This research-based artwork acts as a memorial to early twentieth century European exploration of China. An antique open suitcase reveals a pile of rubbings and an air-dried peony, while projected photographs of the Chinese landscape appear as a slideshow on the gallery wall. The artifacts refer to a 1908-1909 expedition of naturalists, missionaries, and colonists to the west of China, which ended abruptly with the death of one of the travelers by unusual circumstances. The installation complicates notions of time, history, fact, and subjectivity by including readymade European artifacts with photographs made by Hu Yun’s own grandfather and a bell in the corner of the gallery that summons an attendant to recite a fairytale for the viewer. Individual experience cannot be separated from historical account, while past events cannot be separated from their context within the present moment.
Shanghai-based artist Hu Yun works in various media, including graphite, watercolor, installation, video, and performance. He brings together personal and historical events from different times and locations to create complex narratives that demonstrate the coexistence of the past and present. He invites viewers to discover connections between the elements of each piece and their own experiences.
The image of rusted nails, nuts and bolts as shrapnel sandwiched between a fried Chicken burger highlights the contrast between decadence and destruction...
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Empire’s Borders II – Passage and Empire’s Borders II – Workers are from the three-channel film installation Empire’s Borders II – Western Enterprise, Inc...
The central point of Vanishing Point is the most direct physiological reaction of the body to the environment...
The Tower of Babel is an installation of large-format photographs that forces the audience to occupy a central position through its monumental scale...
Empire’s Borders II – Passage and Empire’s Borders II – Workers are from the three-channel film installation Empire’s Borders II – Western Enterprise, Inc...
Kwan Sheung Chi’s work One Million is a video work depicting the counting of bills...
Unregistered City is a series of eight photographs depicting different scenes of a vacant, apparently post-apocalyptic city: Some are covered by dust and others are submerged by water...
Although seemingly unadorned at first glance, Yang Xinguang’s sculptural work Phenomena (2009) employs minimalist aesthetics as a means of gesturing towards the various commonalities and conflicts between civilization and the natural world...
The Tower of Babel is an installation of large-format photographs that forces the audience to occupy a central position through its monumental scale...
The Tower of Babel is an installation of large-format photographs that forces the audience to occupy a central position through its monumental scale...
603 Football Field presents a soccer game played inside a small student apartment in Shanghai...