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.