Esther Schipper presents Forking Paths, a group exhibition bringing together works by 邱建仁 Chiu Chien-Jen, Roberto De Pinto, 許家維 Hsu Chia-Wei, Beatrice Marchi, Valerio Nicolai, Federico Tosi, 蔡依庭 Tsai Yi-Ting and 曾建穎 Tseng Chien-Ying.

A Proposal by Giulia Gelmini and 蕭牧齊 Muchi Shaw.

The exhibition takes its title from Jorge Luis Borges’ 1941 short story The Garden of Forking Paths. In Borges’ text, time does not unfold according to a single linear trajectory but branches into multiple, simultaneous possibilities. The story proposes a universe in which every choice generates new paths rather than replacing previous ones. Forking Paths adopts this image as a point of departure for an exhibition that explores the multiple ways in which images, histories, and identities are constructed and perceived.

This literary premise finds a physical counterpart in the exhibition’s spatial structure. Rather than presenting artworks along a fixed sequence, Forking Paths unfolds as a field of relations shaped by shifting sight-lines. Earth-toned curtains divide and articulate the space, creating porous thresholds that reveal and conceal views while guiding visitors through the gallery space. Drawing in part from both East Asian and Italian garden and spatial traditions, in which winding routes and framed views transform walking into a mode of perception, the exhibition invites viewers to continually reorganize the relationships between works as they move — pausing, turning, and drifting through the space.

Bringing together four artists from Taiwan — Chiu Chien-Jen, Chia-Wei Hsu, Tsai Yi-Ting, and Tseng Chien-Ying — and four artists from Italy — Beatrice Marchi, Valerio Nicolai, Roberto de Pinto, and Federico Tosi — Forking Paths traces unexpected resonances across distinct artistic and social contexts. Born between 1981 and 1996, the eight artists belong to a broadly shared generation shaped by global connectivity, technological transformation, and fluid cultural exchange. Working across painting, drawing, sculpture, video, and installation, they approach images as sites where identity, history, fiction, and experience are continually reconfigured.