M50-Art for sale, hair for sale?

I realized that I have not posted my reaction to M50, so here it is!

Moganshan 50 was very pleasant because it was definitely the other spectrum from the stiff institutionalized aura of the Shanghai Biennale. Walking through M50, I almost forgot I was in China—no overwhelming herds of people pushing you out of their way, no loud and dangerous cars and bicycles zooming by, etc. Instead M50 was this little town with little galleries and cafes—very serene and pretty. The only thing that I thought was pretty unfortunate and weird was that barely anyone was there. Where are the people? It was almost deserted, which is such a shame because it is such a cozy little area with great artists and great art works.

Personally Wenda Gu was the most enjoyable among Bizart, Wenda Gu, and Ding Yi. I think this is because since I have no background in art but instead have a background in business, I appreciate and understand best things when they have logical and analytical implications. I am in no way implying that Bizart and Ding Yi have no meaning. All I am saying is that I understood the concepts and intentions behind Wenda Gu’s the best.

I thought Wenda Gu’s incorporation of hair from all over the world was so unique. The “United Nations” hairpiece explored such valuable concepts that are increasingly becoming more significant in today’s society as all of the countries are becoming more and more interdependent, socially, politically, and economically. this collective interweaving relationship among all parts of the world creates an inevitable clashing of social norms, way of life, way of thinking—in other words, cultures. Using hairs from all parts of the globe explores such concepts of culture, ethnicity, unity of the world, nationalism, etc. Also, how did he think of grinding the hair up to make ink that he can use to paint his works? I thought that was absolutely brilliant. I also loved his fictional Chinese characters, because he was trying to say how original meanings between two languages get lost in translation. However, his idea was that this is not a bad thing because this newly derived meaning from this loss of translation creates a whole valuable meaning in itself. I thought that was a very intelligent way to think about it.

I also found the Bizart presentation about the Art for Sale “Supermarket” Exibition of 1999 to be unconventional—at least in the world of contemporary art that I have been exposed to so far. First, I think this exhibition was meaningful because if you think about it, it could be seen as a direct reaction to Shanghai’s identity as this commerce-driven city where shopping malls pop up everyday like new temples. This exhibition seemed to explore the nature of consumerism/consumption in dialogue with the art world. This created a very unconventional and unique dialogue between contemporary art and its public; the art scene met the public in their world, in their everyday consumer role instead of the other way around.

Overall, I loved the environment created my M50. It is unlike the Shanghai Biennale, which I felt lacked that authentic quality. I mean, just as Ding Yi said, the Shanghai Biennale’s art works were created for the purpose of the Biennale’s designated theme. He said a lot of them didn’t start working on their work until the theme was decided, which negatively restricts the artists’ creative aspect.

Again, I think M50 is such a promising place for the contemporary art scene in Shanghai. I wish it could be promoted more because it is such an enjoyable and real, authentic place for art.

three openings this Saturday

Saturday openings:

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Zhao Qin

26 April - 17 May 2008

Eastlink Gallery

Floor 5, Building 6

50 Moganshan Lu

Opening: Saturday, April 26, 6pm

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There is also an opening at Ophoto that day at M50.

http://www.ofoto-gallery.com/

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And the most interesting one seems it will be:

Art Multiple

_ first presented art multiple exhibition in China

Art For Everybody

Time: April 26, 2008 – May 12, 2008

Opening: 19:30 April 26, 2008.

Place: Ke Center for the Contemporary Arts

Artists Participating:

Gao Mingyan, Gu Wenda, Hu Jieming, Liu Ding, Birdhead, Sun Ling, Yang Yong, Zhang Enli, Zhang Jianjun, Adad Hannah, Agathe de Bailliencourt, Ho Tzu Nyen, Josefina Posch, Sandrine Ilouquet, Susanne M.Winterling, Vibeke Jensen, Will Kwan, Zulkifle Mahmod, La Mas Bella, Ted Noten, Hannah Louise Lammb, Julia de Ville, Chang young chia, Vincent Leong, Miljohn Ruperto, Wu Gao Zhong, Jin Feng, Hipic

http://www.kecenter.org/mini/multiple/en/a.html

"Art Multiple 2008 exhibition" will be first presented in April, 2008 at Ke Center for Contemporary Arts. Exhibition will present 35 artists from 10 different countries and areas all around the world. Nearly 200 art works will be showed. Which includes artists' exhibited works, specially commissioned works for Art Multiple and multipes of contemporary art works collected by famous international art institutions.

Art Multiple concept refers to the art works with relatively bigger editions determined by artist . This concept of multiple gives possibility of reaching higher audience and appreciation as well as possibility of collecting work for relatively affordable price trying to have contemporary art get out of its small circle of privileged. Abroad art multiple concept developed early in 60's and till today there are many galleries and institutions specialized in presenting multiples

Ke Center for Contemporary Arts through exhibition in April introduces concept to China and establishes first Art Multiple Supermarket in Shanghai hoping to make art for everyone possible

In the period of boom of Chinese art market and price increase from sale to sale, where small group of artists sells work for million dollars, where still collecting is taken for most of the buyers as a short term investment, Multiple provides new possibility in art market and artistic expression, that art works can be affordable to larger group of people and that anyone can be collector

This new concept at the same time works as an educating tool for new collectors in China and new collecting strategies in general.

During exhibition period different lectures and workshop will be held related to Art Multiple concept.

Ke Center for the Contemporary Arts will invite specialists work in the field of contemporary art market research to give talks.

We hope to introduce contemporary art into a larger crowd and to cultivate new collectors and a new way of collection.

Multiple as a type of art making and art collecting is not new concept. Concept started developing with Duchamp's ready mades objects in early decades of twentieth century.

Duchamp developed the term readymade in 1915 to refer to found objects chosen by the artist as art. Produced object-such as his Fountain (1917), a urinal that he turned on its side, signed "R. Mutt," Duchamp asserted that there was no longer a fundamental difference between making art and naming art. By the early 1960s many of Duchamp's readymades had taken the form of authorized, limited edition, handcrafted replicas and were considered valuable works of art that seemed to contradict their original intention.

In the 1950s and 1960s the term multiple came to be applied to a new type of art object that, while intended to be produced in numerous copies, fell outside the parameters of such traditional forms as printmaking and cast sculpture. Often fabricated using the materials and techniques of mass production, these objects typically existed in very large, or even unlimited, editions. Unlike painting and sculpture, or even traditional fine art printmaking, the multiple engaged directly with the conditions of industrial production, mass communication, and an increasingly global economy.

For the artists of the international avant-garde known as Fluxus, the multiple presented a means to revive and reformulate the readymade's critique of aesthetic autonomy. Fluxus sought to dethrone "serious" culture by creating objects and performances demonstrating that, as Maciunas said, "Anything can be art and anyone can do it."

Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) also looked to the readymade as he sought to bring art and life into closer proximity. For Beuys, the readymade became part of a larger effort to reinvest artistic activity with metaphorical, ritual, and even spiritual significance.

Although they often differed in their choice of strategies, Beuys and Maciunas shared many of the same goals including using art as a means of realizing social and political change, recognizing the importance of collective action, and eliminating the boundary between art and life. The production of multiples played a key role these efforts, often acting as a mediator between the production of objects and a growing emphasis on artistic process and action unfolding in real time.

Beuys, for his part, referred to his multiples both as vehicles for the spreading of ideas and as anchors that encouraged people to make connections between objects and across media.

It is certainly true of both Beuys and Fluxus multiples that the significance of a group of objects is almost always greater than the sum of its parts. Efforts of both Beuys and Maciunas to transform the ways in which art is exhibited and distributed."

In 1990's, artists Sarah Lucas and Tracey Emin took over a disused shop in London's East End and, with other artists friends including Damien Hirst, sold T-shirts, mugs and other customised items as works of art. This artist-led approach to selling art directly to the public not only re-popularised the artists multiple, but was a key moment in the subsequent Young British Artist era, culminating in the Saatchi collected "Sensation" exhibition.

Art multiple concept is to make contemporary art accessible to more people from collecting art point of view to spreading artists ideas