The Tower of Babel: Destruction

2010 - Photography (Photography)

Du Zhenjun

location: Paris, France
location: Shanghai, China
year born: 1961
gender: male
nationality: Chinese
home town: Shanghai, China

The Tower of Babel is an installation of large-format photographs that forces the audience to occupy a central position through its monumental scale. These photographs present a series of urban landscapes and assembled Foucauldian structures of the present. Du sees the Tower of Babel as a continually reinvented narrative that warns people of “dangerous tendencies in the present time.” Du’s Babylonian towers resurrect from fallen rubbles of religious history in grand scale to focus on modern crises of civilization. Though the theme began with the struggle of monotheism over linguistic and geographic diversity in early human history, Babel in Du’s work has become a contemporary vision of catastrophic threat to the future of humanity.


Born in 1961, Du was trained as a painter and sculptor at the Institutes of Arts and Trades in Shanghai and the Fine Arts College at the University of Shanghai and garnered M.A. from the Regional School of Fine Arts of Rennes, France in 1999. Despite his classical training, Du became one of the first generation of artists to incorporate digital technologies into art pieces, producing interactive installations and describing digital media to be “a way of working on the dimension of power inherent to a society of information and new technologies.” Du’s works explore themes of “Modern Man” and human tragedy. Specifically, he highlights the ecstasy of human behavior in light of suffering and challenges in conveying what he calls the “universal human condition.”


Colors:



Related works sharing similar palette

Three Poems by Katy Lederer
© » BOMB

BOMB Magazine | Three Poems Necessary (Required) Cookies that the site cannot function properly without...

An Evening with Yin-Ju Chen
© » KADIST

Join us to welcome Yin-Ju Chen , Kadist SF artist-in-residence this Spring...

Gated Commune
© » KADIST

Camel Collective

2018

Gated Commune , a video by Camel Collective, is a critique of the complex, and often obtuse, language used to describe sustainable development projects...

Gildas Le Reste — & Guests
© » SLASH PARIS

Gildas Le Reste — & Guests — Galerie Catherine Putman — Exposition — Slash Paris Connexion Newsletter Twitter Facebook Gildas Le Reste — & Guests — Galerie Catherine Putman — Exposition — Slash Paris Français English Accueil Événements Artistes Lieux Magazine Vidéos Retour Précédent Suivant Gildas Le Reste — & Guests Exposition Dessin, estampe, peinture Gildas Le Reste, Notes de voyage #1, 2023 Encre sur papier marouflé sur toile Gildas Le Reste & Guests Encore 27 jours : 27 janvier → 9 mars 2024 La galerie Catherine Putman est heureuse de proposer une double invitation à Gildas Le Reste, comme artiste et commissaire d’exposition...

Gildas Le Reste — & Guests
© » SLASH PARIS

Gildas Le Reste — & Guests — Catherine Putman Gallery — Exhibition — Slash Paris Login Newsletter Twitter Facebook Gildas Le Reste — & Guests — Catherine Putman Gallery — Exhibition — Slash Paris English Français Home Events Artists Venues Magazine Videos Back Previous Next Gildas Le Reste — & Guests Exhibition Drawing, print, painting Gildas Le Reste, Notes de voyage #1, 2023 Ink on paper mounted on canvas Gildas Le Reste & Guests Ends in 27 days: January 27 → March 9, 2024 Galerie Catherine Putman has pleasure in making a double invitation to Gildas Le Reste as both artist and exhibition curator...

The Story Behind Iconic 90s Images of Cameron Diaz, Heath Ledger
© » ANOTHER

The Story Behind Iconic 90s Images of Cameron Diaz, Heath Ledger and More | AnOther As his new exhibition opens in Milan, Michel Haddi tells us the story behind some of his most famous images of Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Moss, Janet Jackson and more December 11, 2023 Text Gary Grimes Michel Haddi , the legendary French-Algerian fashion photographer, is a big believer in the importance of first impressions...

“Possibly Painting”at Five Myles by Jonathan Goodman - New York
© » WHITEHOT

“Possibly Painting”at Five Myles advertise donate post your art opening recent articles cities contact about article index podcast main February 2024 "The Best Art In The World" "The Best Art In The World" February 2024 “Possibly Painting”at Five Myles Roger Loft: Portraits, 2016 – 2023, epoxy, dynel, fiberglass, wood diverse sizes...

Artist Transforms Bicycle Chains Into Faceless Human Figures Tethered to the Modern World
© » MODERN MET ART

Artist Transforms Bicycle Chains Into Human Figures With Tethers Home / Art / Sculpture Artist Transforms Bicycle Chains Into Faceless Human Figures Tethered to the Modern World By Margherita Cole on December 7, 2023 Rather than carve sculptures from one material, Young-Deok Seo assembles his art from numerous, even hundreds, of individual pieces...

Argentum
© » KADIST

Li Xiaofei

2016

Argentum is part of Li Li Xiaofei’s Assembly Line series...

Universal Futurological Question Mark (U.F.O)
© » KADIST

Julius Koller

1978

This work is one of Koller’s many variations which he began to use from 1970 to describe the ‘cultural situations’ he created...

But Now I Manufacture Hate, Every Single Day
© » KADIST

Huang Xiaopeng

2011

Four knives appearing as if thrown at the wall to alleviate frustration and boredom, form rhythmic shadows and markings of time above a translated phrase boldly printed in simplified Chinese and English...

In Search of Singapore’s Early Opera History
© » ARTS EQUATOR

In Search of Singapore’s Early Opera History | ArtsEquator Skip to content Corey Koh began with a simple question about the early days of opera in Singapore...

Four Italian Collectors on Instagram Have Been Unmasked as Catfish Accounts
© » LARRY'S LIST

An Italian law firm is now looking into whether the owner of the four fake collector accounts committed any possible crimes....

White Discharge (Built-up Objects #38)
© » KADIST

Teppei Kaneuji

2014

In his White Discharge series (2002 to today), arguably his best known works, Kaneuji assembles old toys and plastic scarps into dramatic mounded heaps and covers the surface with white plastic resin, drawing on allusions to landfills, commodity fetishism, and creative repurposing...

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan: Between East and West, Heaven and Earth
© » ARTS EQUATOR

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan: Between East and West, Heaven and Earth | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles Liu Chen-hsiang April 8, 2019 By Stephanie Burridge (800 words, four-minute read) Sustainability, remaining fresh and engaging is challenging in the present day, content-saturated global world...

Lisbon: Valentina Desideri and Denise Ferreira da Silva, Sensing Salon
© » KADIST

The Sensing Salon is a studio practice, conceived by Valentina Desideri and Denise Ferreira da Silva, that expands the image of art beyond objects, events, and discourse to include the healing arts...

Alexandra Pirici
© » KADIST

Parthenon Marbles An immaterial version of the sculptural ensemble embodied by five performers, presents a research into the financial and legal implications and the value of the sculptures as cultural capital...

Pace Gallery announces global representation of Paul Thek’s estate.
© » ARTSY

Pace Gallery announces global representation of Paul Thek’s estate...

Until It Makes Sense
© » KADIST

Mario Garcia Torres

2004

Mario Garcia Torres imagines cinematic devices to replay stories occasionally forgotten by Conceptual art...