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.
Kwan Sheung Chi’s work One Million is a video work depicting the counting of bills...
The Tower of Babel is an installation of large-format photographs that forces the audience to occupy a central position through its monumental scale...
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...
Peasant Sensation Passing Through Flesh – 3 consists of a massage chair fixed to a wall...
After engaging primarily with video and photography for more than a decade, Chen turned to painting to explore the issue of urban change and memories—both personal and collective...
The lengthy titles in Chen Xiaoyun’s work often appear as colophons to his photographs that invite the viewer to a process of self realization through contemplating the distance between word and image...
Mario Garcia Torres imagines cinematic devices to replay stories occasionally forgotten by Conceptual art...
After engaging primarily with video and photography for more than a decade, Chen turned to painting to explore the issue of urban change and memories—both personal and collective...
603 Football Field presents a soccer game played inside a small student apartment in Shanghai...