Minji Kim

16 September 2010

To be at ShContemporary 2010 exhibition was a total excitement to me
since I had heard of the prestige. Attending the conference
(Collecting Asian Contemporary Art: What, When, and How), I was highly
interested to see how directors or curators from famous museums and
galleries all over the world introduced their own exhibitions. Despite
the useful contents, however, it was difficult to concentrate and
listen to what exactly the panels said, especially in the back seat.

But the exhibition itself was very satiable. Many of the art pieces
displayed the "extraordinary" by collaborating "mundane" objects. The
best tool for expressing a message to the public seemed to be by using
something people are already familiar with. For example, Zhao Bando
tries to approach the public and to send a strong message, using two
very familiar subjects:  panda and children. In his works, Bando asked
around 10,000 of China's rising youths aged from 7 to 15 and donated
benefits to build home for the elderly of no family. I thought what
makes the work meaningful is that Bando was able to successfully use
common subjects to maximize the effects so that it can eventually lead
people to involve in good deeds. Another example by Aboriginal artists
also shares the common idea of "extraordinary meanings out of
simplicity." While focusing on the typical aboriginal paintings, they
also tried to combine modernity with the pure value of their tradition
at the same time to emphasize the importance of "keeping the old."
There were so many great works I took pictures of and interestingly,
they all convey messages from the simple nature. An extraction of a
social message behind the nature; this was the lesson I was able to
experience in the exhibition.