Few writers have captured the scatty intersection between reality and imagination better than Edgar Allan Poe with The Tell-Tale Heart. Written in 1843, the short story is a first person account of events in which the narrator’s state of mind leads to a contradictory bread trail, unravelling as a wickedly warped sense of reality.

The story was the inspiration for an unprecedented joint project between Pilar Corrias Gallery in London and Leo Xu Projects in Shanghai, a group exhibition featuring artists and works that bring into question our world – and the way we read and interpret it. From data and algorithms to video installations and film collage, the artists on show with an innovative approach to media and real life situations.

Take Ian Cheng’s use of gaming technology, examining the relation between consciousness and intelligence, or Shanghai artost aaajiao’s video installation Meta, in which a wood-mounted video adopts the form of computer representation from 1970s sci-fi pictures to convey an abstract animation of the processing of data.

Here, Leo Xu and Pilar Corrias reflect on the project, the meeting of East and West over a subject that continues to transcend time, place, and space.

Tempe Nakiska: Can you remember when you first encountered Edgar Allan Poe’s short story?
Leo Xu: I came across Allan Poe’s novel when I was writing my poems inspired by Lou Reed’s 2003 album The Raven which was also developed from Poe’s work. I had a moment delving deep into Poe’s oeuvre and had this feeling that the simplicity and wicked glamour in storytelling from The Tell-Tale Heart would lead to explore the storytelling in where beauty of form and abstraction was becoming predominant.

TN: Is there something about Poe’s work more generally that sparked your interest?
Pilar Corrias: I am quite taken with Poe’s books and poetry and his treatment of mystery and emotional suspense. He is an enigmatic figure of the American Romantic movement and had a very unusual life of his own. Leo told me about his fascination with Poe’s novel The Tell-Tale Heart and it seemed to resonate very well with themes we were exploring for the show.

TN: It’s quite a mammoth endeavour, joining East and West forces like this and featuring such a boundary-pushing set of artists. Had the idea been brewing for a while?
LX: The project takes conversations as its point of departure. A conversation between my gallery and Pilar Corrias Gallery whose program I have admired for its diversity and strong engagement with a young generation of artists working across various media. It is also a conversation between East and West and yet staged in Hong Kong, very much relevant to what Art Basel Hong Kong would mean to the communities.

PC: I have been following Leo Xu Projects program for some time and always admired Leo’s energy. He is not only a gallerist but also a curator and a writer. Our idea to collaborate started from a series of conversations when I was visiting China. We have common interests and concerns in regards to what it means to work with contemporary art now and wanted to explore themes that concern artists that Leo and I work with.

TN: What was involved in the selection process, in terms of the artists you decided to feature?
PC: It was a very organic process, looking through our programs and bouncing ideas for potential themes of the show while juggling our busy work schedules, frequent travels, time difference etc. We were particularly interested in the artists’ use of new media and its relation to ‘the human dimension’ as well the power of mind in interpretation and construal of life.

TN: I wanted also to ask about the artists’ use of a real mix of digital and analogue means to communicate their ideas. In some ways it reflects the timeless nature of the idea in question, was that part of the idea?
LX: It was very much about presenting the richness and diverse possibilities in harness a variety of media employed by artists and professionals from other fields and disciplines, some of which have been taken for granted, and some becoming obsolete.

TN: And on the technology side of it… it’s quite topical.
PC: Technology and its effect on people is a very modern problem affecting an entire generation, as much in the West as in the East, so it is very logical that many contemporary artists address the issue.

It was interesting to draw parallels with expression of emotional content through new media and a more traditional media of drawing, as well as performance. For instance Ian Cheng uses gaming technology to explore interactions of complex behavioral patterns and the development of human consciousness. Aaajiao is looking at abstract patters of computers from 1970s processing data, while Koo Jeong A is concerned with the daily acts of looking, listening, or walking revealed through the physical tracing of an experience in time. While Rirkrit Tiravanija’s performance transformed the exhibition into a convivial space where people gather at lunch to share dim-sums, which is a Chinese practice that is something of a social cement for families and friends.

TN: Literary and visual artists alike have long been magnetised to the idea of this exhibition. What is it that draws both to the mystery that is the mind at work?
LX: Poe’s work has been studies from various disciplines and been revisited and become subjects of many shows and music pieces. The power of mind and the first person narrative, and the analog form of writing a novel can be perfect match with the new media, new conceptual approach from our time, unfolding a rich landscape of expressions.

PC: I am constantly thinking of how much the mind affects our relationship with reality and relationships in general. Our state of mind ultimately determines the entire way in which we lead our life and perceive ourselves. I am fascinated with neuroscience as well as the subconscious, which constitutes, as you know, an important dimension of a creative practice.

‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ is now showing at Chi Art Space, 8/F, New World Tower 2, 18 Queen’s Road, Central, Hong Kong