‘material : brick ~ material : body’ is a newly commissioned site-specific installation and iterative performance artwork using heritage building materials salvaged from 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art’s recent demolition and renovation work.

Guided through intuition, this work is underscored by an innate intrasensory feeling. WeiZen Ho reconfigures these historical objects, initiating them as collaborators in her improvisational performances throughout the duration of the exhibition. Each Saturday afternoon, a brick is chosen and carefully wrapped in kim-chóa (a type of joss paper), transforming them into objects of attention and potential devotion.

After the exhibition, the resulting devotions will be taken to Ho’s home on Dharug lands🌿, where one final act will be completed in a firepit, in a landscape of trees, wind and personal caretaking. This ritual offering returns her material to the elemental cycle, both an ending and a rebirth.