Ponder Slowly Swallow Slowly is a visual-arts group exhibition in the R.A.W.! segment of the 25th China Shanghai International Arts Festival. Its Chinese title begins with the familiar phrase meaning “chew slowly and savor carefully,” but replaces the character for “chew” with the homophone meaning “perceive.” The act of eating thus becomes a reflective practice concerned with perception, culture, and social relationships. Bringing together multimedia works by a number of young artists, the exhibition uses the human mouth and digestive system as its spatial model. “Teeth,” “palate”, and “throat” are translated into a route through which visitors move like a morsel of food, rediscovering everyday experience through looking, interacting, and lingering. In response to the accelerating pace of life, the exhibition adopts “slowness” as a curatorial method. Beginning with food and the body, it uncovers the hidden connections linking people with themselves, with others, and with the world.
