When Millie Chen debuted her two-channel sonic-video installation Demon Girl Duet in Toronto in 2007, she agreed to use the image of the swimmer in the GOOD Edition program to promote her exhibition. It was an astounding piece of video work projected by two projectors on opposite walls interweaving two river journeys of mythic proportions: one down China’s Yangtze River, and the other up the Niagara in a 35-mile stretch of the United States-Canadian border.Two very different stories, two entirely different journeys - yet both charting the mythologizing of ancient and recent history. Two - which can stand for yin and yan, male and female, is such a strong and subconscious number. I can find a number of duo images within the GOOD Editions. The gorgeous goat pair and doe pair in Wong Hung-fei's Mammal series; Oxana Goutnik's two girls and the the Swings by Olya Vysotskaya; Shozo Ushiroguchi's Power Plants and Roger Guaus's drunken couple hugging. There is also Holly Lee's subtly manipulated image Santagevity (Santa Claus and Longevity), or Crystal, the beautifully paired diptych by Patrick Lee.
Millie Chen's mesmerizing Demon Girl Duet will be shown in the Canada Pavillion in World Expo 2010 in Shanghai China. The Expo runs from May 1 to October 31 with an expected audience of 70 millions.
