Stephanie and Minji’s Interview with Davide Quadrio (via e-mail)

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1. In "40+4", Li Lei defines the role of critics to be translating the
ideas of artists for the audiences because the audiences cannot
interpret the art by themselves. Gong Yan remarks that critics often
view Chinese art in the context of the international art environment,
which causes their critique of Chinese art to be influenced by
stereotypes and subjective standards. Critics may facilitate the
interactions between producers and consumers of art, but their
critique of an artwork may not reflect the artist's intent. Do you
think critics play a necessary role in raising the general public's
interest towards art and in facilitating dialogue between artists and
the general public?

In the best of the scenarios possible, indeed art critics should be
the key people who can be in between the artist's work and the public
(as not only "people watching the art" but also the ensemble of
"media" that create the basis for knowledge distribution). In fact the
art system is not as pure as ideologists may think, and artists are
not as pure as maybe they should be. In this sense, the relationship
between artists and critics reflect this fact: playing the politics of
power. So if an influential art critic writes about artists in a
certain way, that artist will be "recognized" as valuable, not only in
terms of artistic content, but also at the economic level.

In my opinion though the place of art critics still have a very
important role and should be stimulated: it is the place for
development of new ideas derived by the artists' work, it is the place
to bring the artistic action into the verbal world of communication.

2. During her interview, Gong Yan mentions her concern that Shanghai
has lost its former glorious cultural scene, and is now simply a
cultural pier, witnessing the coming and going of artistic and
cultural phenomena. How you think that artists in Shanghai might be
trying to retrieve Shanghai's former glory? Do you think that many
artists see the Shanghai art scene's increasing international
recognition and expanding art market as helping revive the city's
former thriving cultural scene?

I think that most of the local artists do not think about the
responsibility of making Shanghai anything more than a place to work
and act. Maybe more political artists like Li Lei can say something
about this...but most of their answers on the topic is that they do
not feel responsibility. Anyhow, if any, I found the older generation
especially (Hu Jieming, Shen Fan, Ding Yi etc.) very much connected
via the school system to the next generation. I am working with them
as we speak on a project in Fudan University where I teach, and their
commitment is amazing!

3. It seems undeniable that while many artists chose art because of
their passion for it, they must also see art as a means to earn a
livelihood. Under the pressure of growing international recognition
and media attention, it seems that Chinese contemporary art faces the
risk of becoming increasingly commodified. How do you think most
Shanghai artists are dealing with the influences of the global art
market and the pressure of appealing to the Western art world?

Like they did centuries ago exporting white and blue porcelain for the
West :). Artists of course need an economy, they need to survive and
there is nothing bad about it. The globalized speculation a few years
ago created a weird phenomenon for a couple of years. After the shock,
I see only very strong and valuable artists keeping producing good
work...the over commercialization of Chinese art had a good beneficial
result at the end of the day.

4. In the video, Lu Chunsheng mentions that art has no influence on
ordinary audiences. Do you think that this is especially true in
China, where it seems that many ordinary people are not interested or
even aware of the Chinese contemporary art scene?

What is the contemporary art scene? Does traditional contemporary art
have a position in this? Contemporary art is often a phenomenon for
the few, also in the international contexts. Of course, China is not
so accustomed to the contemporary art in the way we, as Europeans or
Americans, read that. But it is changing exponentially; look at the
Shanghai Biennale and how many young people went to watch it. It is a
sign of a big change.

5. Have you witnessed any major changes in the subject matter of
contemporary art in Shanghai within the past decade? Do you think
there has been a shift from the critique of politics to that of
emerging economic, social, and environmental issues in Chinese
contemporary art? Do you think that Chinese contemporary art's
critique of present issues in China currently plays an important role
in influencing how local and global audiences approach these issues?

I do not see much of the political critic around anymore. It seems to
me more of a manner if any still exist. Few artists of the young
generation I am working with at the moment seem to be exploring
possible sophisticated ways of social critique, but still a bit too
early to say...

By Day, By Night

The Shanghai Rockbund Museum, located at the Bund and funded by the Rockefeller family, is an excellent place for contemporary art exhibition. Its mission, on its website, is “the spread of humanistic values and the promotion of art, the Rockbund Art Museum dedicates its efforts to the study, exchange and promotion of contemporary visual arts. Through diverse exhibitions and educational programmes, it seeks to use artistic means to stimulate discussions of topical and social issues in contemporary spirit.”

I saw the “By Day, By Night” exhibition (Curator: Hou Hanru) at the Rockbund Museum. The exhibition showcases a very wide variety of talents. Some examples include Choi Jeong Hwa designs the space on the two floors of the gallery, transforming the ceiling with red and silver strips of paper, covering the walls with vintage wallpaper, and wrapping the chairs in fake Louis Vuitton leather. Tu Weicheng’s series “Moving Images & Audio Museum,” which contains displays of antiques that may be considered innovative a century ago, and images of using people to measure roads and buildings. Sam Samore’s film, “Hallucination/Paradise,” dramatizes the life of people in Shanghai.

Among the displays, my favorite was those from Sun Xun on the third floor. His artworks implement a combination of media and painting, and they contain at the same time, the elements of both ancient and modern China. His series, titled “Beyond Isms,” puts together historic legends such as the dragon along with modern elements such as buildings.

By Day, By Night

Cori Huang
The Rockbund Art Museum: "By Day, By Night, some (special) things a
museum can do"
As we came down the narrow street towards the Rockbund Museum, I was
already fascinated by the museum's surroundings. Off of the street
beside the museum stretches a cobblestone pedestrian street with old
European-style street lamps. Near the intersection a security officer
stands stone-faced. The buildings nearby all have distinctly European
style architecture, whether it is the three deeply recessed doors
flanked by arches at the museum's entrance or the heavily texture
ashlar masonry of the building down the street. Inside the Rockbund
Museum, the space was clean and intimate, unlike the Museum of
Contemporary Art, which had paint containers in corners and roped-off
sections that made the space seem somewhat unfinished.
Arriving at the museum last week, we came to see the show "By Day, By
Night, some (special things a museum can do," curated by Hou Hanru,
displaying works by artists from around the globe. They had been asked
to reside in Shanghai for a few weeks and to create artwork from their
experience. The first piece we encountered at the show was Tu
Weicheng's wall of small cabinets. The cabinets were all fashioned out
of dark wood, giving it an old Chinese antique feel that reminded me
of traditional Chinese pharmacies. Inside each cabinet was a
photograph of some place in or near the museum that the visitor could
take, and if he or she wished, to use as a clue for a scavenger hunt.
I thought this interactive piece was very fun and successful. Located
right outside of the elevator, I hadn't even realized it was part of
the show at first.
Then we saw Nedko Solakov's installation on the top floor.
Interestingly Solakov's piece revolved around his journey to Shanghai
rather than his experience in the city. On the wall, the artist had
written a statement for the audience, and he ended of the first
paragraph with an apology that the marker was running out. With this
casual, direct tone in mind, I made my way around the stations. Beside
each TV was a collection of sketches, photographs, and notes that
accompanied the day of the trip that he was documenting. Solakov had
brought with him a plastic frog that he had bought in Chinatown. On
the frog's belly it was clearly stamped "Made in China." The idea of
bringing this toy "back" to China was sort of funny to me, but it also
piqued my interest since I had been thinking about my own identity as
a Chinese-American "returning" to China. However, Solakov's piece did
not seem to explore this concept of "return" very deeply.

The Rockbund Art Museum's current exhibition "By Day By night, or Some
(Special) Things a Museum Can Do" is a reflection of the purpose and
goals of the museum within the greater context of Shanghai. Curator
Hou Hanru created a concept of artists coming to Shanghai for a short
period of time and responding to the urban environment. Nedko Solakov
was one such artist, creating the installation "I Want Back Home (Said
the Frog)." Solakov's installation reflected on the journey back home
to Shanghai for a plastic frog. His film clips, drawings, and
souvenirs from the trip transform the mundane railway trip to a
sophisticated and amusing one. On a larger scale, Solakov's somewhat
trivial goal-to return the plastic frog to its place of origin also
speaks to the importance of this origin in understanding someone. Each
artist was commenting on the same city, but perceived it in very
different ways. Tu Weicheng created several installations for the
exhibition, including "Image Bank: The Section of Environment and
Treasure Hunting." For this piece, Weicheng took many photos of
otherwise unnoticed details from the Wei Tan Yuan area. Each photo is
locked in a small box, visitors are invited to select a photo and then
encouraged to find its place of origin in Shanghai. The artists will
even give souvenirs to participants who take a photo as proof of their
finding the specific location. This, like Solakov's installation, also
indicates the importance of making a journey. The small boxes in the
museum can be paralleled to all of the unmarked, closed doors in the
urban environment. It is as if Weichang is calling people to seek the
subtle beauty of the city, and discover and pursue that which seems at
the moment beyond reach. Korean artist and designer Choi Jeong Hwa
created a screening room for movies and performances. Choi choose to
respond to the growing consumerism and flashiness of Shanghai,
covering the walls with a brocade and the chairs with a fake Louis
Vuitton pattern. Covering a cultural institution with cheap and tacky
materials is Choi's way of criticizing the secularism and shallowness
of the city. All three of these installations, as well as the rest of
the exhibit, begs the viewer to explore their surroundings with a new
eye that can transform the perceptions currently held into new ideas.
This is also in line with Hou's goal of representing the Museum's
purpose, as the Rockbund Museum also strives to be a place of
discovery, a place where people can explore, question, and perhaps
begin to comprehend and think rather than merely pass through.

“By Day and By Night”

Joon Nam

Rockbund Art Museum
"By Day and By Night"
November 18, 2010

A visit to Rockbund Art Museum proved to be quite a nice fieldtrip.
The exhibition currently held there called "By Day and By Night" has
brought numerous artists from in and out of China, displaying
photography works, installations, and videos. Starting from the top
floor, the installation by Nedko Solakov's "I Want back Home (Said the
Frog)" was a very interesting piece. I thought his journey to return
Joji home to China all the way from Bulgaria via train was a very
playful project, yet the journey really brought the in-depth
reflections. The work seems to ask what constitutes reality around us,
and why these realities are different yet the same for all
individuals. Moving down stairs, the next piece that I thought was
interesting was Sun Xun's animation and the installation "Sketche for
Beyond Isms". I felt that he was successful in creating a beautiful
and harmonious work that uses the elements from difference cultures
and times that may seem to clash with each other. Sa
m Samore's film "Hallucination/Paradise", which depicts the stories of
three couples, also reflects how we may be different as each
individual yet share the same emotions and feelings as humans.
Overall, I felt that the exhibition was very coherent in its theme,
and liked many of the works on the display; the works at the
exhibition successfully reflect Shanghai where different people and
cultures are fused together in to a culture of its own.

on Yin Xiuzhen

Stephanie Hsu
Contemporary Art and New Media in China
Blog Post #7
11/19/10

Yin Xiuzhen
I first became introduced to Yin Xiuzhen at the Projects space of the
MoMA in New York City last spring, where her sculptural installation
Collective Subconscious was being exhibited. Collective Subconscious
was composed of a bisected minivan that was connected to a long steel
tube covered with a colorful patchwork made of discarded garments. I
recall the small line of visitors waiting to enter the minivan and
enjoy the snug, relaxing environment inside, where they would be able
to sit on low stools and listen to the nostalgic Chinese pop song,
"Beijing, Beijing" playing softly. As Yin Xiuzhen was the first
Chinese contemporary artist I had encountered at the MoMA, I
immediately attempted to view her work in a Chinese context. I
wondered about the connection between the artist's personal experience
in China and the installation's transformation of public space into
one of intimacy and refuge.
Through Collective Subconscious, Yin Xiuzhen explores the impact of
globalization, international travel, and communication technologies on
family, home, and local culture. The 38-foot-long work revisits the
xiao mian-style minivan that came to be a symbol of family prosperity
in China in the late 1990s, reflecting on the newfound luxury of
automobile ownership that many Chinese families began to enjoy during
the boom in China's economic growth. The patchwork of worn clothing
connecting the two ends of the bisected minivan both evokes a sense of
reminiscence for old daily familiarities and critiques the
"fabricated" material comfort of the new Chinese modern lifestyle.
Like Collective Subconscious, many of Yin Xiuzhen's works deal with
communal memory, nostalgia, and cultural identity. Having grown up in
Beijing during the Cultural Revolution, Yin Xiuzhen has witnessed the
changing dynamics between collectivism and individualism in China
throughout her life. Yin Xiuzhen herself experienced the liberating
impact of China's reform and opening-up period, as she quickly
abandoned traditional oil painting after studying at Beijing's Capital
Normal University to pursue avant-garde installation art. Over the
past 20 years, Yin Xiuzhen has become a leading contemporary artist in
China and a pioneering female influence in the male-dominated Chinese
contemporary art scene. Her work has been shown at international
exhibitions, including the São Paulo Biennial (2004), the Biennale of
Sydney (2004), the Chinese pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2007), and
the Shanghai Biennale (2008).

Works Cited:
"How Latitudes Become Forms: Yin Xiuzhen." Walker Art Center. 16 Nov. 2010
<http://latitudes.walkerart.org/artists/indexbc58.html>.
"Yin Xiuzhen." Art in America. 16 Nov. 2010
<http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/
features/yin-xiuzhen/>.
"Yin Xiuzhen." Culturebase.net. 16 Nov. 2010 <http://www.culturebase.net/
artist.php?1293>.

SH Biennale review by Noor Chadha

The 8th Shanghai Biennale 2010

       The focus of the 2010 Shanghai Biennale is rehearsal, the
concept that the final product of an artistic process is not
necessarily the most important – that within every stage there is
substance and in some cases, the "rehearsal" stages may be even more
essential than the final artwork. Spanning over the three floors of
the Shanghai Art Museum, the exhibition consists of work ranging from
the more traditional painting, photography and video, to large-scale
installations and performances involving live music and spectator
interaction.
In one of the exhibition spaces, there was no "artwork" as such, but
an actual studio of the Shanghai artist Ma Liang. Every piece of his
original studio has been moved into the museum for the duration of the
show. This radical move places the spotlight backstage – not even on
artistic process but on the actual work environment for that process
to then take place in. An artist's studio shares so much insight into
the artist's creative soul – it is where the artist can find the peace
of mind to create. Usually you would think that the origin of an
artwork can be traced back to the conception of the idea behind it,
but no, exhibiting Ma Liang's studio in it's whole at the Biennale
takes it one step further, before conception of any idea, suggesting
that perhaps the true identity of any artwork can be located at it's
birthplace.
Right next to Ma Liang's studio is a performance piece by the
Norwegian art group Verdestreatret called "And All the Question Marks
Started to Sing". Whereas Ma Liang's studio is a stagnant environment
– a setting for the process to occur in, Verdestreatret's piece is the
complete opposite: both an ongoing process and a final artwork –
essentially an artwork in ongoing rehearsal. The work consists of all
kinds of machinery – wires, bicycle wheels, computers, projectors and
heavy duty lighting, and artists interacting with the machinery in a
combination of ways: Musicians playing beats on the bicycle wheels,
artists manipulating the silhouettes of the whole piece on the wall.
The piece is constantly undergoing changes and the final product is
that process of evolution.
Other works in the Biennale that I felt successfully emphasized the
theme of rehearsal included French artist JR's "Wrinkles of the City"
and Qiu Zhijie's "Qiu's notes on Colorful Lantern at Shangyuan
Festival". Overall, I thought the 2010 Shanghai Biennale was
conceptually successful and has contributed some wonderful artworks to
the art world.

by Shane Li

I went to Shanghai Biennale 2008 and it was not interesting to me at
all, whereas Shanghai Biennale 2010 is way better than 2008 in terms
of the sheer number and quality of art works presented. Part of the
reason why I think 2010 is better than 2008 is that I am taking
"Contemporary art and new media in China", which gives me a lot of
insights into the life and thinking of contemporary artists and allows
me to appreciate an art work from an amateur's perspective.

The themes for the two biennales have very different implication. The
theme of Shanghai Biennale 2008 is Trans Local Motion, which is a
reflection on the city, urbanization and people's living status in the
city (they probably chose this theme in accordance to Shanghai Expo).
The theme for 2010 is Rehearsal, which emphasizes more on the pure
arty essence of art, as well as the experimental and open nature of
Shanghai Biennale. In 2008 artists were compelled to do something
related to urban life, whereas in 2010 more artists present their
works in more fields. Wu Shanzhuan's installation "d=mr2"
interestingly combined mathematics and arts to express the
unpredictable character of life. MadeIn Company's installation "Must
Act" is a series of works addressing the same subject –politics, wars
and peace. In one piece of painting, the face of Marx is hidden in the
cloud of the Windows XP desktop.( See picture)  Another piece has a
cake-like military castle.

Unlike art works in 2008 which were highly abstract, some realism
works were presented in 2010's show. Liu Xiaodong's gorgeous oil
painting "Entering Tai Lake; Getting out of Bei Chuan" strikes me very
much with their realistic style. "Maleonn's studio" is also
interesting because the artist actually moved his studio into the
museum so that the audience can have a close look at the real
environment in which art works are produced.

Art works that perfectly combine the past and the future is always my
favorite, and Qiu Zhijie's "Qiu's Notes on 'Colorful Lantern at
Shangyuan Festival'" surpasses my expectation. "Colorful Lantern at
Shangyuan Festival" is a very famous traditional Chinese painting. Qiu
took the form of this painting to present various business,
occupations and machines, some of which are purely imaginary but very
interesting. The materials and techniques used in the wall painting
and installations are all very "traditional" and very "Chinese", for
example, black ink and wood.

The last thing I want to address is that I am glad to see more and
more Shanghai citizens and tourists are interested in going to art
museum. I think that artists' prior target when producing art is to
make it relevant and understandable to average spectators. Shanghai
Biennale 2010 also did a good job in presenting art to the society.

Shanghai Biennale 2010

by Grace Cori Huang
Shanghai Biennale 2010

       For the eighth Shanghai Biennale at the Shanghai Art Museum, curators
Fan Di'an, Li Lei, Hua Yi and Gao Shiming created a show with the
theme of "Rehearsal." From this title, I was looking forward to seeing
works centering around the art-making process rather than only the
finished piece that we usually see at shows, however the way the
pieces dealt with the idea of rehearsal were not just about practicing
or preparing for a final exposition. In "And All the Question Marks
Started to Sing" created by Verdensteatret, the piece was in a
perpetual state of rehearsal, with the mechanical pieces always
moving. Like at a rehearsal, everything was visible to the viewer: the
light sources, the electrical wiring, the set-up of the bicycles and
magnifying glasses, and that made it even more interesting than merely
looking at the resulting light and shadow projected on the walls. On
the first floor of the museum, there were still photographs of the
performance of Semele, directed by Chinese artist Zhang Huan. What was
interesting about this performance was the censorship it underwent as
the show travelled from Europe to China; according to news reports and
reviews, the show's meaning was significantly altered due to
censorship of sexual and political themes. As a result, when the show
opened in China with all the alterations, Zhang Huan did not really
know whether or not it would work, it was as though it was a
rehearsal. It is unfortunate, that it couldn't be shown the way it was
intended, though it gives the piece another interesting twist.

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by Mikael on SH Biennale

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Shanghai Biennale
Shanghai Art Museum until January

Shanghai is bustling with art the week I go to the 8th Shanghai
Biennale and I am already full of other impressions from different
galleries and shows.
The Shanghai Biannual displays a variety of artistic expressions, not
only from China and Asia but from around the world, and that this is
the center of attention in the art scene of Shanghai becomes clear as
I walk in through the front doors.

As I walk in on the first floor, things are very organized and put together.
The show flows and the works seem to speak with each other.
The theme "rehearsal" is clearly visible, and there is no need to read
any plaques to understand the works connection with the theme.
Zhang Huan's temple structure that is the set for one of his operas
clearly speaks the language of the theme and lets you as a viewer
emerge yourself into the artists work, something that seem to be a
cohesive element in the show.

Another good example of this is on the second floor, where I am able
to enter artist Ma Liang's studio that has been recreated in one of
the rooms.

Although some of the more to me interesting individual works are found
on the top two floors. There is a sense that the two curators instead
of creating a good mix and balance corresponding to the theme, instead
put in a random mix of their own personal favorite artists. The
balance and focus found on the second floor just completely vanishes
as I walk up the stairs.
The actual curatorial work seems therefore quite cluttered, imprecise
and in some cases
even quite blatantly obviously bad. Maybe the fact that the multiple
curators did not seem to have fully come to an agreement, the
governmental censorship and that while viewing the show, several rooms
still being built; just adds to the sense of rehearsal.
Maybe the open ended theme is the perfect cover all the madness that
goes wrong when putting together an international show in China.

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Get It Louder 2010

Nina Boys
Contemporary Art and New Media in China
Blog Entry
11.4.2010

In doing research for my midterm paper I had the opportunity to
visit the "Get It Louder 2010" exhibit which explored the theme of
"Sharism." According to its promotional information, "Sharism
examines the increasingly convoluted relationship between public and
private realms and touches upon issues of collaboration, individual
agency and collective action while serving as a site for negotiating
communal space, both virtual and real." This theme was more overtly
apparent in some works than others but as a whole the exhibit was
compiled of work by young talent, both Chinese and international, that
demonstrated a modern take on the experience of living in a rapidly
changing and technologically driven world and the tensions that arise
from it through a variety of new media. One piece that vividly
portrayed these tensions was a series of photographs taken by Beijing
artist Jiang Pengyi entitled "The Uncovered City" which focused on the
urbanization craze happening in China without regard to external
environment or culture, as if the rapid rate at which his country is
developing is causing a rift between past and future. The photographs
of half-bulldozed buildings with tokens of Chinese culture scattered
about left a lasting impression that modernization is not all
progressive and the sentiment that there is truly is something at
stake. A light instillation called "Scattered Coordinates" by Yao
Chunghan which was essentially a matrix of lights with motion sensors
that were triggered and illuminated the lights as you walk through it.
The sound of the switching of the lights as well as the visual
sensation created a dialogue between the physical of the audience and
the technology it was surrounded with, commenting on the state of
modern society. There was a quote that accompanied this piece that
said "I like to stand watching the overwhelming media information
being wasted away like wind and ocean" that exemplified, along with
other pieces of various media, the concept of "sharism," which left me
more conscious of my surroundings than I had been upon entering the
exhibit.

Get It Louder 2010

Joon Nam
Get It Louder 2010

Get It Louder  2010 was held from October 22 to November 7 at Shanghai
800show this year. Based on the idea of Sharism, the goal of the
exhibition was proclaimed to express today's online sharing
communities and practices.
Ok, ok, putting all the fancy introductions aside, the actual
exhibition was not as impressive as I hoped it to be. With the daring
theme called "Sharism", I expected to see more varieties of medium and
creativity. However, my impression after my visit on the opening day
was that it was just another art exhibition, albeit with younger and
newer artists. Certain works like "The Uncovered City" by Jiang Pengyi
or "Controlled Experiments" by Alice Wang were interesting, yet the
rest, to me, were mediocre. As we have been discussing in the class,
perhaps China's modern art is starting to lose the energy it has had
in the 1980's and early 2000's as it settles from an avant-garde into
a mainstream. Even though the show promised an ambitious goal, I feel
that it did not deliver just quite right.

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on Qiu Zhijie

Qiu Zhijie was born in Zhangzhou in1969, Fujian Province, China. In
2992 he graduated from the Printmaking Department, Zhejiang Academy of
Fine Arts (now China Academy of Art, CAA), Hangzhou. He now lives in
Beijing and Hangzhou and holds two major titles: Associate Professor,
Mixed Medial Art Department, CAA, and Co-Director, Visual Culture
Center, CAA. In his autography, Qiu says that he has been learning
traditional Chinese calligraphy and extensively reading Chinese
history and culture since his childhood. He is a student of Zheng
Yushui in engraving. During his study at CAA, he was influenced by the
New Waves and Joseph Beuys, a German contemporary artist. He got to
know contemporary art and was determined to pursue his career in this
field. Qiu's works range from calligraphy (Writing Lanting A Thousand
Times, 1992), painting (A Suicidology of the Nanjing Yangtze River
Bridge - copperplate: Under the Heaven,) video (Asian Parallel
Times,), internet/interactive art, video installation and sound
installation, etc. In addition, according to his students, Qiu is a
very interesting teacher. In his first class, he usually asks students
to play a "dancing game", in which students are asked to introduce
themselves using their body and dance moves.

Writing Lanting A Thousand Times,1992

Born in Shanghai in 1963, Shi Yong is interested in exploring the
interaction among consumerism, daily life and cultural industry. He
graduated from the art department at Shanghai College of Light
Industry. His wildly known works are "the New Image of Shanghai, 1997"
and "Made in China.1999." which are both interactive art. The images
chosen were based on a poll on the internet. Netizens were asked how
should an ideal citizen look like, and this sculpture is the answer.

The New Image of Shanghai.1997

Interestingly enough, Qiu Zhijie has highly spoken of Shi Yong's work.
To me they are like the representative of China's traditional art and
modern art, which is certainly converging at an accelerating pace.

http://qiuzhijie.com/e-works.htm

http://www.artnow.com.cn/Discuss/Special/SpecialArticle.aspx?c=741&ArticleID=22791

on Kan Xuan

Born in An'hui in 1972, Chinese artist Kan Xuan originally studied
drawing and painting at the China Academy of Fine Arts in Hangzhou.
There she met Zhang Peili, and video installation became her main
choice of medium. She is a well-known, important female artist in
China. Her work is characterized by lightness, humor, and irony. One
of her specific works that interested me, and also one of her
well-known pieces, is "Looking, Looking Looking For..." (2001). It is
similar to her work with the toad series, which was her way to
confront her fear of amphibians by documenting a toad sitting on parts
of her body. Eventually she would skin the toad alive as the final act
of overcoming her fear. In "Looking, Looking Looking For..." Kan Xuan
explores a similar idea with a spider, having it crawl over intimate
areas of people's bodies like their mouths and stomachs. The video
shows a close-up view of the spider so that the viewer is forced to
focus on it, but the close positioning of the camera also only allows
parts of the people's bodies to be visible. This takes away a specific
identity to the person in the video, allowing the viewer to relate his
or her body even more to the one on screen. Accompanying the spider's
movements is a playful tune sung by young children about not being
afraid, and in several shots of the people's faces, smiles and even an
expression of laughter can be seen. I really enjoyed the contrast
between the music and the visual, and although the video made me
uncomfortable—which is probably the artist's intent—I was also too
engrossed to look away.
Other more recent works by Kan Xuan that I found interesting include
Love, which is an altered image of two birds side by side, and I Will
Be Happy? which is a photograph of a person's hand and forearm so that
his or her many beaded bracelets are visible. The bracelets are the
type associated with Buddhism and with bringing positive energy or
good fortunes to the wearer.
http://www.muscreen.com/Kan_Xuan.htm

On Xu Tan and Gu Dexin

Joon Nam
On Xu Tan and Gu Dexin

Xu Tan, or the Big Tail Elephant Group, is an artist group from
Guangdong that mostly responds to the rapid urbanization of Guangzhou.
It was founded by Lin Yilin, Chen Shaoxiong, and Liang Juhui. Xu Tan,
Zheng Guogu, Zhang Haier, and Hou Hanru later joined the group, and
each of the members creates a distinct work of art to address the
issues of urbanization drawn from their experiences in Guangzhou. Some
of their noticeable piece of work includes Chen Shaoxiong's "City
View" in 1999, Liang Juhui's multimedia installation "City", and Lin
Yilin's Installation "Basic Content" in 2002.
I feel that their works reflect not only the issues of urbanization in
Guangzhou, but also of the whole China as well. Historically a
majority-rural, agricultural based nation, China is becoming rapidly
urbanized, expected to tip the 50% mark of population's urbanization
rate by 2015 according to the UN. Clearly, this is introducing new
value and issues that many parts of China have never experienced such
as redevelopment, consumerism, traffic, population and sexual freedom.
These issues have been addressed in the works by Xu Tan, which merits
not only their artistic values, but also their social values.

Gu Dexin is a Beijing born artist who has been active since the
mid-1980's. He soon gained recognition through his provoking pieces of
art such as portraits of colorful aliens. His interests in rotting
materials resulted in exhibitions of site-specific installations
around the world that are made up of decaying materials to reflect
passing of time. Most, if not all, of his works are titled with dates
in which he completed them.
I find Gu Dexin's works quite disgusting, yet catchy exactly because
of the materials that he used to create his works. He sounds like a
guy who does not really care for what others say about his work
(according to the interview he did with Artzine China), and perhaps
that's a part of what made him such an avant-garde artist.

on Wang Xingwei

Minji Kim
18 November 2010

"Wang Xingwei reminds me of those master workers in the old factories
from times gone by, who were able to create something new by
assembling pieces coming from different old machines, just depending
on the function they wanted the newly made tool to have;" this is how
Xie Nanxing, a painter, expresses the unique style of Wang Xingwei. As
Nanxing states, Wang Xingwei is such a multifaceted artist. In his
paintings, Wang keeps changing and developing his styles and as a
result, his works display more diversity than those of other artists.
When looking at his works, they all seem to be done by different
artists since Wang shifts from one style to another as he produces
another work. An interesting fact about his paintings is that the same
man and woman change their identities to surreal golfers, sailors,
hostesses, and nurses, and the reshaping of the identities of
characters produce different moods: sexual, erotic, violent, or
landscape-like, for instance. Wang's works do never conform to one
specific style but create a distinct, unique atmosphere in each one of
them. Some of his pictures are very realistic while some others remain
almost cartoon like. Wang is also known for his inspirations from
cultural and historical references and for his great ability to mix
them together and integrate his new ideas into the combination. What I
found the most interesting in Wang's works was that a number of them
consisted of a "nurse" character. In Nurse and hostess in a raff
(2005), Two nurses (2005), Nurse Playing Badminton (2006), Computer
Nurse (2006), Wang displays a series of a nurse. They all seem to have
a link to each other and I want to explore more of his other works to
find out the behind stories of them.

*sources:
-http://new.artzinechina.com/display_vol_aid334_en.html
-(GALERIE URS MEILE)
http://www.kunstaspekte.de/index.php?tid=30290&action=termin

Liu Jianhua is a very famous ceramic sculptor and installation artist.
Based on his experience in porcelain factories in Jiangxi province,
Liu works for "his interpretations of China's emergence as the factory
floor of the world," and his works often include assembly lines, piles
of electronic waste, and broken porcelain figures. Liu collects the
garbage left over from international trades, such as crates, boxes and
trucks, and creates installations representing China's modernization.
Liu also uses clothing materials to reflect on China's positions in
the global stage. In the series of cheongsamed women, Games (2000),
Obsessive Memories (2000), Plate Scene (2001), and If You Need, Please
Choose (2001), Liu criticizes sexual discrimination against females.
The female sculptures lack arms and heads in many works and those
represent how women are being objectified and disrespected by men in
our society in general. I really like his way of criticizing female
objectification and questioning people's way of treating femininity,
since it gives a strong alert to viewers. Liu is an artist extending
his questions toward politics, the society, and the issues of
individual existence, and producing an analysis of "everyday life."

*sources:
-http://www.artzinechina.com/display_vol_aid517_en.html
-http://www.culturebase.net/artist.php?1487

Lu Chensheng and He An

In 2000, The 3rd Annual Shanghai Biennial was a sign of the continual
movement of the city into the world art scene, as well as a transition
away from the haunting realism of only thrity years prior into the
avant garde. The translated titled of the show was "Uncooperative
Approach," but the English title of the show, simply "Fuck Off." These
coarse titles were obviously made to shock the viewer as well as
represent a new attitude of artists in China that refused to cooperate
with the government's representative ideals. Both Lu Chensheng and He
An were featured in the Biennial.

Lu Chensheng was trained as a photographer at the China National
Academy of Fine Arts, but today works largely in photography and film.
His work crosses the boundary between documentary and fiction,
representing the mysterious with fixed camera angles as well as
techniques of traditional landscape photography. Lu says that in his
work the setting does not matter at all, anything he represents could
take place anywhere. Don't read into these surrealist situations he
dreams up, Lu is intends to make no reflection or critique on reality
but is merely representing his idea of the mysterious. Recently, Lu
extended his art into the creation of a feature length film, "History
of Chemistry Volume 2." The movie was filmed in London (but again,
place is of no difference) and for the first time scripted speech
lends itself to the dramatic quasi-narrative that never quite makes
sense. "History of Chemistry Volume 2" is premiering in Shanghai on
November 18, 2010 at Focus Shanghai.

He An was educated at the Hubei Academy of Fine Arts in photography
but now works primarily in neon lights. He references and collects
ideas from popular culture, the internet, and violence and erotica. He
presents these ideas in a very personal way in order to provoke
reflection. Much of his work has a connection to characters as well as
his desire to interact directly with the viewer. Recently, He had his
first solo show, "What Makes Me Understand What I Know?" He exhibited
neon lights collected from his hometown, Wuhan, that have the same
characters as his father's and his favorite Japanese movie star's
names.

Both Lu and He had a big start to their careers in the 3rd Shanghai
Biennial and their careers are continuing to grow today in Shanghai
and beyond. The artists take very different approaches to their work.
Whereas He is interested in the mysterious and surreal, He embraces
the realistic and seeks to make dialogue and conversation with people
about modern life.

Meredith Rankin

Huang Kui

from Mikael Larsson

Huang Kui, born in 1977 works and lives in Sichuan China.
He had a solo show at his representing gallery Shanghart 2009,
And was featured at the Venice Biennale with a performance called
Does god exist? in 2007.

Huang Kui started his career as a classical painter but has since
moved in to creating more performance and installation based pieces.

Just like for many other Chinese artists, it is at least in English
not easy to find much information about the works. I find almost no
descriptions and therefore have to guess and interpret myself how and
why works are made.

I find a PDF on Shanghart's website where in 2007 Huang Kui describes
his works as if peaces of a story portraying himself as Gong Fu living
A.D 181 – A.D 210.

This persona collects pubic hair from beautiful women, and in Huang
Kui's installation piece without an apparent name, jars of pubic hair
is displayed on black pillars,
While in the background a large triptych oil painting is displayed
showing one large strand of hair. Interesting composition, but really
without knowing more I cant fully understand. Maybe this persona he
created for himself is actually a mirror of his present self? Maybe he
himself is a drunken stalker, collecting girls pubic hair; I don't
know. Possibly.

By Day, By Night”

Minji Kim
Introduction to Contemporary Art and New Media
25 November 2010

Blog Entry

I dare to say that the "By Day, By Night" at Rockbund Art Museum was
the most interesting exhibitions among those I've visited in Shanghai
this semester. Rockbund Art Museum shows off its uniqueness, being the
only contemporary art museum in the Bund area with a long history.
Each floor of the museum was filled with very interesting works of the
world's active artists, but what interested me the most was Nedko
Solakov's I Want Back Home, Said the Frog; it was truly a new world to
me.
Solakov's work took the entire fifth floor of the museum. Solakov took
his journey all the way from Sofia, the capital city of Bulgaria, to
Shanghai with his wife and the dearest toy frog, Joji – and in this
process, he passed through Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, Mongolia
as well. One of the reasons that makes his work fascinating is that he
does not limit himself within one boundary but uses diverse techniques
including sketches, videos, photography, texts, and paintings. To
encounter with his work reminded me of reading a storybook when I was
a child. He vividly recorded 14 days of his journey, using narratives
and providing photographs. The videos he recorded in different places
of the globe, mostly when he was on train, helped me grab the scent of
each city he went. Solakov wittedly used Joji as the main element of
his work, and his explanation of taking Joji to what he was originally
from generated nostalgia at the same time. It also made me think of
taking the similar overnight train trip from Shanghai to Europe.
Honestly, I loved EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS WORK: his handwriting,
photographs, drawings, and a self-introduction written by himself.
This work was the most ADORABLE work I've seen recently!

“By Day, By Night” at the Rockbund Art Museum

Stephanie Hsu

"By Day, By Night" at the Rockbund Art Museum

The Rockbund Art Museum is currently presenting "By Day, By Night, or
Some (Special) Things a Museum Can Do" an exhibition curated by the
internationally acclaimed curator Hou Hanru. "By Day By Night"
showcases the works of nine Chinese and international artists in the
global art scene--Choi Jeong Hwa, Nedko Solakov, Perdo Cabrita Reis,
Sam Samore, Shahzia Sikander, Du Yun, Sun Xun, Tu Weicheng, and Zhou
Tiehai—who have been invited to spend a few weeks in residency to
explore Shanghai and create site-specific works for the exhibition.
The exhibition aims to engage the public in a dialogue with both the
global art world as well as the city of Shanghai about the rapid
economic, social, and cultural changes occurring in their
surroundings.

During our visit to the exhibition last week, our class observed the
diversity of themes, media, and styles of experimentation among the
artworks. The first work that we  looked at (and the one I enjoyed the
most) was Bulgarian artist Nedko Solakov's work "I Want back Home
(Said the Frog)," which occupied the square-ring shape of the gallery
space. The installation consists of video documentation of Solakov's
14-day train journey from Sofia to Shanghai, accompanied by his wife
and a large porcelain frog that the artist had purchased in New York's
Chinatown. Each day of Solakov's trip is depicted by a television
monitor and an accompanying vitrine that showcases the artist's diary
entries, collected souvenirs, sketches, texts, and photos— all of
which create a unique narrative of the artist's experience passing
through Siberia, Moscow, Ulaanbaatar, and Beijing. Solakov's work is
lighthearted and humorous, while demonstrating the artist's sharp
observations and appreciation of the simple details in his changing
daily surroundings.

A Guiding Light- Shanghai Biennale

http://marclafia.wordpress.com/2010/11/08/art-and-its-guiding-light/

Yesterday evening at Copper Union, I saw ‘A Guiding Light’ a 22 minute diptych video commissioned by Performa, for the Shanghai Biennal. What we see is 6, 7 attractive and well spoken artists speak to the role of the art exhibition, the artist and public. The setting is a sound stage and the format the self-examining, self absorption familiar to both an artist round table talk and the soap opera. In this soap, the actors, the artists are in search of an outside or a definition of the inside in which they are, which is the international or globalized art circuit.

The point of departure is the site and occasion of the art exhibition (The Shanghai Biennale) and the knowing torpor and malaise it occasions because no matter what one’s tact, one’s work, even if it’s a critique becomes spectacle recuperated by capital. This malaise produced by a longing to define, even inhabit an outside by artists, perhaps romantically, only reproduces and further engenders the very thing it wants to resist. Like the film, Exterminating Angel of Bunuel, the art exhibition and the artist’s work is within an entrapment and as such is the setting and endemic condition of the soap opera.

You can’t find a way out of a soap opera, and any way out or form of being and suffering through it is from the perspective of those outside, a self-pitying, a soap. What then, who then are we are and what are we doing, we, that are named artists. What is this condition of looking for A Guiding Light?

This condition of how to live, how to work frames and propels the desire to find an opening, a way to change or accept this condition. What is the way to carry one’s self in this soap opera?

The conversation looks back at the advent of the condition of the modern artist, who by the mid nineteenth century, no longer with a patron, becomes but another wage earner, though a special kind. But just what kind? So two positions are staked out around which the conversation turns. One voiced by the very attractive Bosko, who seeks out alterity, a space outside art defined by the exhibition and its attendant institutions, a space that meets the public, touches and is in touch with the everyman, an otherness that might escape globalization. The other by Shuddhabrata, posed and erudite, who suggests the artist feel comfortable as a wage earner and as such, feel no shame in earning a wage, and in being in the cog of capital and the swell of globalization. Along this line the others suggest that the artist be thought of as a practitioner, a doctor, a lawyer, a worker like any other. This as much so that the artist not be placed outside by either themselves or the public by a type casting that places them in the romantic idea of the artist and outside society. An outside, they argue which does not exist.

The group of contemporary artists, if not understood by the general public, ask then how to position themselves in their ‘work’ and with their work, vis a vis the public. Should they lobby to be thought of as a cognitive class toiling in the realm of representations, deconstructions, scenarios and situations. Shuddhabrata suggest they see themselves as a privileged aristocratic elite, the artist being an exemplary human, living precarity. Theirs is a living in the vanguard, whose erudition and elan give definition and example of how live to be alive, to be noble. The world will go on being the world, but the artist’s role is to live in the fullness of all its contradictions and definitions.

Returning then to its point of the departure, the exhibition then is a complex site and situation, on the go and contingent, a site in the flux of market forces and global capital. Its artists, curators, institutions, patrons, collectors, academics and public will keep the conversation going. The Guiding Light asks what is this conversation and where is it going. At this moment, too self-critical (perhaps) and too keenly aware of the fatigue of self, institutional and society critique, we find ourselves, like in the Bunuel film mentioned above, inexplicably unable to leave. This I think is a very knowing critique of this formally very astute piece. Where is there to leave as we always return to questions of how to live, how to think, how to feel and imagine ourselves and the world, and in turn how to act and make the world.

Xu Zhen

Xu Zhen is a Shanghai-based artist who experiments with a wide variety of art forms, including installations, video performances, photography, and paintings. His works are also widely featured on the international stage, such as the Venice Biennale (2001, 2005), and the Museum of Modern Art in New York (2004). He has also curates many shows in his career. Xu Zhen was the head of the BIzArt, a Shanghai based art organization that also creates a wide variety of art. He is currently the head of the MadeIn company, which has taken over the exhibition space at the M50 in Shanghai in the place of the
BizArt Space. The MadeIn company’s works mainly respond to world issues. For example, their works that are displayed at the 2010 Shanghai Biennale are mainly responses to the media that shapes today’s reality.
Xu Zhen’s art tends to challenge social norms. An example of Xu Zhen’s creativity is his video installation “8.848-1.86” (2005) documents an expedition to Mount Everest. Here, he removed 1.86 meters of the mountain’s peak and transported it home to be exhibited in a large display cabinet, which represents the extent he will go to oppose social and cultural norms.

Looking at the 2010 Shanghai Biennial

The Shanghai Biennial (curators Fan Di'an, Li Lei, Hua Yi and Gao Shiming), carrying the theme of “Rehearsal,” showcases many artists’ work from both China and overseas.

The first floor’s exhibitions are more strongly tied to the theme of Rehearsal (which aims to discuss and contemplate on the meaning of contemporary art). Featured works include those from Zhang Huan, Liu Xiaodong, The Long March Project, the MadeIn Company. I particularly liked the works in The Spread series from the Madeln Company, headed by Xu Zhen, particularly impressed me for its meaning. The works from this series, which claims to use the “media as a medium…to create media,” come together as a collage of paintings that represents both media and reality (the painting of the windows desktop screen with the clouds forming Kar Marx’s head is representative of this as the desktop screen represents the media and Karl Marx represents the ideology that has shaped the socio-economic-political conditions of China today). On a side note, Guan Wei’s works on modifying ancient Chinese landscape maps also adds an interesting combination between more traditional and modern art.

The next few floors display many interesting works, but do not flow as coherently as those on the first floor. For example, Yves Bernard and Yannick Antoine’s “The Gate” combines ancient Chinese painting elements and concepts such as ink paintings and more modern concepts, but does not really contribute to reviewing or reinventing contemporary art.