Arthub Favorite: Week 50

“Dragon liver and phoenix brain”, as the name of a famous dish from Jiangsu cuisine, which is made of fish liver and chicken brain. The word structure (dragon x and phoenix x) is always been adapted as the title of many Kung Fu movies, representing the genders, and that is what Dragon Liver and Phoenix Brain exploring about.

Duration: December 11, 2016 – February 12, 2017
Opening: December 10, 2016, 17:00, Saturday
Venue: OCAT SHANGHAI (Shanghai, China)

Artists: Chen Zhe, Hu Xiangqian, Li Liao, Lin Ke, Lu Pingyuan, Na Buqi, Shen Xin, Yu Ji
Curator: Chinnery Colin

Dragon Liver Phoenix Brain – Eight Emerging Artists will be the last exhibition of 2016 and is organized by Mr. Colin Siyuan Chinnery, a curator long devoted to the research of contemporary Chinese art. The eight participating artists are Chen Zhe, Hu Xiangqian, Li Liao, Lin Ke, Lu Pingyuan, Nabuqi, Shen Xin and Yu Ji who work in video, photography, sculpture and performance. The isolation or proximity between artists’ works shall be a major factor in this exhibition.

Unlike the use of open space in many past shows, the curator has instead created eight independent rooms in an attempt to play with the idea of exhibition spaces as interiors/exteriors. Works have been placed in these rooms according to the artists’ gender, as well as the potential for intimacy or conflict between artworks. Commonly speaking, a work of art exemplifies a relatively independent discourse and meaning, however when just two or three artworks are placed into a confined space, it “forces” them to establish intimate dialogues of exchange.

The title Dragon Liver Phoenix Brain combines the literal meaning of ‘rare delicacy’ with the formal quality of kung-fu movie titles, and the hint of sexuality. With these notions, the curator tries to dissemble the works and reassign new meanings to them, while he spins a satire on gender politics. Using cramp spaces to transform existing expressions of the artworks, both for the artists and their works of art, such clash or integration would form unusual “commonality”; and for the viewer, one may grasp the exchange between the artworks to gain new viewing experiences.