Article
Chinese avantgarde photos
Chen Shaoxiong is a young installation artist, reflecting modern China - with video, photo, etc.
Chen Shaoxiong is one of China´s best known conceptual artists. In his work he shows that the large amount of visual information a person is used to absorb can cause a wrong image of reality.
In a series of his photographs you think you see an ´ordinary´ street view, but in the meantime a maquette, that also contains elements of a streetview, influences the sight. The viewer is fooled and ´punished´ for his bias.
Chen Shaoxiong showed various clips of manipulated video images named Windows 2002, clearly meant as mimicry of Microsoft products. The video images show different scenes of aeroplanes crashing into high-rise buildings, and yet none of them cause devastation. The aeroplanes metamorphose into something else as they approach buildings, or the buildings reshape themselves to avoid the collisions. It is to propose various means of manoeuvring against terrorism, as the artist has stated. That said, it would be more appropriate to consider the piece as an irony directed against the media sensationalism that is a predominant constituent of our synthetic reality.
Chen Shaoxiong´s statement about his works:
"Like a person can´t jump into the same river twice, I can´t see the same scenery while looking into the window in my house. Everything in this city is temporary: streets, buildings, shopping centres, train station, airport, transit ways, trees, road marks and etc; even the crowds. No matter permanent or temporary residents, nothing is fixed. Everything changes easily just like altering a telephone number.
I try to use my photography to fix these moving objects, and then put these fixed images back to the moving backgrounds. These moments (things) either meet or by-pass each other in this world, it doesn´t really matter. I would like to replay this chaotic logic, these uncontrollable rules and its confusing magic. Just because I still have a bit of passion to this world and would like to share this passion with every single object of the world, I have to record what I have seen. As a witness myself, I would like to keep the memory of my life inside my built-up small-scale country, or to build a scenery monument for this ever changing city.
Since seeing scenery at a window is a kind of tourism, my works can also be called an opposite kind (a city travelling in people, or people travelling in a city) when they are put into an exhibition space in a foreign country. Since we build a city according to some existing rules; we feel the same strangeness of our own city as foreign ones; we want to be modern; we want to join the WTO and we want everything that this world can offer, I would like my works of street images in China to be associated with Bangkok, Tokyo and other big cities alike. If so, I can provide a better dream for such a globalization".
In a series of his photographs you think you see an ´ordinary´ street view, but in the meantime a maquette, that also contains elements of a streetview, influences the sight. The viewer is fooled and ´punished´ for his bias.
Chen Shaoxiong showed various clips of manipulated video images named Windows 2002, clearly meant as mimicry of Microsoft products. The video images show different scenes of aeroplanes crashing into high-rise buildings, and yet none of them cause devastation. The aeroplanes metamorphose into something else as they approach buildings, or the buildings reshape themselves to avoid the collisions. It is to propose various means of manoeuvring against terrorism, as the artist has stated. That said, it would be more appropriate to consider the piece as an irony directed against the media sensationalism that is a predominant constituent of our synthetic reality.
Chen Shaoxiong´s statement about his works:
"Like a person can´t jump into the same river twice, I can´t see the same scenery while looking into the window in my house. Everything in this city is temporary: streets, buildings, shopping centres, train station, airport, transit ways, trees, road marks and etc; even the crowds. No matter permanent or temporary residents, nothing is fixed. Everything changes easily just like altering a telephone number.
I try to use my photography to fix these moving objects, and then put these fixed images back to the moving backgrounds. These moments (things) either meet or by-pass each other in this world, it doesn´t really matter. I would like to replay this chaotic logic, these uncontrollable rules and its confusing magic. Just because I still have a bit of passion to this world and would like to share this passion with every single object of the world, I have to record what I have seen. As a witness myself, I would like to keep the memory of my life inside my built-up small-scale country, or to build a scenery monument for this ever changing city.
Since seeing scenery at a window is a kind of tourism, my works can also be called an opposite kind (a city travelling in people, or people travelling in a city) when they are put into an exhibition space in a foreign country. Since we build a city according to some existing rules; we feel the same strangeness of our own city as foreign ones; we want to be modern; we want to join the WTO and we want everything that this world can offer, I would like my works of street images in China to be associated with Bangkok, Tokyo and other big cities alike. If so, I can provide a better dream for such a globalization".
Author: Karin Bergquist
Bio
1962: Born in Shantou, Guangdong Province, PR China
1984: Graduated from the print department of Guangzhou Fine Art Academy
1984-continuing: Teaching at Guangdong Art Normal School
1991: Formed" Big Tail Elephant Group" with Lin Yilin, Liang Juhui
Lives and works in Guangzhou
Solo Exhibitions (Choice)
2006
“Guangdongtokyo“, Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo, Japan
2005
“Chen Shaoxiong: Ink City - New Works”, The CourtYard Gallery, Beijing, China
“Double Landscape”, Grace Alexander Contemporary Art Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland
2004
“Anti-C.S.X.”, Vitamin Creative Space, Guangzhou, China
“Making Differences“, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, Sweden
Group Exhibitions (Choice)
2006
“China - Between Past and Future“, House of World Cultures, Berlin, Germany
“Regeneration“, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, USA
“China Group”, The Hospital, London, Great Britain
2005
“China! China!! China!!!“, Grace Alexander Contemporary Art Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland
“Video from the Haudens“, ShanghART Gallery, Shanghai, China
“Mirror Worlds”, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney, Australia
“Guangzhou Triennial 2005“, Guangzhou Triennial, Guangzhou, China
“Regeneration“, Arizona State University Art Museum, Phoenix, USA
“Between Past and Future“, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA
“Between Past and Future“, Smart Museum, Chicago, USA
“Between Past and Future“, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Great Britain
“Tirana Biennial 3“, Biennial Tirana, Tirana, Albania
“China: Crossroads of Culture / Follow Me!“, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
“A Strange Heaven“, Helsinki City Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland
“Mahjong - Chinesische Gegenwartskunst“, Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern, Switzerland
“Between Past and Future“, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, USA
“In-Between Realities“, Shanghai Gallery of Art, Shanghai, China
2004
“GAP - Fünf Künstler aus China“, Kunstverein Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
“Between Past and Future“, International Center of Photography, New York, USA
“All Under Heaven - China Now!“, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerp, Belgium
“Zooming into Focus“, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
“Is It Art? - Black Show”, Noanoa Center, Xian, China
“A l´Ouest du Sud de l´Est - L´annee de la chine“, CRAC Languedoc Roussillon-Septimanie, Sete, France
2003
“A Strange Heaven“, Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, Czechia
“50. Biennial Venice 2003“, Biennial Venice, Venice, Italy
“Under Construction: New Dimensions of Asian Art“, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2002
“Shanghai Biennial 2002“, Shanghai Biennial, Shanghai, China
“Guangzhou Triennial 2002“, Guangzhou Triennial, Guangzhou, China
2001
“Living in Time / Shenghuo zai Cishi“, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany
2000
“International Contemporary Art Festival 2000”, Pusan Metropolitan Museum of Art, Pusan, South Korea
“Fuck Off”, Eastlink Gallery, Shanghai, China
1999
“Concepts, Colors and Passions”, China Art Archives & Warehouse (CAAW), Beijing, China
“Fast Forward - New Chinese Video Art”, Contemporary Art Center, Macau, China
1984: Graduated from the print department of Guangzhou Fine Art Academy
1984-continuing: Teaching at Guangdong Art Normal School
1991: Formed" Big Tail Elephant Group" with Lin Yilin, Liang Juhui
Lives and works in Guangzhou
Solo Exhibitions (Choice)
2006
“Guangdongtokyo“, Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo, Japan
2005
“Chen Shaoxiong: Ink City - New Works”, The CourtYard Gallery, Beijing, China
“Double Landscape”, Grace Alexander Contemporary Art Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland
2004
“Anti-C.S.X.”, Vitamin Creative Space, Guangzhou, China
“Making Differences“, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, Sweden
Group Exhibitions (Choice)
2006
“China - Between Past and Future“, House of World Cultures, Berlin, Germany
“Regeneration“, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, USA
“China Group”, The Hospital, London, Great Britain
2005
“China! China!! China!!!“, Grace Alexander Contemporary Art Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland
“Video from the Haudens“, ShanghART Gallery, Shanghai, China
“Mirror Worlds”, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney, Australia
“Guangzhou Triennial 2005“, Guangzhou Triennial, Guangzhou, China
“Regeneration“, Arizona State University Art Museum, Phoenix, USA
“Between Past and Future“, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA
“Between Past and Future“, Smart Museum, Chicago, USA
“Between Past and Future“, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Great Britain
“Tirana Biennial 3“, Biennial Tirana, Tirana, Albania
“China: Crossroads of Culture / Follow Me!“, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
“A Strange Heaven“, Helsinki City Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland
“Mahjong - Chinesische Gegenwartskunst“, Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern, Switzerland
“Between Past and Future“, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, USA
“In-Between Realities“, Shanghai Gallery of Art, Shanghai, China
2004
“GAP - Fünf Künstler aus China“, Kunstverein Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
“Between Past and Future“, International Center of Photography, New York, USA
“All Under Heaven - China Now!“, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerp, Belgium
“Zooming into Focus“, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
“Is It Art? - Black Show”, Noanoa Center, Xian, China
“A l´Ouest du Sud de l´Est - L´annee de la chine“, CRAC Languedoc Roussillon-Septimanie, Sete, France
2003
“A Strange Heaven“, Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, Czechia
“50. Biennial Venice 2003“, Biennial Venice, Venice, Italy
“Under Construction: New Dimensions of Asian Art“, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2002
“Shanghai Biennial 2002“, Shanghai Biennial, Shanghai, China
“Guangzhou Triennial 2002“, Guangzhou Triennial, Guangzhou, China
2001
“Living in Time / Shenghuo zai Cishi“, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany
2000
“International Contemporary Art Festival 2000”, Pusan Metropolitan Museum of Art, Pusan, South Korea
“Fuck Off”, Eastlink Gallery, Shanghai, China
1999
“Concepts, Colors and Passions”, China Art Archives & Warehouse (CAAW), Beijing, China
“Fast Forward - New Chinese Video Art”, Contemporary Art Center, Macau, China
Works
Selected Recent Exhibitions
Exhibition / Installation,
2002
2002: Sorry for the inconvenience: Under Construction, Si-Am Art Space, Bangkok, Thailand
Pause-Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, Korea
New Internationalism, Kunstforeningen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Moist-Multimedia Art Asia Pacific, The Art Museum of China Millenium Monument, Beijing, China
Reinterpretation: A Decade of Experimental Chinese Art, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
Urban Creation, Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai
Under Construction, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Japan Synthetic Reality, East Modern Art Centre, Beijing, China
2001: New media Art of China, Loft New-Media Art Space, Beijing, China City Slang, He Xiangning Museum, Shenzhen, China
Chinese Photography Now, Canvas International Art, Amsterdam, Holland and
Art Chicago, Chicago, USA
Living in Time, National Gallery Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany
The New-Media Art Festival: Non-Linear Narrative, National Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China
2000: Our Chinese Friends, Bauhaus-University and ACC Gallery, Weimar, Germany Multimedia Art Asia Pacific 2000 Festival, Brisbane Powerhouse, Australia
Pusan International Contemporary Art Festival 2000, Pusan Metropolitan Museum of Art, Korea
Fuck off, Eastlink Gallery, Shanghai, China
2nd Festival International;Arts Multimedia, Urbains Belfort, France
1999: Cities on the Move 4,5,6,7: Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark, Hayward Gallery, London, United Kingdom, Bangkok, The Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki, Finland
Fast Forward: New Chinese Video Art, Contemporary Art Center, Macau
Art For Sale, Shanghai, China
9th International Photography Biennial, Image Center, Mexico
8th Biennial of Moving Images, Saint-Gervais, Geneva, Schwitzerland
Projects
This artist took part in the following project(s) organized/funded by the culturebase.net partner institutions.
Images of Asia
(08 August 03 - 26 September 03)
