Tishan Hsu | emergence – FLAUNT
5 November 2025
Ironically enough, when contemporary artist Tishan Hsu joins our scheduled Zoom call, we experience some technical difficulties. We are meeting to discuss his latest exhibition, emergence, a mixed-medium meditation on the joining of technology and biological life, inspired by many of the contemporary advancements in medical tracking and healthcare tech—his first in five years in New York City and first ever at the Lisson Gallery. For a couple of minutes, I can only hear his voice, disembodied as a green-highlighted fuzzy gray rectangle. A technical failure unique to our modern world—for it was only a few decades ago that hearing someone’s voice from thousands of miles away was a miracle of modern technology, now a sigh-inducing inconvenience, momentarily forgettable.
Of course, it’s only a few moments until things are back on track. I mention it, though, because this disconnective blip is what Hsu’s work has been wrestling with for the past forty years. “I think there is the influence of where technology is going now, particularly with the emergence of AI. AI has opened up much more radical questions about this interface between the human and the technology, or just our own bodies and our interactions with our technologies in a more political, social way,” he tells me. “All of my work is really just a simple proposal that there is this change going on in the particular span of my own life that is somewhat unprecedented in terms of the quality of the technology that is emerging in our lives.”
Of course, it’s only a few moments until things are back on track. I mention it, though, because this disconnective blip is what Hsu’s work has been wrestling with for the past forty years. “I think there is the influence of where technology is going now, particularly with the emergence of AI. AI has opened up much more radical questions about this interface between the human and the technology, or just our own bodies and our interactions with our technologies in a more political, social way,” he tells me. “All of my work is really just a simple proposal that there is this change going on in the particular span of my own life that is somewhat unprecedented in terms of the quality of the technology that is emerging in our lives.”
Read the full interview with Abby Shewmaker for FLAUNT here.
Image: Tishan Hsu, emergent mesh (2025). © 2025 North First Studio / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NewYork. Courtesy Lisson Gallery
