Group Exhibition TOP Contemporary Art Center, Shanghai
Participating artists: Chen Xiaoyun, Colin Chinnery, guest, Geng Jianyi, He An, Hu Jieming, Hu Xiangqian, Hu Xiaoyuan, Jiang Zhi, Kan Xuan, Liang Wei, Liang Yuanwei, Liu Chuang, Liu Jianhua, Ma Qiusha, MadeIn Company, Qiu Anxiong, Shao Yi, Shi Qing, Shi Yong, Su Wenxiang, Tang Maohong, TOF (Ding Li, Jin Feng), Wang Sishun, Xiang Liqing, Yang Xinguang, Yang Zhenzhong, Yu Ji, Zhang Ding, Zan Jbai, Zheng Guogu, Zhou Xiaohu, Zhu Yu
Curator: Zan Jbai
Opening: July 21, 2012, Saturday, 16:00-19:00
Exhibition dates: July 22 to August 19, 2012, 11:00-16:00
Venue: Art-Ba-Ba Mobile Space
Temporary address: TOP Contemporary Art Center, 1/F, Bldg 5, 18 Wuwei Rd, Shanghai
T: +86 21 62504569
E-mail: info.art.ba.ba@gmail.com
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Calligraphy, ink painting, architecture… these zombie-like ancestors from the Chinese cultural heritage have been taken over by nowadays’ people, and we remain perplexed on how to deal with them: should we “contemporize” them? Or leave them where they are?
What is for sure is that numbers of exhibitions, which attempted to use contemporary language to explain traditional spirit, appeared as superficial and exasperating. It is almost the same as the recent “Ancestors and Relative Fraternity”, which gathers descendants from the Eight Literary Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties, wearing the Han costume. Therefore, this topic progressively became taboo, and beat about it became the correct attitude.
This exhibition attempts to use the most powerful material restrictions to lead artists to the most incorrect edge of this Truth balance: how to get free of this embarrassing feeling when facing these unrecognizable ‘forefathers’ that have been disguised, embroidered and labeled ‘quintessence of the Chinese culture’?
Should they be killed, so they can live with dignity? Or should they be half-killed half-kept alive?
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