Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is an ink print by Hong Hao. It dates from 2000 and is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
About this work
Overview
Created in 2000, this screenprint by Hong Hao is part of The Museum of Modern Art’s collection. It presents a pair of open book pages, each bearing a detailed map. The left page depicts Europe, parts of Asia, and Africa; the right, North America and portions of Asia. The imagery is rendered in muted tones, with textured edges suggesting aged paper, evoking the weight of historical cartography.
Subject & Meaning
A small sticker placed in the Pacific Ocean disrupts the map’s authority, suggesting intervention or uncertainty in global narratives.
The work juxtaposes two global perspectives, one centered on the Old World and the other on the New. Labels appear in both Chinese and English, signaling a dialogue between cultural viewpoints. The phrase 'New World No.1' on the right page introduces irony, questioning notions of dominance. A small sticker placed in the Pacific Ocean disrupts the map’s authority, suggesting intervention or uncertainty in global narratives.
Technique & Style
Hong Hao employed screenprinting to achieve precise, layered imagery with subtle texture. The maps are densely populated with miniature details—cities, shipping lanes, and political boundaries—rendered in fine lines. The paper’s worn appearance is simulated through ink variation and edge treatments, mimicking the patina of historical documents. The inclusion of bilingual text reinforces the work’s thematic tension between translation and interpretation.
History & Provenance
The print was produced in 2000 and entered The Museum of Modern Art’s collection shortly thereafter. It belongs to a broader series by Hong Hao exploring the politics of representation through altered cartography. While specific prior ownership details are not publicly documented, its acquisition by MoMA reflects institutional recognition of its conceptual engagement with global power structures and visual culture.
Context
Emerging in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Hong Hao’s work responded to China’s rapid integration into global systems and the reconfiguration of historical narratives. This piece engages with the legacy of Western cartographic dominance while incorporating Chinese linguistic and cultural markers. The use of books as载体 (vessels) for maps reflects broader concerns about knowledge, control, and the materiality of information in a globalized age.
Legacy
Untitled contributes to a growing body of contemporary Chinese art that interrogates geography as a constructed, rather than neutral, domain. Its quiet disruption of map conventions—through labeling, placement, and material simulation—has influenced subsequent artists examining borders, identity, and colonial legacies. The work remains a reference point in discussions about visual sovereignty and the ethics of representation in global art.
Artist & collection
