Figured It Out（想明白了）
Community Exhibition · Reflection to Action · Grassroots Cultural PracticeProject Type
Community-Based Exhibition / Public Programme & Collective ReflectionTime & Location
2022Chaozhou, Guangdong, China
Organiser
Escape Art Club (EAC)Role
Project Initiator · Curator · Programme CoordinatorCai Boxuan (Boosen Tsai)
Background
Figured It Out emerged as a direct response to Unanswered. After a period of collective uncertainty during the pandemic, the project marked a shift toward articulation, decision-making, and reorientation. “Figuring it out” did not imply certainty or final answers, but rather the courage to take a position—even if that position remained provisional.
The project asked a simple but decisive question:
What happens after we acknowledge uncertainty?
Description
Conceived as a community exhibition and public gathering, Figured It Out invited participants to respond to moments of clarity—small or large—that emerged after confusion. Works and sharings spanned visual art, writing, objects, and spoken reflection, foregrounding lived experience over conceptual completeness.
Unlike its predecessor, which centred on suspension and ambiguity, this project emphasised movement: choices made, directions taken, and responsibilities assumed. The exhibition space functioned as a platform for sharing processes of realisation, allowing participants to articulate how understanding is formed through action rather than contemplation alone.
By presenting clarity as situational and evolving, the project resisted triumphal narratives. Instead, it framed “figuring it out” as an ongoing practice—one rooted in dialogue, trial, and collective support.
Outcomes
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Follow-up community exhibition building on the conceptual foundation of Unanswered
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Encouraged participants to articulate positions and intentions through creative practice
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Strengthened continuity within Escape Art Club’s early project sequence
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Fostered a sense of agency and shared direction among participants
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Contributed to the emergence of a sustained grassroots cultural community
Significance
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Marked a conceptual transition from reflection to action
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Demonstrated how community-based art can support collective decision-making
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Established a narrative arc linking early Escape Art Club projects
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Reinforced art as a method for thinking-through-doing
Keywords
Community Exhibition · Collective Reflection · Agency · Grassroots Practice · Youth Culture · Process-Based Art · Public Dialogue