La Centrale galerie Powerhouse is proud to present Mona young-eun Kim's Instagram residency Je m'appelle Nihao, which will take place on La Centrale's Instagram account from May 8th to 14th, 2023.

The project Je m'appelle Nihao is an open platform to share the experiences of the Asian diaspora. Through her project, the artist Mona young-eun Kim addresses issues around anti-Asian racism including, stereotypes of Asian peoples, especially in Europe, exoticism and other forms of  discrimination. Kim proposes a critical reflection on the impact of this discrimination by creating a set of augmented reality face filters, made available for download and use on La Centrale’s Instagram account. 

The filters are superimposed randomly to the user's face. While each filter represents a different Asian “face”, each one is labeled and generalized as “Oriental”. The user can then move their hand and form a big red “X” to reject the label. In an effort to raise awareness of the harmful consequences of stereotyping, Kim offers different strategies to encourage the public to interact with the filters and share their stories. 

During her Instagram performance residency, Mona young-eun Kim will also use the filters on historical artworks and monuments of her location, Paris. By using augmented reality filters, the artist intends to create satirical images of the most famous works of Western art history. The project is designed to raise public awareness on the issue of anti-Asian racism and draw attention to this persistent problem. Through her project Je m'appelle Nihao, Kim attempts to create a platform to amplify the voices of people from the Asian diaspora by creating a space for sharing and discussion.

To learn more about the subject, artist Mona young-eun Kim invites the public to listen to the podcast series Asian Echo, a platform that talks about the realities of the Asian diaspora. This platform was created by the artist during her residency at La Centrale in collaboration with the Atelier des Artistes en Exil in Paris.

To listen to the full series, here is links to the Asian Echo podcast series: 

Youtube - Spotify - Apple podcast - Amazon music - Google Podcast

Born in South Korea, Mona young-eun Kim, is a visual artist living in France. Straddling between representation of the conscious and the subconscious, Mona's practice is dystopian, satirical and surrealist. She often uses virtual reality and augmented reality to realistically reproduce the surrounding space. Her participatory pieces address the notion of social connectivity, offering the audience the freedom to reinterpret and appropriate them. Her works have been exhibited in India, Italy, Turkey, Luxembourg, the UK, South Korea and France. She participated in international residencies Saison 6, le 104 Paris, Cité Internationale des Arts and Artagon Maison.