|
This exhibition curated by Yang Shin-Yi
invites four emerging young Chinese artists - Cao Fei, Liang Yue,
Xu Zhen, and Yang Fudong - to investigate the hidden “feverish
unconscious” occurring in the technologically driven environment
of China today.
China opened its doors to the global community in the early 1980’s
only to close its doors again for two years after the Tiananmen
incident. Since the end of 1992 they have reopened with an accelerated
and ‘frenzied’ pace through constant contact with the
global consumption of technology. Within a short time span, socialist
China has transformed its cultural identity and social structure
to adapt to Western consumerism and the global consumer culture,
impacting the way the Chinese masses regard themselves as global
citizens. It is in the wake of this new globalization that contemporary
Chinese artists are driven to experiment, striving to create and
document this historical transformation which is unprecedented in
Chinese history. At the nexus lies an underlying fearfulness which
does much to explain contemporary Chinese art. It can be described
as “feverish unconscious” where great efforts to quickly
absorb and disseminate new information are haunted by the socialist
past of revolutionary culture, revealing a suspicious response to
the globalized future.
Yang Fudong and Xu Zhen are both living in Shanghai
and were both recently included in the Venice Biennale. Yang Fudong
participated in the 11th Documenta (Kassel, 2002). He is regarded
as one of the most important video artists of this generation, attracting
attention at the Venice Biennale with his narrative documentary
capturing the daily life of a young couple with their attitudes
towards love, family, career and their future ideals. Xu Zhen creates
scenarios as in his video Scream 1999 in which, uttering a strange
cry in various public spaces, he captures the unexpected reactions
of passers by posed by such acts.
Cao Fei and Liang Yue are considered by many the most
interesting female video artists working today. Cao Fei has chosen
video to experience interactive performance. In her video Chain,
2000 which was shot without a script but adopts imagery from a TV
program on medicine, she creates a satirical surgical performance
where ludicrously made up actors donning medical garb are asked
to perform movements in a mechanical and dance-like fashion. Here
imitativeness, contradictoriness, absurdity and truthfulness, meaninglessly
generate serious resistance and conflicts in what is normally a
particularly difficult and personal human experience. In the controversial
exhibition entitled “Fuck Off” held in Shanghai in 2000,
Liang Yue a member of an avante garde musical group exhibited her
three-minute video documenting the simplistic daily ritual of someone
showering which she then transferred into 130 pictures.
These artists will be included in a group exhibition
entitled China Now which is curated by Barbara London and will be
held at MoMA Film at The Gramercy Theater in the middle of February.
|
cfa@chambersfineart.com
