Grace Schwindt

Overview

TANK Shanghai is honored to present A Boxer’s Dream, a solo exhibition by Grace Schwindt. The exhibition opens on March 20, 2026, and will remain on view through July 5, 2026.

A Boxer’s Dream explores the relationship between humans and the natural world, proposing a deeply intertwined mode of coexistence. Moving away from anthropocentric perspectives, the exhibition foregrounds mutual vulnerability. Emphasizing the importance of deep listening and direct touch, Schwindt challenges models of understanding that rely on explanation or domination, instead proposing forms of encounter grounded in presence, reciprocity, and care.

Engagement with history through plants and animals has become a central strategy in Grace Schwindt’s practice. Through these living agents, she investigates the inextricable bond between humans and nature—one that is both fundamental and fragile, and urgently in need of protection.

To examine these relationships, Schwindt employs the framework of a boxing match to negotiate notions of proximity, touch, and conflict. A boxing ring forms the sculptural core of the exhibition, positioned at its center. An orchestration of blue, red, and white light creates a dramatic, live-event atmosphere, drawing visitors into an immersive spatial experience. Rather than focusing on the spectacle of combat, Schwindt turns her attention to the moments in between: the preparations, the pauses, the intervals, and the aftermath. In the fleeting instances when boxers come into close contact, gestures of care and tenderness emerge—moments that reveal vulnerability within confrontation.

Plant elements intertwine on different levels and mediums, evoking processes of transformation and underscoring a complex relationship with nature in which flowers and plants become active protagonists. The exhibition further draws inspiration from the birds of Shanghai and its wider surroundings, whether migratory or permanent residents. Their sounds will be woven into musical compositions performed in the newly created films and live during the opening, extending the exhibition’s exploration of listening, coexistence, and shared environments.