2015 Shanghai International Literary Festival

The 13th annual Shanghai International Literary Festival launches their annual literary feast, celebrating the best in fiction, literary non-fiction, journalism, the arts, poetry and more, with a mix of writers from around the world and at home in China.

Join Arthub’s Davide Quadrio Sunday, November 8th at 5:00 pm at M on the Bund to address the shifting platforms for artistic dissemination within a contemporary context.

Venue Address:
7/F, No.5 The Bund (corner of Guangdong Lu)
Shanghai, China 200002

Critical Writing In-Between: Contemporary Art from China Facing Global Challenges

A conversation with Karen Smith, Gu Ling, and Li Mu on two newly published books: Qiuzhuang Project, A Man, A Village, A Museum and As Seen 3; moderated by Davide Quadrio.

The talk will begin with an introduction of Qiuzhuang Project, A Man, A Village, A Museum, a recent publication by Van Abbemuseum and Arthub. The panel will analyze the challenges of contemporary artists in China today from a cultural lens that carefully considers the tensions between local and global issues. Qiuzhuang Project began 5 years ago when Chinese artist Li Mu challenged the power of western art by bringing his hometown village of 1,000 inhabitants in contact with modernist artworks from the Van Abbemuseum collection.

The conversation will begin with Mu’s project and expand to other artists working in China today. The speakers will explore the social issues of contemporary art production in non-traditional settings – the possibility of exhibiting art in rural China, and the implications of breaking free from the structured white box spaces viewers are accustomed to seeing.

Both publications will be for sale the day of the event. Qiuzhuang Project, A Man, A Village, A Museum is also available online here.

Lecture Fee: RMB 75, includes a drink
Same day tickets will be available at the door unless the event is sold out, or reserve now at Mypiao.com.

PUBLICATIONS

A Man, A Village, A Museum – Li Mu: Qiuzhuang Project
Author(s): Jesse Birch, Jiao Dongyu, Charles Esche, Davide Quadrio, Gu Ling, Zhong Ming, Li Mu, Ellen Zweig

Li Mu’s book documents the extraordinary Qiuzhuang Project with a selection of texts from the artist’s diary together with interviews, reviews, photographs and drawings.

A brief synopsis of the project:
After a residency of a few weeks in the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven (NL), Chinese artist Li Mu developed a unique art project. In his home town, Qiuzhuang – a small village 800 kilometres south of Beijing – he copied classical modernist artworks by well-known Western artists like Sol LeWitt, Dan Flavin, Richard Long, Andy Warhol, Daniel Buren, Carl Andre, John Körmeling, as well as Ulay and Marina Abramović from the collection of the Van Abbemuseum, displaying them in the houses and streets of Qiuzhuang. For more than a year, Li Mu collaborated with the villagers, trying to create the experience of what art brought to him and what it could bring to them.

As Seen 3: Notable Artworks by Chinese Artists
Author: Karen Smith

As Seen is conceived and is compiled by curator Karen Smith; British-born, previously in Beijing now currently Shanghai-based, with twenty-five years’ experience looking at contemporary art practice in China. Since arriving in China in 1992, Smith has witnessed and chronicled the evolution of the Chinese art world.

As Seen tracks the pulse of the times through artistic content and form and the attitudes of China’s leading artists. With particular focus on the achievements of young artists, its contents reflect the diversity of practice and ambition within the contemporary context in China today.

This pulse is tracked through art in public exhibitions. In tandem with domestic galleries, art spaces and museums, China’s institutions are changing the way art is seen in the PRC, providing for artists and curators platforms that are at once stable and shifting. To the public they offer an unprecedented volume of art in exhibitions large and small, which now run into the thousands each year. Navigating this multitude of exhibitions, artworks, and individual artist’s agendas is challenging. That is the inspiration for As Seen.

As Seen 3, released September 1, 2015
Post Wave Books, Beijing and UCCA, Beijing
Size: 240 x 172 mm / Pages: 220 / Illustrations: full colour throughout / Retail Price: 88 Yuan (Chinese language) / 150 Yuan (US25) (English language) / Distributed in North America by DAP