausch 2024 Installation View, Shanghai Museum of Glass
The artwork Homage to Bausch draws inspiration from the classic piece Bluebeard by the renowned German dancer Pina Bausch. Through the physical interactions of two performers—a mature woman and a mature man—it deeply explores the complex situations women face in emotional relationships. The artist employs props like ladders and ropes as symbols, representing the delicate balance women navigate between power and dependency, struggle and compromise.
The piece utilizes large-scale Pate-de Verre pieceswhose curved form serves both as armor protecting vulnerable emotions and as a barrier isolating them from external disturbances. This design not only enhances the visual impact but also becomes an important metaphor. The artwork focuses on the subtle positions of women within emotional relationships, using the flow of emotions and body language to present the hidden struggles and inequalities of female strength in intimate connections.
little fish 2024
Kiln Cast Glass, Video, Sound
600 x 180 x 73 cm
The artwork Little Fish features a collection of glass castings of various body parts as its visual focal point, resembling remnants of ancient Roman and Greek sculptures, symbolizing the sedimentation of history and the continuity of cultural heritage. Beneath these castings, a 15-minute video projection captures children swimming in a pool, depicting the scene as it transitions from emptiness to a bustling crowd, then gradually dispersing after playful moments.
Little Fish profoundly focuses on the fate of children amidst the intertwining of contemporary social environments and historical heritage. Through symbolic cinematography, it illustrates their nuanced circumstances in relation to adult expectations, traditional burdens, and future challenges. The laughter and freedom of the children in the video reflect a yearning for and exploration of the adult world, while also hinting at their anxieties and hopes for the future. The artist encourages viewers to contemplate how, against the grand backdrop of history, children navigate their identities and positions amidst adult expectations and societal pressures, presenting a profound reflection on the possibilities of the future.
