The FLOOR - life is wonderful
September 12-26, 2003: SONG TAO: The FLOOR - life is wonderful
(Opening: September 12, Friday, 6pm, ShanghART Gallery at Park 97, inside Fuxing
Park)
Some sentences about the exhibition on September 12th
Yesterday afternoon, when I was working on the frames for my certificates of
merit, the gallery called me, and asked me to write something about this
exhibition.
At 2:30 p.m. Today, Li Qing and I got onto a taxi. The Nanpu Bridge was as
jammed as usual. At 2:50 p.m., due to the construction at the cross of Xujiahui
Road and North-south Viaduct, I had a little dispute with the taxi driver on
which way we should take. At 2:52 p.m., urged by road and civil construction
workers, we unloaded the speakers and the power amplifier in a hurry. I tried
to call the boss of Luwan Labor’s Cultural Palace, but no one answered. We
carried the speakers and the power amplifier into the building, but the staff in
Luwan Labor’s Cultural Palace told us, impatiently, that the boss was not there,
and asked us to continue to call. I was put through, and the boss said that he
would come in a few minutes. I called Chen Hao, who told me that he was
shopping for video and audio lines and would come here as soon as he picked up
the paint sprayer. One hour later, there came an employee, who helped us to
move the speakers and the power amplifier to the contest stage. We waited another while, but the boss was still out of our sight.
The gallery called again, asking me if I finished that article. I said no, and
I was going to write it tonight. I said sorry because probably I couldn’t make
it very long. And the Gallery said, “Please, please finish it tonight, because
tomorrow will be the deadline.” I promised that I would send it by email as
soon as I finished, and that I would not miss the deadline. Then we started to
play video games, while waiting for the boss. After another half an hour, the
boss was still missing. But Chen Hao came, with lines and paint sprayer. We
played another half an hour of games, and went to Small Chili Restaurant for our
dinner. When dining, the boss called, stating that he would arrive at 7 or 8
o’clock. After dinner, we went to upstairs to continue our games. I fell
asleep at 8 o’clock, thinking about the article about this exhibition in my
dreams. At 8:30p.m., the boss was late again, so we wondered in the game room, tokens at hands. The boos arrived at
9:30p.m.. We had made an appointment at 3:30 p.m. today, to set up the contest
stage and to test audio equipments and video wiring. But the boss asked me to
come at 9:30 p.m. Tomorrow night, and he promised that he would set up the
contest stage according to our requirements. We spent another ten minutes to
describe our expected contest stage in our mind, and went home afterwards. On
the way back home, I was eager to write this article. I arrived home at
10:30 p.m., and started to write this. Now, it is done.
Song Tao, born in 1979, is a young artist of ultimate vitality. His works represent his feelings about the world, with easy and comfortable methods, from perspectives of the young generation grown up in the fast developing China of the 1980's and 90's.
Between January and July of 2003 Song Tao has taken nearly 20,000 photos of daily life in Shanghai. Of them he chose about 3,000 photos to create his work, the 'Floor', for ShanghART's first major exhibition of this autumn.
The black and white photos, mounted on normal wooden parquet floor plates and sealed with hard varnish, cover the whole gallery floor. The walls of the gallery are all empty, in simple white, while intricate stories are exhibited under the feet of the audience. Stepping on the floor full of photos, every visitor is looking for the memory of his/her own.
Song Tao, born 1979 in Shanghai, studied at the Shanghai Arts & Crafts Institute and participated at different exhibitions in Shanghai and Beijing.
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| Song Tao The Floor-Life is wonderful. b&w photos floor parquet 2003 |
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