Same Old Crowd

2016 - Film & Video (Film & Video)

5 minutes

Li Ran

location: Beijing, China
year born: 1986
gender: male
nationality: Chinese
home town: Hubei Province, China

The four-channel video installation Same Old Crowd departs from the documentation of an unknown city and takes place in an ambiguous temporal and spatial frame. Twelve characters (amateur actors hired by the artist) appear in black-and-white in highly stylized surroundings wearing patterned cloths. The identities or time period of the characters, all deprived of languages, are impossible to determine. Punctuated by staccato sounds and fast camerawork, the protagonists’ exaggerated expressions and emphatic gestures create a high level of tension. For the artist, repetitions in the video do not attempt to level notion of “difference.” Rather repetition is antithetical to the notion of novelty within the discourse of reality, modernity, and media. As such, Same Old Crowd recalls the artists’ earlier video Beyond Geography and can also be seen as a type of anthropological theater intersecting with performance studies.


Li Ran produces video, installation, and performance-based works that examine various states of parody and simulacra in the digital world. Through performative narrative, reproduction, mimicry, and satire, Li Ran’s work straddles the line between fact and fiction in playful explorations of the meaning and making of truth. Li describes his own artwork with the language of architecture: that if an artwork is like a room, its meaning should be open and porous, not forced against a unilateral interpretation. This virtual-minded analogy is fitting, as Li’s practice increasingly hinges on the exploration of the non-reality within reality.


Colors:



Related works sharing similar palette

Morán Morán now represent Ryan Trecartin
© » FAD MAGAZINE

Morán Morán now represent Ryan Trecartin - FAD Magazine Skip to content By Mark Westall • 24 November 2023 Share — Morán Morán has announced the gallery representation of Ryan Trecartin...

8×5 Houston: Artists Respond to Mass Incarceration Crisis Interview with Christopher Blay, Chief Curator at the Houston Museum of African American Culture
© » ARTEFUSE

8×5 Houston: Artists Respond to Mass Incarceration Crisis Interview with Christopher Blay, Chief Curator at the Houston Museum of African American Culture...

Artur Zmijewski
© » KADIST

Screening of the film “Them / Sie” (2007) Followed by a conversation with Pierre Bal-Blanc, Director of CAC Bretigny, which will adress the artist’s text “Applied Social Arts” published in 2007 in the journal Krytyka Poltyczna (Political critique)...

Coco Fusco “Tomorrow, I will become an Island” KW Institute of Contemporary Art / Berlin
© » FLASH ART

Coco Fusco "Tomorrow, I will become an Island" KW Institute of Contemporary Art / Berlin | | Flash Art Flash Art uses cookies strictly necessary for the proper functioning of the website, for its legitimate interest to enhance your online experience and to enable or facilitate communication by electronic means...

Terminal 3
© » KADIST

He Xiangyu

2019

He Xiangyu’s Terminal 3 presents excerpts from the lives of young African acrobats attending the Hebei Wuqiao Acrobatic Arts School in China...

Back images
© » KADIST

Sarah Lai Cheuk Wah

2015

Back images is a series of six photographs by Sarah Lei Cheuk Wah that explore the semiotics of power and their intersection with representations of masculinity...

Publica
© » KADIST

Liu Yin

2010

Liu Yin’s cartoon-like paintings and drawings explore the ambivalences of love, nature, and consumerism...

ARTSEQUATOR TURNS 5: Here’s 5 articles, podcasts and videos to check out.
© » ARTS EQUATOR

ARTSEQUATOR TURNS 5: Here's 5 articles, podcasts and videos to check out...

Louidgi Beltrame — La huaca pleure
© » SLASH PARIS

Louidgi Beltrame — La huaca pleure — Le Crédac, Centre d’art contemporain d’Ivry — Exhibition — Slash Paris Login Newsletter Twitter Facebook Louidgi Beltrame — La huaca pleure — Le Crédac, Centre d’art contemporain d’Ivry — Exhibition — Slash Paris English Français Home Events Artists Venues Magazine Videos Back Louidgi Beltrame — La huaca pleure Exhibition Mixed media Upcoming Visuel créé par le Studio Kiosk, d’après une encre sur toile de Louidgi Beltrame Louidgi Beltrame La huaca pleure In about 1 month: January 21 → March 31, 2024 Louidgi Beltrame has been developing a research in Peru since 2012...

Marco Almaviva's Artistic Explorations Went Beyond the Canvas
© » ART & OBJECT

Marco Almaviva's Explorations Beyond the Canvas | Art & Object Skip to main content Subscribe to our free e-letter! Webform Your Email Address Role Art Collector/Enthusiast Artist Art World Professional Academic Country USA Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua & Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Ascension Island Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia & Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Canary Islands Cape Verde Caribbean Netherlands Cayman Islands Central African Republic Ceuta & Melilla Chad Chile China Christmas Island Clipperton Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo - Brazzaville Congo - Kinshasa Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Curaçao Cyprus Czechia Côte d’Ivoire Denmark Diego Garcia Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard & McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong SAR China Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao SAR China Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar (Burma) Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands North Korea North Macedonia Norway Oman Outlying Oceania Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Islands Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Réunion Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka St...

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...

Natalia Jaime-Cortez — Hier j’ai vu une baleine dans la Seine
© » SLASH PARIS

Natalia Jaime-Cortez — Hier j’ai vu une baleine dans la Seine — Espace d’art contemporain Camille Lambert — Exposition — Slash Paris Connexion Newsletter Twitter Facebook Natalia Jaime-Cortez — Hier j’ai vu une baleine dans la Seine — Espace d’art contemporain Camille Lambert — Exposition — Slash Paris Français English Accueil Événements Artistes Lieux Magazine Vidéos Retour Précédent Suivant Natalia Jaime-Cortez — Hier j’ai vu une baleine dans la Seine Exposition Dessin, installations, techniques mixtes Hier j’ai vu une baleine dans la Seine 2023 Natalia Jaime-Cortez Natalia Jaime-Cortez Hier j’ai vu une baleine dans la Seine Encore environ 2 mois : 3 février → 30 mars 2024 Le travail de Natalia Jaime-Cortez se déploie, ou plutôt se déplie, et relève d’un engagement corporel de l’artiste dont les papiers suspendus viennent dessiner des lignes dans l’espace...

ANDRÉ, by Pablo Pijnappel
© » KADIST

ANDRÉ, by Pablo Pijnappel April 11 – May 25, 2008 1945...

Choke
© » KADIST

Jennifer Locke

2005

Choke documents the artist filming a wrestler “choking out” his teammate until he is unconscious...

Weekly Southeast Asia Radar: Burmese hip hop, and queer Vietnamese singer Tuimi
© » ARTS EQUATOR

Weekly Southeast Asia Radar: Burmese hip hop, and queer Vietnamese singer Tuimi | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles Via Myanmar Times August 28, 2019 ArtsEquator’s Southeast Asia Radar features articles and posts about arts and culture in Southeast Asia, drawn from local and regional websites and publications – aggregated content from outside sources, so we are exposed to a multitude of voices in the region...

Exhibition ARTIST ROOMS: Bill Viola Discover the work of internationally renowned video artist Bill Viola at Exeter’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery (RAMM) Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery Until 2 Jun 2024 Free
© » TATE EXHIBITIONS

Bill Viola | Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery Discover the work of internationally renowned video artist Bill Viola at Exeter’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery (RAMM) ARTIST ROOMS Bill Viola presents three works from the ‘Passions’, a series of video works created between 2000 and 2002 that explore human emotions...

If Not Apollo, the Breeze
© » KADIST

If Not Apollo, the Breeze October 11–December 16, 2017 Etel Adnan, Larry Bell, Mary Helena Clark, Trisha Donnelly, Terry Fox, Matthew Angelo Harrison, Tony Labat, Pope...

After the Finish Line
© » KADIST

Adelita Husni-Bey

2015

After the Finish Line is a recent film by Adelita Husni-Bey produced for the exhibition Movement Break at Kadist-SF in 2015...