Group Exhibition Museum of Contemporary Art, Yinchuan
Conceived with the aim of measuring itself against a specific geo-historic context, and proposed as a form of minor language within the biennale system, Starting from the Desert seeks to respond to contemporary urgencies (not only in China) by adopting an 'archaeological method'. Northwest China is still considered a remote corner, but one which, owing to the historic Silk Road, has been defined through time as a place of great flows, hybridizations and exchange of people, knowledge, languages, technologies, religions, animals, spices and goods.
In relation to the possibility of reducing the Eurasian continent to simple geo-economics, which could well be implied in current large-scale projects, the Second Yinchuan Biennale seeks to read the modalities of 'group-being' at the crossroad of heterogeneous components, as indispensable to a new ecology that intends to emancipate all forms of life. In the search for eco-logics as a new paradigm of transversal thought, the Second Yinchuan Biennale attempts not to reduce these elements to the subject matter, but to utilize them in order to question the limits of the exhibition format, and thus to eventually produce a new eco-model of exhibiting.
From the catalogue -
"The Institute of Critical Zoologists Founded by Robert Zhao Renhui (b. 1982, Singapore), The Institute ofCritical Zoologists pursues interdisciplinary research into the realms ofanimal studies, environmental politics, and aesthetics. Persistentlytwisting reality and 'ction, Zhao’s artistic practice addresses instances ofecological collapse, adaptation, and resilience focusing on the relationshipbetween humans and nature. He appropriates codes and conventions ofdocumentary photography and museum display to compose narrativesthat challenge conventional criteria of objectivity and scienti'c modes ofclassi'cations. In recent years, his work has developed into immersiveinstallations, such us The Bizarre Honour and The Nature Museum (both2017), that merge historical documentation and 'ctional storytellingundermining the very notion of truth.
The four works presented at the Yinchuan Biennale are selected from twodiscrete long-term research projects. Looking for Nature (2017) and Allthe Insects in a House (2017) are part of The Nature Museum, an eclecticcollection of artefacts, images, historical documents, natural specimens,and instruments for the study of nature that cast a critical gaze on thepredicament of our multi-species world. The other two works—3rdChristmas Island Conservation Plan (2016) and Memorial to the Last Caton Christmas Island (2016)—stem from Christmas Island, Naturally, theInstitute’s investigation of the escalating chain of events brought about bythe human presence on Christmas Island. As a result of the accidentalintroduction of invasive species, radical biocontrol measures, including theeradication of feral and stray cats, are being undertaken in an e5ort torestore the environment to a pre-disturbance state." [Anna Lovecchio]
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