Archive for the ‘Medium’ Category
Posted by artradar on October 20, 2010
USA MUSEUM SHOWS CHINESE PHOTOGRAPHY
AW Asia, a private organisation that promotes the field of Chinese contemporary art through institutional loan and museum acquisitions, curatorial projects, publishing, and educational programs, has released a press release announcing that three major US institutions – The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, and the J. Paul Getty Museum – will include works by Chinese contemporary photographers in major group exhibitions.
Exhibiting artists include: Weng Fen (exhibiting at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York), Ai Weiwei and Zhang Dali (both exhibiting at The Museum of Modern Art in New York), Hai Bo, Liu Zheng, Song Yongping, RongRong, Wang Qingsong, Huang Yan, Qiu Zhijie, and Zhang Huan (all exhibiting at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles).
For more details on each exhibition, read the press release below:
For Immediate Release
June 15, 2010
MAJOR U.S. MUSEUMS EXHIBIT
CHINESE CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY
THIS SUMMER SEASON& BEYOND
Contemporary Chinese photography is becoming increasingly prominent in the field of international contemporary art. In the coming months, three major US institutions – The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, and the J. Paul Getty Museum – will include works by Chinese contemporary photographers in major group exhibitions.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York recently acquired a collection of photographic works by Chinese artists from an anonymous donor. Contemporary Chinese artists whose photography is now represented in the Met’s permanent collection include Hai Bo, Sheng Qi, Song Dong, Zhang Huan, Hong Hao, Wang Qingsong, Xing Danwen, and Weng Fen. The upcoming group exhibition, Between Here and There: Passages in Contemporary Photography (July 2, 2010 – February 13, 2011), explores themes of dislocation and displacement in our progressively global society, and will feature work by Chinese artist Weng Fen. The exhibition will also feature works by international artists Dennis Oppenheim, Robert Smithson, Jeff Wall, and Thomas Struth, among others.
At The Museum of Modern Art in New York, The Original Copy: Photography of Sculpture, 1839 to Today (August 1 – November 1, 2010) will feature photography by Chinese artists Ai Weiwei and Zhang Dali. This show examines the intersection between photography and sculpture, investigating how one medium informs the analysis and creative redefinition of the other. Bringing together over three hundred photographs, magazines, and journals by one hundred artists, the exhibition showcases work by both sculptors and photographers, including Auguste Rodin, Constantin Brancusi, Man Ray, David Smith, Bruce Nauman, Barbara Kruger, Hannah Wilke, and Robert Smithson. Photographic works by Ai Weiwei and Zhang Dali entered MoMA’s permanent collection in July 2008; this is the first show in which these works will be displayed at the museum in a group-exhibition context.
Later this year the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles will present Photography from New China (December 7, 2010 – April 3, 2011). Offering a contrast to the nineteenth-century views of China and other parts of East Asia by Felice Beato concurrently on view in the Getty Center for Photographs, this exhibition offers a cross-section of Chinese photographs produced since People’s Republic leader Deng Xiaoping ushered in a new era of opening and reform in the late 1970s. Highlighting the Getty’s recent acquisition of photographs by Hai Bo, Liu Zheng, Song Yongping, Rong Rong, and Wang Qingsong, Photography from New China showcases several approaches that are characteristic of recent Chinese contemporary art, including performance for the camera, the incorporation of family photographs, and an emphasis on the body. Supplemented by loans of work by Huang Yan, Qiu Zhijie, and Zhang Huan, the exhibition explores such themes as pre-revolutionary Chinese literati, vestiges of the Cultural Revolution, and newly rampant consumerism.
KN
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Posted in Chinese, Photography, USA | Tagged: Ai Weiwei, art press release, Auguste Rodin, AW Asia, Barbara Kruger, Between Here and There: Passages in Contemporary Photography, Bruce Nauman, Chinese art, Chinese artists, Chinese contemporary art, Chinese contemporary photographers, Chinese contemporary photography, Chinese literati, Constantin Brancusi, consumerism, Cultural Revolution, David Smith, Deng Xiaoping, Dennis Oppenheim, group exhibitions, Hai Bo, Hannah Wilke, Huang Yan, J. Paul Getty Museum, Jeff Wall, Liu Zheng, Man Ray, photography, Photography from New China, press release, Qiu Zhijie, Robert Smithson, RongRong, sculpture, Song Yongping, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, The Original Copy: Photography of Sculpture 1839 to Today, Thomas Struth, USA venues, Wang Qingsong, Weng Fen, Zhang Dali, Zhang Huan | 1 Comment »
Posted by artradar on October 19, 2010
AI WEIWEI CHINESE ART TATE MODERN UNILEVER SERIES INSTALLATION SCULPTURE
Ai Weiwei – artist, architectural designer, curator and social commentator – unveils his work for the prestigious Unilever Series for Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall – Britain’s largest contemporary art commission. It features the first living artist from the Asia-Pacific region to be commissioned for this series. Guest poster Pippa Dennis provides an in-depth look into the production and exhibition of this breakthrough installation.
Sunflower Seeds by Ai Weiwei is a sensory and immersive installation which sees the vast 1000 square meters of the Turbine Hall covered with over a hundred million porcelain replicas of sunflower seeds, ten centimetres deep and weighing in at 150 metric tons. Each seed is individually made, intricately handcrafted by over 1600 expert artisans brought together specifically for this project in the city of Jingdezhen, home to porcelain manufacturers since the days of Imperial China.
Each ceramic seed goes through a process of twenty to thirty steps in its production, they are molded, fired and ultimately hand painted. The artist jokes that he made a few himself, but his contribution was hastily rejected by the artisans in charge, such was the level of craftsmanship involved.
Ai Weiwei. Image courtesy of Tate Modern.
“Ai Weiwei has created a truly unique experience for visitors to this year’s Unilever Series. The sense of scale and quality of craftsmanship achieved in each perfectly formed sunflower seed is astonishing. In trying to comprehend their sheer quantity, Ai provokes a multitude of ideas, from the way we perceived number and value, to the way we engage with society at large.” Sheena Wagstaff, Chief Curator, Tate Modern
Initially, the audience was invited to touch, walk on and listen to the seeds shifting beneath their feet. Image courtesy of Pippa Dennis.
The effect is a highly simplistic and subtle creation, yet complex and powerful in its depth and potential for interpretation. The sunflower itself is a profoundly symbolic object for Chinese people. A common street snack shared by friends and enjoyed by everyone, but requiring a certain skill in breaking the husk and releasing the seed in a singular movement of the teeth and tongue. For the artist it has more personal significance as he remembers it as a staple during the Mao years when material goods were virtually non-existent and food was in short supply. At this time he remembers the sharing of them as a gesture of human kindness and generosity in a period of extreme poverty and uncertainty. It was also a symbol adopted by the Communists. Propaganda pictures from this era depict Mao as the sun, and the mass of people as sunflowers turning towards him.
Ai has used the sunflower seed repeatedly in his work since his period in New York, such as Hanging Man (1983), and here this simple motif works to examine the concepts of mass production and traditional craftsmanship, an important aspect of Ai Weiwei’s work. The phenomena of “Made in China” and the association that accompanies it – repetition, copying and mass production – are all themes deeply rooted in Chinese tradition whilst recently they have taken on a new significance in the current geopolitics of cultural and economic exchange.
Ai Weiwei believes the role of the artist is not only about raising issues but transforming them. Here the seeds also raise questions about ourselves and society, what does it mean to be an individual in China, an individual in this world? Individualism in China was heavily criticized during the Mao years but now with its radical economic and urban transformation China’s attitude is starting to shift, particularly amongst the younger generations. Ai has commented “From a very young age, I started to sense that an individual has to set an example in society. Your own acts and behaviour tell the world who you are and at the same time what kind of society you think it should be”.
Each seed is individually made, intricately handcrafted by over 1600 expert artisans brought together specifically for this project ... and goes through a process of twenty to thirty steps in its production, they are molded, fired and ultimately hand painted. Image courtesy of Londonist.com.
Ai Weiwei’s work has always had an element of political and social commentary and he has not only become an important contemporary artist on the international stage but also a leader of social thought in China and the world. He comments, “My art may be political but I never intended to create political art”. However in recent years these themes, particularly for public commissions, have become increasingly prominent and in interviews and on his blog he openly criticises the Chinese government, calling for freedom of press and speaking up for human rights. He has always said his life is ready-made, “I’m my own ready-made”, acknowledging his most significant influence, Marcel Duchamp.
Life for the artist is art, politics and exchange. The act of individuals voicing their opinions and communicating with one another is of great importance to him and his practice. In Remembering (2009), he harnessed the powers of the Internet to recruit two hundred local and regional participants in the research and archiving of the names of the children who lost their lives in the Sichuan earthquake. This project resulted in five thousand names being collated and recorded and is considered the first civil rights activity in China.
In Sunflower Seeds, he harnesses the powers of social media to take his “social sculpture” to another level. Combining online and video technologies, this commission has enabled the artist to engage in a global dialogue about the work. Below the Turbine Hall, Ai Weiwei has installed a series of video booths to record questions and comments to the artist, whilst outside the Turbine Hall the audience can connect with the artist via Twitter. One to One with the Artist also marks a milestone in the Tate’s use of new media technology and the Internet, transforming the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern into a hub of global conversation.
Marc Sands, director of audiences and media at the Tate said,
“In recent years, Tate Media has found a variety of new ways for visitors to engage with the Unilever Series commissions, from iPhone apps to interactive websites. Ai Weiwei’s own passion for new communication technologies has made it possible for us to develop something really special this year, which we hope people around the world will enjoy”.
'Sunflower Seeds' (2010). Image courtesy of Tate Modern.
Originally, the audience was invited to touch, walk on and listen to the seeds shifting beneath their feet. However, after a very enthusiastic response from visitors, staff noticed a fine dust rising off of the seeds, and after it was confirmed that the dust “could be damaging to health following repeated inhalation over a long period of time”, the Tate was forced to cordon the sculpture off. Visitors are still invited to view the installation “from a walkway above the hall.”
The immediate critical response has been extremely positive. The Guardian’s Adrian Searle comments, “I love it. It is a world in a hundred million objects. It is also a singular statement, in a familiar, minimal form – like Wolfgang Laib’s floor-bound rectangles of yellow pollen, Richard Long’s stones or Antony Gormley’s fields of thousands of little humanoids. Sunflower Seeds, however, is better. It is audacious, subtle, unexpected but inevitable. It is a work of great simplicity and complexity. Sunflower Seeds refers to everyday life, to hunger (the seeds were a reliable staple during the Cultural Revolution), to collective work, and to an enduring Chinese industry.”
The Telegraph’s Richard Dorment observes, “For the 11th commission in the Unilever Series, Tate Modern has offered the poisoned chalice to the Chinese artist and political activist Ai Weiwei – and he’s come up with a masterpiece.”
With the seeming success of this event and Tate Modern’s curatorial commitment to show art from new territories, we can look forward to more opportunities to see art from the Asia-Pacific region in such significant spaces as London’s premier contemporary art museum.
About Pippa Dennis
Pippa Dennis is a Chinese art specialist based in London. She has an MA in Art History and spent ten years making documentaries for the BBC before living in Shanghai and working at Eastlink Gallery. She subsequently set up Asia Art Forum, an educational platform to promote the understanding of Asian contemporary art.
HH/KN
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Posted in Ai Weiwei, Ceramics, Chinese, Installation, London, Pippa Dennis, Sculpture | Tagged: Adrian Serle, Ai Weiwei, Asia Pacific, Chinese art, Chinese contemporary art, contemporary art, Hanging Man, Jingdezhen, Made in China, Mao, Marc Sands, Marcel Duchamp, mass production, One to One, One to One with the Artist, Pippa Dennis, porcelain, Remembering, Richard Dorment, sculpture, Sheena Wagstaff, Sunflower Seeds, Tate Media, Tate Modern, traditional craftmanship, Turbine Hall, Unilever series, video booths | Leave a Comment »
Posted by artradar on October 19, 2010
INDIA FESTIVALS NEW MEDIA ART
Artists, critics, historians and art lovers gathered at the First National Art Week of New Media in late September this year at the Government Museum and Art Gallery in Chandigarh, India, through the collaboration between the National Lalit Kala Akademi and Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi. The six-day panorama is a showcase of contemporary artists exploring new mediums and possibilities when it comes to visual art. According to the Akademi’s chairperson Diwan Manna, “Art lovers will be amazed at the myriad possibilities in art.”
The first four days featured lectures and slide shows by some of India’s best known contemporary artists. For the first day Bharti Kher whose work encompasses sculpture, paintings and installations, delivered her talk. Her featured works tackled the topic of “traditional vis-à-vis modern” while at the same time explored the issues of feminism, class, identity and race.
Bharti Kher, 'Solarium Series I', 2007-2010, fiber glass and metal. Image taken from artnet.com.
Day two presented Sudarshan Shetty and his innovative and uncanny installations that re-establish his reputation as an acclaimed conceptual artist.
Sudarshan Shetty, 'Untitled' (from the Stab-series), 2009, wood and scissors. Image taken from artnet.com.
The third day was for Raqs Media Collective, a group of three media practitioners – Jeebesh Bagchi, Monica Narula and Shuddhabrata Sengupta. In addition to their degrees in Mass Communication, the trio has extensive experience when it comes to curating exhibitions and planning events, as well as working with various writers, architects and directors that have greatly contributed to the contemporary art of India.
Jiten Thukral and Sumir Tagra’s collaborative work in several diverse media such as painting, sculpture, video and fashion have also been well-received.
On the fifth day, Dr. Alka Pande, curator, professor and author on Indology and art history delivered her lecture. The sixth and final day featured a panel discussion with professors Dr. Alka Pande and Dr. Awadhesh Misra, journalist Rahul Bhattacharya, writer and art critic Dr. Rajesh Kumar Vyas, and artists Sheba Chhachhi and Vibha Galhotra.
Jiten Thukral and Sumir Tagra, 'Now in Your Neighbourhood', 2008, plastic bottles. Image taken from artinfo.com.
The event was an interactive and absorbing series inviting guests, students, critics and art lovers to explore more than the usual two or three-dimensional way of experiencing art. Talks from the artists themselves provided an insight into artistic creation and people from different areas of the industry provided another kind of perspective in viewing the works and Indian art in general.
The National Lalit Kala Akademi and its Chandigarh chapter, the Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi are institutions established for the promotion and preservation of the fine arts of India.
CMMS/EN/KN/HH
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Posted in Events, Festival, Indian, New Media | Tagged: art critics, art history, art scholars, art writer, artist groups, Bharti Kher, Chandigarh, Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi, class, CMMS/EN, collaborative art, conceptual art, contemporary indian art, contemporary indian artists, Diwan Manna, Dr. Alka Pande, Dr. Awadhesh Misra, fashion art, feminism, festivals, First National Art Week of New Media, Government Museum and Art Gallery, identity, India, Indian, Indian artists, Indology, installations, Jeebish Bagchi, Jiten Thukral, Lalit Kala Akademi, Mass Communication, Monica Narula, National Lalit Kala Akademi, New Media, New Media Art, Now in Your Neighbourhood, paintings, race, Rahul Bhattacharya, Raqs Media Collective, sculpture, Sheba Chhachhi, Shuddharbrata Sengupta, Solarium Series I, Stab-series, Sudarshan Shetty, Sumir Tagra, traditional vis-à-vis modern, Vibha Galhotra, Video art | Leave a Comment »
Posted by artradar on October 15, 2010
NEW MEDIA ART FESTIVAL INSTALLATION
Akbank art centre, Istanbul continues with its exhibition “The Rhythm of Istanbul“, in collaboration with the Akbank Jazz festival. Marking the twentieth anniversary of this world renowned music festival, it will feature installations by six internationally acclaimed artists working in sound and new media.
Julian Opie, 'Rod and Verity Walking', 2010, lightbox installation. Image courtesy of Akbank Art Centre.
Curator Gisela Winkelhofer is using the commission to approach the use of sound and rhythm and to explore how movement combines with the architectural spaces of the festival, shedding new light on the confrontation between mass media and the individual.
Angela Bulloch, 'Progression of 8 Peverted Pixels', 2008, 7 DMX modules, 1 black box module. plexiglas, printed aluminium panels, DMX cables, 1 RGB lighting system DMX controller, size 52 x 52 x 52 to 62 x 70 x 62 cm. Image courtesy of Akbank Art Centre.
Accordingly, artists with a reputation for transforming the spatial encounter will be present. Canadian-born Berlin-based Angela Bulloch is showing her Progression of 8 Perverted Pixels (2008), taking the light transmitted from ordinary TV programmes, abstracting them beyond recognition and projecting them as shape-changing beams.
Specially commissioned by the festival, Tony Oursler‘s new work also evokes the spectator’s virtual relation to their surroundings. Both movement within the work and the transgression of different media takes central place in the exhibition. Another new work Rod and Verity Walking (2010) by Julian Opie positions itself on the fringes of two distinct mediums, in this case film and drawing.
Tony Oursler, 'Marlboro, Camel, Winston, Parliament, Salem, Marlboro Light, American Spirit', 2009, PVC tubes, video projection, dimensions varied. Image courtesy of Akbank Art Centre.
HG/KN/HH
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Posted in Electronic art, Festival, Laser, Light, New Media, Turkey | Tagged: Akbank, Akbank Jazz festival, Angela Bulloch, architecture, contemporary art, exhibition, festivals, Gisela Winkelhofer, Hugh Govan, installation, installation art, Istanbul, Julian Opie, Light art, Marlboro Camel Winston Parliament Salem Marlboro Light American Spirit, movement, New Media, Peter Kogler, Progression of 8 Peverted Pixels, rhythm, Rod and Verity Walking, Sound art, space, Stephan Reusse, the individual, The Rhythm of Istanbul, Tony Oursler, Turkey, Video art | Leave a Comment »
Posted by artradar on October 14, 2010
HONG KONG STREET ART URBAN ART SERIES
In this first feature in our Hong Kong Street Art Series, Art Radar Asia will introduce you to one of the newest art spaces in Hong Kong to show street and urban art, Above Second. In this post, co-owners Jasper Wong and May Wong discuss the importance of supporting the local art community and encouraging people to consider creative career options, as well as explain their choice of location and their first-time buyer appeal.
In a steep lane in Sai Ying Pun, Above Second stands aloof from busy streets and is a fifteen minute walk from the gallery-saturated Central district. This glass-fronted art space with a graffiti wall on the side was founded and is run by Jasper Wong and May Wong.
Above Second, one of Hong Kong's newest art spaces dedicated to street and urban art. Image courtesy of Above Second.
Before Above Second came into being, May dedicated most of her time to a nomadic gallery called Apostrophe which travelled to different spaces to do shows for artists from predominantly Denmark, the US and the UK. She found out about Jasper a year and a half ago after discovering his works on the blog of hip hop artist Kanye West and then inviting him to do a show at G.O.D, a Hong Kong-based lifestyle store. After some talking over a gallery plan in Hong Kong they ended up opening Above Second together earlier this year.
Half a gallery and half an art space
Above Second is very different from other mainstream galleries in the Central district in many ways. To begin with, Jasper won’t even consider it a gallery.
“It’s not a gallery in the strictest sense in what people usually perceive galleries to be. People see galleries to be like blank white walls… but we decided to turn it into more like a, I guess you can call it a creative club? That’s why we leave the word gallery in front of the name, ‘cause we don’t want to be specifically one thing.”
Above gallery is special in a way that it is a combination of a gallery and an art space. Jasper uses the gallery space at the front for painting and exhibition while May uses the art space at the back for art classes in the weekend.
Children drawing in the Above Second art space on Saturday. Image courtesy of Above Second.
Adults painting in the Above Second art space. Image courtesy of Above Second.
May elaborates on this concept:
“I think the main reason [for teaching art classes] is to generate more people to come into the gallery to see art. In a way, we enjoy teaching and we enjoy people coming in to share what art is and just be creative.”
“Basically when we teach (I’m talking about [teaching] three-year-olds to adults; everybody can come), we’re just giving them the materials, and then they can do whatever they want, usually. But we kind of try to give them a concept or give them some kind of inspiration for arts. For instance, we did a class that was based on Mondrian paintings, so we kind of restrict the colors to red, yellow, blue, and black, very Mondrian. Then we just let the students do what they want with it.”
Hong Kong street art gallery Above Second held exhibition "King for a Day" in July this year. Image courtesy of Above Second.
Mission to support local art and promote art as career
Jasper also hopes that, through the art classes for children, the young generation in Hong Kong will come to consider art creation as a career path rather than just a hobby. He says,
“A lot of times I feel, from what I’ve experienced here, is that a lot of the parents tend to steal their kids away from creative pursuits. Their tendency [is] that if their kids are interested in music or art or dance or something creative, then it is seen more as a hobby, rather than something that they can dedicate their life to.”
Unlike many mainstream galleries in Hong Kong, Above Second is also less business-oriented and more driven by the goal to improve the creative environment in Hong Kong. Jasper states,
“Most galleries in Central, you probably see, they are all very commercial. They are all pretty much paint stores. They are trying to sell what’s hot, what’s the hot trend, and what people will buy at the time. They tend to show all the same kind of art. So when you go to one gallery it’s pretty much all the same. And it’s not very accessible to a lot of local people and they don’t tend to promote emerging artists or even to try to make the creative scene better in Hong Kong. So we started our gallery … there’s an altruistic mission to it: to try to make [the Hong Kong art scene] better, to try to bring in the emerging artists that have never been shown in Hong Kong or to try to promote local artists…. There’s a goal to try in a small way to make Hong Kong’s creative community better.”
Above Second doesn’t formally represent any artists as most of the traditional galleries do. Instead, it continually organises shows for different artists from around the world with intriguing “energies” and “aesthetics”. “We are showing the creative energy all around the world [by] supporting young and emerging artists from all around the world,” says Jasper.
Price range attracts young first-time buyers
As May points out, works in most of the Above Second shows are for sale at affordable prices and because of this the gallery has attracted a number of first time buyers.
“For the show King for a Day, we had three prints there and they all sold. Most of (our buyers) are under thirty years old or around thirty and they are all first time buyers. It’s really great to see, because the prints themselves are pretty reasonably [priced], and when people come in they are like ‘Wow! This is the first time that I have gone into a gallery where I can afford to buy something.’ So we kind of encourage that trend…. [In] some galleries the price ranges are at least 10,00 dollars. We [are] like a couple of hundred, four digits, five digits.”
Visitors and guests crowd outside Above Second at an exhibition opening. Image courtesy of Above Second.
Currently, Above Second is showing Nebula, an exhibition of paper-cut and stencil works by Danish artist Mathias and illustrations of another Danish artist Michael. This Friday, Above Second will open Primary, an exhibition of work by Hong Kong street artist group Graphicairlines. Says May of her hopes for the space,
“For me, in five years, I hope that the gallery will grow, have a couple more staff…. For us it’s still difficult to pay for all the expenses, the shipping and stuff, to get artists here, but we’re trying….”
CBKM/KN/KCE
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Posted in Art spaces, Artist-run, China, Hong Kong, Interviews, Medium, Street art, Venues | Tagged: Above Second, Apostrophe, art classes, art exhibitions, art gallery, art shows, art spaces, Carmen Bat Ka Man, contemporary art, creative club, creative environment, Denmark, Drawing, Emerging artists, emerging gallery, first-time buyer, G.O.D, gallery, gallery space, Graphicairlines, hip hop, Hong Kong art spaces, Hong Kong street art series, independent art spaces, Jasper Wong, Kanye West, King for a Day, local art community, local artists, mainstream galleries, May Wong, Mondrian, Nebula, New gallery, Painting, Primary, Sai Ying Pun, street art, street art business, street art culture, street art gallery, street artists, teaching art, the UK, the US, urban art, urban art gallery, urban artists | Leave a Comment »
Posted by artradar on October 14, 2010
TAIWANESE ARTIST VIDEO ART UK EXHIBITIONS
Following his successful exhibition in the United States, Chen Chieh-jen (b. Taoyuan, Taiwan, 1960), an internationally acclaimed video artist, presents the UK premiere of “Empire’s Borders II – Western Enterprises Inc.” at the Chinese Arts Center in Manchester, UK.
The first iteration of Empire’s Borders, Chen’s critical response to the convoluted systems implemented as a result of Cold War policies, was featured in the Taiwanese Pavilion at the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009. In this commissioned work, Chen Chieh-jen examines the history of Taiwan within a globalisation context.
Chen Chieh-jen, Empire's Borders II, 2010, video still. Image courtesy of the artist.
The show, which runs from 2 October to 20 November this year, showcases a three-channel film installation including an autobiography of the artist’s father, a member of the Anti-Communist National Salvation Army (NSA), a list of NSA soldiers killed during the China offensive, an empty photo album and an old army uniform. Dr. Marko Daniel with Yu-ling Chou as assistant curated the show.
As profiled in the Taiwanese exhibition information on e-flux, “Chen Chieh-jen was born in 1960 in Taoyuan, Taiwan, and graduated from a vocational high school for the arts. He currently lives and works in Taipei, Taiwan. Chen created a series of photographic and video projects that re-imagine, re-write and re-connect his experience of living in a marginalised region and the intrinsic spirit of Taiwanese society, as well as propose possible ways of subverting dominant neoliberal logic.”
Chen Chieh-jen, Empire's Borders II, 2010, video still. Image courtesy of the artist.
On Taiwanese-UK art blog +8 the artist’s career highlights are described: “He represented Taipei in the Venice Biennale in 2009, has been selected for Artes Mundi 2010, was included in the curated shows at the 1999 and 2005 Venice Biennales, the Liverpool Biennial 2006 and is showing in the 6th Asia Pacific Triennial in 2009-10. He has had solo exhibitions at the Asia Society, New York, and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía 2008. In 2000, he was awarded the Special Prize at the Gwangju Biennale in Korea and in 2009 he was awarded Taiwan’s prestigious National Award for Arts for outstanding cultural achievement.”
The exhibition is produced as part of the Abandon Normal Devices (AND) Festival of New Media and Digital Culture in collaboration with the Chinese Arts Centre. It is also supported by the Council for Cultural Affairs, Taiwan.
MS/KN/KCE
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Posted by artradar on October 13, 2010
PERFORMANCE ART HONG KONG FESTIVALS
Art Radar Asia would like to notify you of what we consider an important and interesting Asia Art Archive performance art festival, Action Script – Symposium on Performance Art Practice and Documentation in Asia, which will be held in Hong Kong later this month. We have copied the press release below to give you more information:
Event flyer for Action Script: Symposium on Performance Art Practice and Documentation in Asia, to be held in late October this year and organised by Asia Art Archive.
“Performance art” or the production of “live art” by artists has become a vital element in the flourishing contemporary art scene throughout Asia. Festivals celebrating performance art proliferate in Asian cities and provide significant platforms for interaction, activism, and creative development. In addition toquestions concerning the presentation, contextualisation, and reception of performance art, there are many issues surrounding the documentation of the ephemeral art form. Over the course of a few days in October, internationally respected performance artists, archivists, and researchers will gather together to critically discuss the various challenges associated with performance work. The aim is not only to provide better resources and a deeper understanding of performance art, but also to further encourage its cultivation.
Round-table Seminars
21-22/10 [Thu & Fri]
Experts from around the world will come together to exchange ideas concerning the practice and preservation of performance art. Special attention will be given to such topics as festival as a platform for performance art, challenges faced by artists in the region, technical complexities of documentation, and the philosophical dilemmas ofarchiving/historicizing art creations that are inherently impermanent.Participating professionals include Martha Wilson of Franklin Furnace Archive (USA), Paul Clarke of Live Art Archives (UK), Farah Wardani of Indonesian Visual Art Archive, Thomas Berghuis who researches Chinese performance art, Ray Langenbach, a scholar and artist, and Wen Yau of Asia Art Archive. The 2-day roundtable discussion will be moderated by Debra Wacks, an art historian who specialises in performance art, and Ko Siu-lan, an artist and curator who has participated in numerous festivals across Asia. They will be joined by artists and festival organizers from the region to analyse past experiences and to consider the possible future of performance work in Asia.
Enquiry & registration：2815 1112 / actionscript@aaa.org.hk
Artist Talk by Tehching Hsieh: In conversation with art critic Lee Weng-choy
23/10, 2:30pm [Sat] Agnès b. CINEMA!, Hong Kong Arts Centre
The exceptional series of actions entitled One Year Performances by Tehching Hsieh from 1978 to 1986 have played a significant role in the history of performance art: for one year the artist locked himself inside a cage, another year he methodically punched a time clock every hour on the hour, one year he lived completely outdoors, one year he conducted his life while tied to another artist without ever touching, and for an entire year he did no art. Along with his Thirteen Year Plan of doing art without publishing for 13 years, Hsieh’s body of work explores essential concerns of life, time, and being. Hsieh will talk about his lifeworks in conversation with the Singapore-based art critic, Lee Weng-choy. (The talk will be conducted in English and some Mandarin.)
Seats are limited and on a first-come-first-served basis. Please make reservations in advance：actionscript＠aaa.org.hk / 2815 1112
Performances
23/10 [Sat] 4.30pm Outside Hong Kong Arts Centre 24/10 [Sun] 3pm McAulay Studio, Hong Kong Arts Centre
An opportunity to witness Asia’s vibrant performance art scene will be offered by local and regional artists presenting their exciting and thought-provoking work to the Hong Kong public. Some of the artists include: Lee Wen (Singapore), Chumpon Apisuk (Thailand), Wang Mo-lin (Taiwan), Shu Yang (Mainland China), Aye Ko (Myanmar), Yuan Mor’O Ocampo (the Philippines), Sanmu (Hong Kong), Yuenjie (Hong Kong), Mok Chiu-yu (Hong Kong), Ko Siu-lan (Hong Kong).
Tickets：$90 / $70* full-time students, senior citizens aged 60 or above, or people with disabilities) Enquiry：2891 8482 / 2891 8488 / cccd@cccd.hk
Tickets will be available at URBTIX from 20/09/2010 onwards.
Workshop
23/10/2010 [Sat] 10am-1pm McAulay Studio, Hong Kong Arts Centre
International and local performance artists will host a workshop to explore their creative processes involved. Suitable for anyone actively interested in doing performance work.
Fee：$300 / $150* (*full-time students) Enquiry & registration: 2891 8482 / 2891 8488 / cccd@cccd.hk
Action Script at Lingnan University
25/10/2010 [Mon]
Workshop, seminars and performances will be held at Lingnan University campus.
We hope to provide some coverage of the event in November for those readers who are not based in Hong Kong or cannot attend. Keep an eye open.
KN/KCE
Related Topics: festivals, performance art, Hong Kong venues
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Posted in Endurance, Festival, Hong Kong, Performance, Taiwanese | Tagged: Action Script, Action Script - Symposium on Performance Art Practice and Documentation in Asia, art festivals, art scholars, art seminars, artist talk, Asia Art Archive, Aye Ko, Chumpon Apisuk, Farah Wardani, festivals, Franklin Furnace Archive, hong kong, Indonesian Visual Art Archive, Ko Siu-lan, Lee Wen, Lee Weng-choy, Lingnan University, live art, Live Art Archives, Martha Wilson, Mok Chiu-yu, Paul Clarke, performance art, performance artists, Ray Langenbach, Sanmu, Shu Yang, Tehching Hsieh, Thomas Berghuis, Wang Mo-lin, Wen Yau, Yuan Mor'O Ocampo, Yuenjie | Leave a Comment »
Posted by artradar on October 13, 2010
INDIAN CONTEMPORARY ART EXHIBITIONS LONDON VIDEO
Between January and May this year, Indian contemporary artist Jitish Kallat displayed seven pieces, paintings, sculptures and installations, at Saatchi Gallery, London with 23 other contemporary Indian artists in an exhibition called “The Empire Strikes Back: Indian Art Today”. In a video produced by The Economist titled “Jitish Kallat: perspectives on modern Indian art”, Kallat discusses his and the other artists’ work from this exhibition.
In the video, Jitish Kallat reveals what it is about contemporary Indian art that makes it so interesting for him; Indian art today is influenced by almost every aspect of Indian culture and the repositioning of the country on the global map is aiding the development of the art scene.
“The Empire Strikes Back” shows different contemporary Indian artists expressing political statements through their work. The pieces “actually travel and gather art miles…and as they gather art miles in different locations they share and gain meaning.” For Jitish, this repetition of artists’ intentions through different cultural stimulants in different parts of the world remains a great area of interest.
As people around the world are able to access different cultures more easily they feel more empowered to deconstruct the culture code from different places around the world. However, as he states in the video, Jitish Kallat feels that “the world has this peculiar ghostly sense of sameness within which these objects travel with baggage of tales and stories and meanings and metaphors and I think I find this process exciting, challenging and also instructive.”
The first piece discussed by Kallat in the video is Eruda (2006, black lead on fibreglass, 419 x 169 x 122 cm). Eruda is a massive black lead sculpture, the development of which stemmed from a series of photographs of boys selling popular books at the traffic lights. As Kallat relays in the video, this boy represents the spirit of the city, most particularly the quintessential Indian city of Mumbai.
Jitish Kallat, Eruda, 2006, black lead on fibreglass, 419 x 169 x 122 cm.
Related to Eruda, Kallat’s “Eclipse” series of paintings also capture these boys smiling back. The paintings represent someone who not only lives in Mumbai but is themselves a portrait of the city. One of the images in the video reveals that the hair of each boy almost merges together and is actually made up of interconnecting images of people and streets. As Kallat states on the video, this is meant to show that “everyone who lives in the city of Mumbai is somehow tied into one conjoint reality.”
Public Notice 2 (2007, 4,479 fibreglass sculptures, dimensions variable) is an installation using words from Mahatma Ghandi’s historic 1930’s speech. For Kallat, given the everyday rhetoric that has created some sort of terror-affected world, voices such as Ghandi’s become carriers of a message that can help overcome the foolishness of the contemporary world. The piece is large in size which, for Kallat, is central to the creation of the meaning of the piece. However, once the video moves in to focus on the letters it becomes clear that each alphabet is a sculpture of a letter morphed out of bones.
The final piece in the video, Death of Distance (2007, black lead on fibreglass, a rupee coin and five lenticular prints, sculpture 161 cm diameter, prints 46 x 60 cm), refers to two texts that entered the public domain around the same time. The first is the story of a girl who committed suicide because her mother could not give her one rupee for a meal in school due to extreme poverty. The second article is a press release by a telecommunications company which claimed the “arrival of new India.” The press release famously called this event “the death of distance in India” and stated that it would now cost only one rupee to call from any part of India to another.
The installation includes five frames carrying both texts on each frame. They flip according to where you stand. It also includes a coin of one rupee enlarged to a size of an average person from India. Kallat states in the video that the flipping texts “become like reality in India itself: [the] India you see on that day depends on where you stand at that particular moment.”
Jitish Kallat, Untitled (Eclipse) 3, 2007, acrylic on canvas, triptych, 274 x 518 cm.
Jitish Kallat was born in Mumbai in 1974. He received his BFA in painting from Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy School of Art and his work has been exhibited worldwide, appearing in New York, London, Tokyo, Sydney, Madrid, Zurich, Amsterdam, Mumbai, and New Delhi.
To see video, click here.
EN/KN/KCE
Related Topics: Indian artists, videos, gallery shows
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Posted in Indian, Jitish Kallat, Painting, Sculpture, Videos | Tagged: "Eclipse" series, alphabet, art gallery shows, art video, black lead, contemporary indian art, contemporary indian artists, Death of Distance, Elena Nikolaeva, Eruda, fibreglass, gallery shows, Indian contemporary art, Jitish Kallat, London, Mahatma Ghandi, Mumbai, Painting, photography, Public Notice 2, public speech, Saatchi Gallery, sculpture, the city, the death of distance in India, The Economist, The Empire Strikes Back: Indian Art Today, urban art, Video, Video Interview, words in art | Leave a Comment »
Posted by artradar on October 7, 2010
ART AUCTION RESULTS SOTHEBY’S HONG KONG PRESS RELEASE
We present you with the latest press release from Sotheby’s Hong Kong on their autumn sale of modern and contemporary Southeast Asian paintings:
SOTHEBY’S HONG KONG
MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY SOUTHEAST ASIAN PAINTINGS 2010 AUTUMN SALE
TOTALS HK$78 MILLION / US$10 MILLION
(high estimate: HK$45 million / US$5.7 million*)
THE HIGHEST TOTAL FOR A VARIOUS-OWNER SALE
IN THIS CATEGORY AT SOTHEBY’S HONG KONG
************
ACHIEVING NUMEROUS ARTIST RECORDS AT AUCTION
“FATHER OF INDONESIAN MODERNISM” –
S.SUDJOJONO’S A NEW DAWN SOLD FOR AN IMPRESSIVE
HK$10.7 MILLION / US$1.4 MILLION
OVER 4 TIMES THE HIGH ESTIMATE
FILIPINO ARTIST RONALD VENTURA ’S NATURAL-LIES FETCHED
HK$2.5 MILLION / US$326,000
9 TIMES THE HIGH ESTIMATE
Other artist records were set for works by Indonesian artists including
Gede Mahendra Yasa, Ay Tjoe Christine, Samsul Arifin, Hendra Gunawan and Filipino artist Andres Barrioquinto, among others
Following the tremendous success of the Spring sale, Sotheby’s Autumn sale of Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Paintings today commanded a stunning total of HK$78 million / US$10 million (high estimate: HK$45 million / US$5.7 million*), the highest sale total for a various owners sale in this category at Sotheby’s Hong Kong. Today’s sale provoked active participation in the room and over the phone. There was particularly strong interest in top-end Southeast Asian contemporary paintings, which led to two auction records set for two artists – S. Sudjojono , Father of Indonesian Modernism, and Filipino artist Ronald Ventura.
MOK Kim Chuan, Sotheby’s Head of Southeast Asian Paintings, commented: “Top end Contemporary works fetched strong prices today with many pieces bringing multiples of their pre-sale high estimates. Among Modern works, the supreme highlight was the S. Sudjojono, a museum-quality example of the artist’s work which spurred a fierce bidding battle among nine bidders before selling for HK$10.7 million, a price which was four times the top estimate and set a record for the artist at auction. These results confirm the strategy of using conservative estimates to attract competition and let the market set the price level.”
The sale of 20th Century Chinese Art and Contemporary Asian Art continue in the evening.
Attached please find the relevant press releases, top-ten list as well as an image of the saleroom for your use. Should you need further information, please do not hesitate to contact Sotheby’s Hong Kong Press Office on +852 2868 6755 /Winnie.tang@sothebys.com.
* Estimates do not include buyer’s premium
Regards,
Sotheby’s Hong Kong Press
KN/KCE
Related Topics: Southeast Asian art, market watch – auctions, business of art, collectors
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Posted in Artist Nationality, Auctions, Business of art, China, Collectors, Hong Kong, Market watch, Medium, Painting, Southeast Asian, Venues | Tagged: Andres Barrioquinto, art auction results, auction, auctions, Ay Tjoe Christine, Gede Mahendra Yasa, Hendra Gunawan, MOK Kim Chuan, Ronald Ventura, S. Sudjojono, Samsul Arifin, Sothebys, Sothebys Hong Kong, Southeast Asian art, Southeast Asian paintings | 1 Comment »
Posted by artradar on October 7, 2010
CHINESE INK CHINESE ARTISTS ARTIST INTERVIEWS
In a conversation with Chinese-based art blog RedBox Review the artist Liang Quan (b. 1948), living and working in Shenzhen, China, explains how ink painting is used in contemporary art and how this exploration continues to follow the philosophy of traditional Chinese painting.
Liang Quan is considered as one of the pioneers of contemporary ink painting.
“Ink painting”, also known as “wash painting”, was developed in China during the Tang Dynasty. Ink painting or shui-mo hua in Chinese (水墨畫) is composed of water, shui and Chinese ink, mo. In Western art, using similar techniques, it is known as drawings.
Liang Quan, 'Tea Stain No. 3', 2008, ink and paper, 63.8x48 cm.
In this conversation Liang Quan highlights to RedBox the difference between ink painting and ink art:
The exploration of using ink and referring to the tradition of Chinese painting is part of a greater narrative to define a cultural identity.
American contemporary artists like Brice Marden and Cy Twombly inspired Liang Quan while he was living and working abroad. On top of using ink painting and water, Liang incorporates paper into his works.
Liang’s ink painting seems abstract but in reality he follows the philosophy of this art. He aims to capture the soul of the subject rather that trying to reproduce the exact appearance of it. As he relates to RedBox,
My use of collage, combining strips of ink and/or tea stained paper, may seem abstract to the unknowing eye, and without direct correlation to a depiction of reality. But my works, collages, are actually diagrams of traditional Chinese landscape paintings and the Chinese still life painting genre of birds and flowers.
Interesting difference between ink painting in West and East: perspective
Having explored ink painting in Western art, Liang Quan observed a major difference between it and Chinese landscape painting: multiple points of perspective are used where Western painting uses only one or two. As he relates to RedBox,
To view a Chinese painting, one’s eye usually follows the flow of water from the bottom of the mountains as it meanders farther into the hills and up the composition of the painting.
Following this philosophy and adding paper strips and color makes Liang’s painting abstract.
After exploring the multiple points of perspective in Chinese landscape painting, Liang Quan combined this concept with the ideals of Nan Pai, also known as Southern School. As said in the RedBox article,
By addressing the theme of Chinese tradition, he is distinguished from his contemporaries choosing to use painting as a depiction of or social response to modern society.
SB/KN/KCE
Related Topics: Chinese artists, definitions, ink
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Posted in Artist Nationality, Calligraphy, China, Chinese, Classic/Contemporary, Collage, Drawing, Ink, Interviews, Landscape, Painting, Shenzhen, Styles, Themes and subjects, Trends | Tagged: Brice Marden, Chinese art, Chinese art blogs, Chinese contemporary art, Chinese ink, Chinese tradition, collage, contemporary art, Cy Twombly, drawings, ink painting, Liang Quan, Nan Pai, perspective, Redbox Review, Saloua Bougajdi, Shenzhen, shui-mo hua, Southern School, Tang Dynasty, Tea Stain No. 3, traditional Chinese Landscape, Western art | 1 Comment »
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