‘megalopolis’SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT AND TRANSFORMATION IN CONTEMPORARY CHINESE ART

Dysphoria/EuphoriaDestruction/RenewalDystopia/UtopiaDisgust/DelightDespair/Hope Social Engagement - and Zombies!Beauty/Ugliness

Dysphoria (from Greek: δύσφορος (dysphoros), δυσ-, difficult, and φέρειν, to bear) is a profound state of unease or dissatisfaction. In a psychiatric context, dysphoria may accompany depression, anxiety, or agitation

Bu Hua, ‘Beijing Babe Loves Freedom!’

In 2012 China was officially declared more urban than rural. By 2014 more than two hundred and fifty million rural workers had moved to the cities – the largest migration in human history…

Boiled water for sale in Feijiacun village outside Beijing

The world of contemporary Chinese artists is one of contradictions and tensions – between present and past, between local and global, between spiritual and material, real and ideal, collectivism and aspiration…

Monk in the Lama Temple, Beijing, photo LG

But in Beijing, Shanghai and other major Chinese cities, art is everywhere!

China’s transformation…“THE JOURNEY FROM FARM TO CITY IS THE STORY OF CHINA’S TRANSFORMATION FROM A POOR AND BACKWARD COUNTRY TO A GLOBAL ECONOMIC SUPERPOWER.” TOM MILLER, CHINA’S URBAN BILLION

64 million empty apartments in “ghost cities” and new towns…

What’s the deal?How does this impact contemporary art?

Zhou Jie, CBD, 2010, porcelain Beijing on a bed of rice

Yang Yongliang’s Dystopian Visions

Yang Yongliang

Utopia/Dystopia: Case Studies in Contemporary Chinese art practices

Featured Artists Zhang Dali Liu Bolin Chen Qiulin Yao Lu Chen Jiagang Xu Bing Bu Hua Song Dong Gao Rong Cao Fei

And Yang Yongliang

Demolition DerbyARTISTS DOCUMENTING THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE CHINESE URBAN LANDSCAPE

Zhang Dali - Demolition and dialogue, Chaoyangmenwai avenue, Beijing (Number 50), 1998, 23.3 x 35 cm, 1/10

Zhang Dali documented the destruction of old Beijing, with the forced removal of people from their homes and the demolition of traditional neighbourhoods in the years leading up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics

On his return from Italy (where he had fled after Tiananmen) in 1995, Zhang Dali began this series of site-specific graffiti works in areas identified for demolition, featuring his self-portrait bald head in profile, either spray-painted or cut into the walls of derelict abandoned sites.

By intervening in derelict urban spaces, Zhang reclaims them temporarily from their involvement in China’s rapid and dramatic program of modernisation, and also draws attention to “certain contrasts between different political identities and social spaces.” (Art historian Wu Hung)

He draws attention to the contrast between the government’s vision of progressive social change and a “more negative public sense of the ruination of China’s established urban spaces and their associated communities.” (Art and culture theorist Paul Gladston, in ‘Contemporary Chinese Art: A Critical History’)

Local as opposed to global? An interventionist art practice?

According to the artist, immigrant workers who have traveled from the rural areas all over China to earn a living in construction sites in Chinese cities, are the most important members of the Chinese race, who are shaping our physical reality. Yet, they are the faceless crowd who live at the bottom of our society. To cast them in resin is a way to recognize their existence and contribution as well as to capture a fast-changing point of time in the Chinese society. From 2003 to 2005, Zhang has portrayed 100 immigrant workers in life-size resin sculptures of various postures, with a designated number, the artist’s signature and the work’s title “Chinese Offspring” tattooed onto each of their bodies. They are often hung upside down, indicating the uncertainty of their life and their powerlessness in changing their own fates. (Source: Saatchi Gallery)

Chinese Offspring, 2003, at Klein Sun Gallery, NYC

Liu Bolin, ‘Hiding in the City’ series

Chen Qiulin

Chen Qiulin, Still from ‘The Garden’

Chen Jiagang: “When the path to realising the dream of becoming a great nation turns into a pyramid scheme, then the resulting world will consist of one smog city after another.”

Red Cliff (Chongqing) from the ‘Smog City’ series

“I went back to Chongqing, but the whole city, as well as the Three Gorges region and downstream Hubei Province, was cloaked in perpetual smog…Smog has become the marker of the city’s existence, and within that smog, people are unable to make any real distinctions, and this became my new motivation. I set out to capture that society in the smog, to explore how it came about and its symbolic meaning.” (Chen Jiagang)

Xu Bing, ‘Phoenix’

Re-imagining an ancient Chinese motif, Xu offers a view of the “new China” and the labour conditions that support its massive commercial and spatial development

http://williamsrecord.com/2013/01/16/32903/

Now, in the cathedral of St John the Divine, in New York, it has taken on new meanings and a greater significance

The birds are suspended in the air and installed with concealed lighting. At dusk, as the natural light begins to dim, the birds begin to be visibly illuminated from within. At a fixed point during the evening, the lights of the surrounding environment and the lights within the birds suddenly go dark and small LEDs displayed on the surface of the birds light up. At this point, Phoenix, constructed from ready-made materials, becomes the image of a distant, Phoenix-like constellation. The use of waste materials to built the sculpture deals with the idea of recycling, one of the most contemporary concepts in the context of sustainable economy.

http://www.artforworldexpo.com/InitialProject/works_50_XuBing.html

‘Phoenix’ a documentary by Daniel Traub https://vimeo.com/64178206

Yao Lu – the poetics of trash

State of PlayTHE IMAGINARY, THE VIRTUAL, AND THE FANTASTICAL: ARTISTS RESPOND TO THEIR TRANSFORMING WORLDS

A City of Biscuits…

Song DongEating the City

The installation, Eating the City, is an exploration of the dramatic growth of cities, particular in Asia, and the resulting sameness. "In the future travelling will be an ancient tradition. I'm from Beijing which today feels no different to Shanghai or Hong Kong," Song Dong says.

Gao Rong“I am a sculptor who uses embroidery, not an embroiderer!”

Gao Rong. What Type of Car Can a Motor-Tricycle be Exchanged For?, 2013; embroidery, cloth, wooden board, iron shelf, leather, and plastic; 70 7/8 x 76 3/4 x 37 3/8 in. (180 x 195 x 95 cm). Image courtesy the Artist.

Cao Fei, ‘Cosplay’ series

RMB City – a world in Second Life

Cao Fei, ‘Whose Utopia?’

Zombies in Beijing….

“Yes, we are living in end times. But the “end of time” cannot be measured by time, or by latitude and longitude. “It” is heading towards end and death. We “perceive” the climate changes before the whole system crashes, but we are unable to describe the feeling. Except for this, there are no anthropological, phenomenological, or statistical methods to show that we are on the way to apocalypse. Just like a volcanic eruption, an apocalypse is unpredictable. The end also means the beginning of something else.”

And so?WHY SHOULD WE CARE ABOUT ALL THIS?

Case Studies in Stage 6JOINING IT ALL TOGETHER

What are we connecting?

Investigations of art and artists Generating authentic engagement Using the art of the Asia Pacific region Differentiation Building Literacy Authentic models of practice Connecting to the artworld Preparation for THAT exam

“Aaaaargh! How to do all this?”

Step by Step Start with the ‘hook’ for your students –

engaging, fascinating contemporary artworks that will intrigue them

Use authentic sources such as the Venice Biennale (Cao Fei and Xu Bing selected for 2015!) The MCA, White Rabbit Gallery, The Asia Pacific Triennial at QAGOMA, regional galleries – and social media!

Try Ocula - http://ocula.com/

Make a case study

One artist, or a pair of artistsA group of artistsA gallery or exhibition – White

Rabbit? APT at QAGOMA?A journal – Artist Profile, Art &

AustraliaA ‘hot topic’!

Case studies and readings about contemporary Chinese artists

My website: www.teachingchineseart.com

Thank you / Xie Xie! / 谢谢