Art of Change: New Directions from China
Chen Zhen | Duan Yingmei | Gu Dexin | Liang Shaoji | Sun Yuan and Peng Yu | Wang Jianwei | Xu Zhen and MadeIn Company
Hayward Gallery, London
7 Sept - 9 Dec 2012
About
Art of Change: New Directions from China is the first major exhibition to focus solely on contemporary installation and performance art from China. It presents large-scale installations and extraordinary live art by some of China’s most innovative artists, in works dating from the 1980s to the present day. Art of Change traces each artist’s development, showing important early works alongside recent creations and new commissions. Change, and the acceptance that everything is subject to change, is deeply rooted in Eastern philosophy. The exhibition features works that deal with transformation, instability and impermanence, looking at how these themes are conveyed through action or materials.
Each of the artists presents works that change their appearance over time or which are volatile or unpredictable in some way. A person ‘magically floats’ above the floor, sculptures are wilfully tossed up and down, and visitors can listen to the sound of 1000 live silkworms. The exhibition itself changes as performances are enacted with various works during the course of each day.
The exhibition is curated by Stephanie Rosenthal, Chief Curator at Hayward Gallery.
Katie Hill, Director of the Office of Contemporary Chinese Art, was a selector panel member. Furthermore, she contributed to the catalogue of the exhibition, writing an essay titled Yingmei Duan: A Subliminal Presence. With a foreword by Ralph Rugoff, it includes essays by Colin Chinnery, Paul Gladston, Katie Hill, Stephanie Rosenthal, Karen Smith, Phil Tinari, Pauline J. Yao, Carol Yinghua Lu and Zhu Zhu.
Selected Images
Hayward Gallery. The Art of Change: New Directions from China. Hayward Pub, 2012. ISBN 9781853323034, 1853323039. Courtesy of Studio Hato.
Duan Yingmei, Sleeping, 2004-2012. Courtesy of Southbank Centre and the Artist.
Xu Zhen, In Just a Blink of an Eye, 2005-2012. Courtesy of Southbank Centre and the Artist.
Liang Shaoji, Bed/Nature Series No.10, 1993-1999. Courtesy the Artist and ShanghART Gallery.
Liang Shaoji, Chains: The Unbearable Lightness of Being/Nature Series No.79, 2003-2007. Courtesy of Southbank Centre and the Artist.
Gu Dexin, Meat, 1997. Courtesy the Artist and GALLERIA CONTINUA.
Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, I Didn't Notice What I Am Doing, 2012. Courtesy of Southbank Centre and the Artist.
Duan Yingmei, Happy Yingmei, 2011-2012. Courtesy of Southbank Centre and the Artist.
Liang Shaoji, Silkworm/Nature Series No.98, 2006-2012. Courtesy of Southbank Centre and the Artist.
Chen Zhen, Purification Room, 2000-2012. Courtesy of Southbank Centre and the Artist.
Wang Jianwei, Surplus Value, 2010. Courtesy of Southbank Centre and the Artist.