Empty Gallery is pleased to present Tailwhip, a historical overview of the activities of Cantonese artist, noise musician, organizer, and raconteur, Xper.Xr. Comprising performance documentation, archival photographs, scores, props, and other ephemera, Tailwhip attempts to pull back the curtain on this obscure yet vital presence within the counter-cultural history of our city. Always cognizant of his déclassé position, Xper.Xr forged a highly personal form of anti-art through his mingling of pop-cultural detritus, dadaist spectacle, and self-lacerating humor.
Taking a roughly chronological approach to Xper’s practice, the show begins with his early years of activity in Hong Kong, winding through time spent in London and Paris – where he flirted with art world professionalism at Goldsmiths, wreaked havoc at Comme des Garçons, and courted the experimental music world – before returning, in pendular fashion, to where things started.