One Half of August

中文

One Half of August , Yang Fudong Solo Exhibition
Solo Exhibition Parasol Unit Foundation for Contemporary Art, London, U.K.

Date: 09.13, 2011 - 11.06, 2011

Artists: YANG Fudong 杨福东

(Preview 12 September, 6:30-9 pm)

13 September – 6 November 2011

After the resounding success of his first solo exhibition at Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art in 2006, the foundation will dedicate a second major solo show to the renowned Chinese artist and film maker Yang Fudong in September 2011. Yang Fudong is regarded as one of the most important artists to emerge in contemporary China and Parasol unit is delighted to exhibit his most recent multichannel film Fifth Night, 2010 (10 minutes 37 seconds video, multichannel, 7 screens, 35mm black and white film transferred to HD, sound).

Fifth Night is a video-installation composed of seven synchronized projections. The shots are supposed to feature the streets of Shanghai's old town at night. In the middle of the scene with carriages, rickshaws and vintage cars, a stage has been built and a tramway is being frantically repaired. Unrelated characters appear, hesitating men and women attend to their own activities without interaction. The artist uses seven 35 mm cameras which film the same scene from different angles, demonstrating a variation of scale and depths of field. Yang Fudong refers to this new technique as "multiple view film", which emphasises the character's subtle expressions and simplest actions. What the viewer could perceive as separate instances, are actually simultaneously tied together into one scene, expanding and multiplying the spectator's usual vision and perception. As with most of Yang Fudong's works, here again the artist uses images metaphorically.

In addition to Fifth Night, Yang Fudong will create a new work, which will premiere at Parasol unit.

Born in 1971 in Beijing, Yang Fudong lives and works in Shanghai.
Recent exhibitions include Marion Goodman Gallery, Paris, France, and Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney, Australia. Recent solo shows in 2010 include Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel, Switzerland; National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece and Kino Kino, Sandnes, Norway. In 2009 key exhibition included Hara Museum, Tokyo, Japan; Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, USA; MuHKA, Antwerp, Belgium; Zendai Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China. Important group exhibitions include The 52nd International Art Exhibition/ La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy, 2007; The Real Thing: Contemporary Art from China, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, UK, 2007; Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland, Australia, 2006; Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, UK, 2004; Time Zones: Recent Film and Video Art, Tate Modern, London, UK; Chinese Pavilion and Utopia Station, the 50th Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy, 2005.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a new publication.