“Make Over Exhibition” at the Oriental Vista Gallery

Christina Xiong

Artist names: Bird Head, Chen Hangfeng, Jutta Friedrichs, Gao Mingyan,
Ben Houge, Jiang Hongqing,

 Ji Wenyu, Jin Feng, Maya Kramer, Lu Jiawei, Ning Zuohong, Qiu
Anxiong, Christina Shmigel, Su Chang, Wu Ding

The entrance and appearance of the gallery itself is a piece of art.
From its barbed wire, camouflage print, goldfish, and sacks forming a
barricade around the automatic front door, I expected the Make Over
exhibition to be unique, modern and an artist's innovative approach to
expression. Unlike the Propaganda Poster Art Collection, the pieces at
Make Over invited a lot more interaction with guests. Whereas the
slogans and pictures portrayed on the Propaganda posters were blatant
and obvious with respect to Chinese history and the major events
occurring during the same time period.

Make Over Exhibit, OV Gallery

The Make Over exhibit in the OV Gallery is very unique in that it responds to all of the changes taking place in the city of Shanghai for the World Expo. Before entering the gallery, I was confronted with a military base-like façade by Gao Mingyan and a surreal, blue display window of fish swimming in bags and a gigantic wine glass by Ning Zuohong. To get to the door and enter the gallery, I had to step over a pile of sandbags. Once inside, I felt like I was in a calmer world than what the outer appearance had me expecting. The only noise I could hear was the sound of the bubble machine making bubbles in “Bubble City Bubble Life” by Chen Hangfeng. The work “Paved Landscapes” by Jutta Friedrichs evoked happy thoughts from me because of the bright colored objects and the flowers, but I found out later that the work actually symbolized the destruction of self-sustaining vendors in exchange for a prettier image that requires constant maintenance. The work that seemed to pull the mood of the exhibit together was the “Tang Dynasty Poem” by Bird Head. Black and white photographs of single characters were taken from store signs to write the Tang Dynasty poem “On Mounting Youzhou Terrace” by Chen Zi-ang. All of the works in the Make Over exhibit deal with the controversies surrounding Shanghai’s rapid make over. Many of the changes that have taken place to fix the city’s image have happened away from public eyes, but the Make Over exhibit reveals a bit of what’s really happening to not only the city, but also to the people.

Shanghai Expo-related: Double Infinity opens

Save the date Thursday, April 29, 4PM, for the opening of
Double Infinity, a collaborative encounter between a northwest
European museum, the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, the Netherlands and
Arthub Asia in Shanghai.

The works exhibited are drawn in part from the Van Abbemuseum's
collection and in part responded to by artists at the invitation of
Arthub Asia. The dynamic contributions of these artists will be in
direct dialogue with a selection of the museum's permanent collection.
The performance and lecture programmes draws on a mix of issues on
architecture, urban planning, and cultural politics. Save your weekend
of May 15th and 16th for a weekend of intense public programming.

Participating artists include: Surasi Kusolwong, Zhou Xiaohu, Dick El
Demasiado, Johanna Billing, Stanley Brouwn, El Lissitzky, David
Maljkovic, Lara Almacergui, Job Koelewijn, John Körmeling, Julika
Rudelius, Alicia Framis, Cao Fei, Xijing Men Collective (Chen
Shaoxiong, Gimhongsok, Tsuyoshi Okazawa), Comfortable Collective, Liu
Gang, Speedism, Wang Zhenfei & Wang Luming (HHD_FUN), Xu Tan.

Double Infinity runs from the 29th of April 4PM, the time when Zhou
Xiaohu's performance kicks in, to the 23rd of May. More details will
follow.

ArtHub is a multi-disciplinary organization devoted to contemporary
art creation in China and rest of Asia. In collaboration with museums
and other public / private spaces and institutions, it initiates and
delivers ambitious art projects through a sustained dialogue with
visual, performance, and new media artists.