Li Ming: Swayy Wayy

Antenna Space is delighted to announce _Swayy Wayy_, a solo exhibition by artist Li Ming, marking a significant presentation at Antenna Space Hong Kong in Wong Chuk Hang. The exhibition will run from June 6 through August 8, 2026. – **Press Release** “Swayy wayy,” the echo of a conversation. Now, it’s a dart of sound — the arrow that obeys the whistle of Yondu, Star-Lord’s adoptive father in Guardians of the Galaxy. Last year, I met a Daoist priest. Not the kind with a long white beard, a horsetail whisk, or talismanic charms. He wore a polo shirt, had a clean buzz cut, stylish black-rimmed glasses, and spoke calmly. He re-rendered the illusions I had projected onto the identity of a Daoist priest, while also shattering my stereotypes about the role. I can no longer remember how the conversation started. I only recall that at some point, feeling inspired, I mentioned the idea of shooting a piece called ChatGTP. I said: I wanted to place clay on top of a large spinning top, whip it so it would spin fast and steadily, then, within that brief moment of rotation, find the right “hunting” opportunity —to grab the clay from the top and instantly mold it into a sculpture. (As a side note: in actual shooting, the real physics was nothing like what I had imagined. Not a single attempt succeeded. Even getting a 40-pound stainless steel top to start spinning required a fair amount of imagination.) After hearing this, the Daoist priest said: “Every time you whip the top, it loses one of its lives. Did you know that?” That sentence was like a small pebble dropped onto still water, sending out slow ripples. To be precise, it took a year before I realized the ripples were coming toward me. He wasn’t talking about the lifespan of the top — but about its branching time and forking paths. His words can be translated into one word: refresh. Swayy wayy, one whip, one ripple — “Hä nsel Passing Through”. Refresh the Fèng (Chapter 4 of Inspired by Transliteration) — in the slit scan, the circumferentially spinning top becomes a horizontally unfolding wave. The failed grabs, the moments caught too early or too late, are stretched into a row of temporal scales. Call them tokens. 202, Building 17, No.50 Moganshan Rd., Shanghai T +86 21 6256 0187 19/F Leader Centre, 37 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong T +852 2115 1108 antenna-space.com media@antenna-space.com Refresh “expired film” (#HänselPassingThrough#cookie), “expired footage” (Four Readings of a Structure) — cycling from the state of completion back to the state of process. Refresh the runway of converging perspective lines; the pacing of deviant steps, Refresh the fragmented nursery rhymes of street rap, the deformed movements, Refresh the two black kites above Xiangye Road and the white geckos on the tropical island, Refresh the latent space, so that the new angels may fly from the silver-shadow space to elsewhere… The echo of a conversation. The dart of sound. Don’t forget Yondu’s whistle. Refresh “Sway,” the tail of the former word sticking to the latter. Text by Li Ming – [Download PDF](http://files.antenna-space.com/2026/05/Press-Release_Li-Ming_Swayy-Wayy.pdf)