After Reality

2012 - Film & Video (Film & Video)

13:10 minutes

Zhou Tao


After Reality is a video by Zhou Tao, which was born out of his residency with the Kadist Foundation in Paris in 2012-13. Prior to arriving to the residency, the artist had begun filming in in Guangzhou, China, capturing footage of the lush vegetation from the semi-wild and semi-urbanized zones of Guangzhou’s urban fringe and a group of Dragon Boat rowers training in the adjacent river. As he arrived in Paris, he was confronted with the radical difference with which Europeans arrange and organize environments: the highly manicured cityscapes of Paris in stark contrast with the overgrown abundance of Guangzhou. Using the notion of “geometrical editing” Zhou Tao then worked to incorporate images shot in Paris to his previous editing, focusing on the idea of continuity in between spaces as means to create a third, imaginary space through film. Adding another layer of complexity, Zhou Tao also subtly appears performing in the footage among the scenes of rowers and farmers going by — either walking at a slightly slower pace behind them or assuming difficult stances amid the luxuriant vegetation. The result is a film that is untethered to space and confronts us to a kind of unhistorical time where background and stage, viewer and actor, fact and story line, documentation and representation are all superimposed interchanged. creating an alchemy that transforms ordinary surroundings into a theatre of mystery and wonder, which are rare to find.


Artist Zhou Tao has a diverse and varied practice, and notably, he denies the existence of any singular or real narrative or space. Depicting subtle and often humorous interactions with people, things, actions, and situations, Zhou is known for his films that invite us to experience the multiple trajectories of reality; what he calls the “folding scenario” or the “zone with folds.” For him, the use of video is not a deliberate choice of artistic language or medium, instead the operation of the camera is a way of being that blends itself with everyday life. In his work, Zhou connects seemingly disparate milieus, turning his attention to often ignored sites that exist on the threshold between the natural and the artificial. The visual narratives merge different spatial constructs such as landscapes, the metropolis, construction sites, parks, public squares, and wastelands.


Colors:



Other related works, blended automatically  
» see more

One Two Three Four
© » KADIST

Zhou Tao

2008

Created for the Seventh Shanghai Biennale at the Shanghai Art Museum, Zhou Tao’s 1,2,3,4 records morning staff meetings in over forty shops and companies in the immediate vicinity of the People’s Square...

Related works sharing similar palette  
» see more

American Express explores the meaning of play through four artist collaborations
© » WALLPAPER*

American Express explores the meaning of play | Wallpaper The Miami installation debuting Play by American Express Platinum during Miami Art Week 2023 (Image credit: Courtesy American Express) By Tilly Macalister-Smith published 12 December 2023 In celebration of Design Miami and Art Basel Miami , American Express has commissioned four young artists and designers - Eny Lee Parker, Surin Kim, Serban Ionescu, and Kumkum Fernando - to reinterpret childhood toys into iconic limited edition collectibles...

Private Chinese art museum makes a comeback, 2 years after sponsor’s pull-out left it on life support
© » SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

Private Chinese art museum makes a comeback, 2 years after sponsor’s pull-out left it on life support | South China Morning Post Advertisement Advertisement Art + FOLLOW Get more with my NEWS A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you Learn more A preview of the auction for Guangdong Times Museum in January, held to raise funds for its relaunch...

La Ruta
© » KADIST

Natalia Lassalle-Morillo

2018

La Ruta by Natalia Lassalle-Morillo follows the Panoramic Route, a now weakened infrastructure that meanders through untouched natural landscapes and off-road destinations on the island of Puerto Rico...

Hommage To Balotelli's Missed Trick
© » KADIST

Burak Delier

2013

Burak Delier’s sculpture Homage to Balotelli’s Missed Trick is a symbol of resistance to the demand for success and performance...

Other works by: » Zhou Tao  
» see more

One Two Three Four
© » KADIST

Zhou Tao

2008

Created for the Seventh Shanghai Biennale at the Shanghai Art Museum, Zhou Tao’s 1,2,3,4 records morning staff meetings in over forty shops and companies in the immediate vicinity of the People’s Square...

Winter North Summer South No. 5
© » KADIST

Zhou Tao

2018

Zhou Tao spent almost two years in 2017 and 2018 in an eco-industrial park at the foot of the Kunlun Mountains in China exploring the activities of humans and other species in that particular topography between the mountain, the land and the desert...

Winter North Summer South No. 2
© » KADIST

Zhou Tao

2019

Zhou Tao spent almost two years in 2017 and 2018 in an eco-industrial park at the foot of the Kunlun Mountains in China exploring the activities of humans and other species in that particular topography between the mountain, the land and the desert...

South Stone
© » KADIST

Zhou Tao

2011

For over five months, Zhou situated himself in an underdeveloped village surrounded by the high skyscrapers of Guangzhou to produce South Stone ...

Related artist(s) to: Zhou Tao » Liu Ding, » Wang Wei, » Armin Linke, » Cao Fei, » Chu Yun, » Duan Jianyu, » Kan Xuan, » Liu Wei, » Mariana Castillo Deball, » Pak Sheung Chuen  
» see more

¿Quién medirá el espacio, quién me dirá el momento?, 1 (columna alfarero)
© » KADIST

Mariana Castillo Deball

2015

Taking archaeology as her departure point to examine the trajectories of replicated and displaced objects, “Who will measure the space, who will tell me the time?” was produced in Oaxaca for her exhibition of the same title at the Contemporary Museum of Oaxaca (MACO) in 2015...

Island
© » KADIST

Kan Xuan

2006

In Kan Xuan’s four-channel video Island , a series of objects like nail clippers, hairbrush, toothpaste, and house decorations are shot in close-ups...

Nightmare-Wallpaper (No.DCCC901-16#8): An-Angel-in-Conversation-with-a-Young-Lady
© » KADIST

Pak Sheung Chuen

2017

The series Nightmare Wallpapers represents a shift if Chuen’s practice, allowing the artist to immerse himself in an “artistic pilgrimage of self healing” following the failure of the 2014 Umbrella Movement...

New York Public Library Projects (NYPLP)
© » KADIST

Pak Sheung Chuen

2008

Pak created New York Public Library Projects (NYPLP) (2008) during a residency in New York, using public libraries as exhibition spaces and the books they house as raw materials...

Related works found in the same semantic group  
» see more

The Training
© » KADIST

Since November 2012, Kadist artist-in-residence, Zhou Tao (b.1976) has been working on his new film, After Reality , which will be presented in conjunction with Collector (2012)...

Zhou Tao
© » KADIST

Zhou Tao will be in residency from October to February 2013...

M+ Sigg Prize 2020 Nominees Announced
© » RANDIAN

by Ran Dian Not a lot of positive news comes out of Hong Kong these days but the shortlist for the revamped CCCA (Chinese Contemporary Art Award) has just been announced...

Shifting Performativity and Politics in China
© » KADIST

Shifting Performativity and Politics in China : Tao Hui, Chen Wei, Wang Tuo, and Yao Qingmei interviewed by Leo Li Chen In this video series, four artists who engage with the themes of performativity and politics discuss their recent works with curator Leo Li Chen...