SH Contemporary and Arthub
Preview and Inauguration (by invitation only): September 6th, 5:00 to 10:00 pm
Exhibition: 7th to the 9th of September 2012
Location: Shanghai Exhibition Center
Initiated with SH Contemporary 2011, the collaboration between curatorial collective Arthub Asia and the fair is now expanding, taking further steps to introduce innovative projects curated around distinctive conceptual points to this unique platform.
The mission to create a dynamic experience of contemporary art by developing exhibitions and commissioning artworks within the framework set with SH Contemporary 2011 is pushed even further this year towards a stronger curatorial and formal realization with two main exhibitions:
Now Ink, a group show exploring the influence of ink painting and calligraphy on contemporary art featuring over 15 artists, occupies one of the largest galleries overlooking the Main Hall of the venue.
First Issue, welcomes visitors at the main entrance of the Fair with 6 compact solo shows dedicated to promising new artists.
The two exhibitions are complemented by a series of site specific, monumental works by renowned artists—the Hot Spots section—and by a program of performances and projections rarely or never seen in China before.
As the most dynamic art fair in China, SH Contemporary concentrates its potential on building a vivid platform that connects the artistic productions and art markets across the region, harnessing the central role and attractiveness of Shanghai.
The guest country for this edition of the fair is India. With a series of projects specifically commissioned for SH Contemporary by the Creative India Foundation, curated by its director and curator Diana Campbell, this section features both emerging and established artists from that continent and spans across the curatorial projects of the fair, namely Now Ink and Hot Spots. Some of the most innovative artistic practices from the region puncture the exhibition space, with works by the most sought after Indian artists working today: Aaditi Joshi, Rohini Devasher, Shilpa Gupta, Manish Nai, Gyan Panchal and Raqs Media Collective.
The choice of artists involved in the curatorial projects of SH Contemporary 2012, have been primarily drawn from the galleries participating in booths at the fair; the curators invited to contribute to the projects were selected through the personal invitation of Arthub Asia co-directors, Davide Quadrio, Defne Ayas and Qiu Zhijie, in partnership with Massimo Torrigiani, the director of the fair, whose determined vision was the guiding force.
Guest curators include, artist and independent curator Shi Yong for Hot Spots; for Now Ink Shanghai Art Museum curator Xiang Liping and British independent curator Rachel Marsden; director of Creative India Foundation, Diana Campbell for the focus on INDIA. The involvement of guest curators allowed the projects to evolve through a constant dialogue and the search for that “collective intelligence” that Arthub Asia has employed since its inception.
NOW INK
Compelled by the resurgence of ink painting and calligraphy in contemporary art practices across Asia and the world, SH Contemporary and Arthub Asia developed the second installment of Now Ink, an ongoing exhibition initiated with SH Contemporary in 2011.
This year’s group show features works by: Chen Chun-hao, Rohini Devasher, Dai Guangyu, Nicholas Hanna, Takashi Ishida, Alexandre Joly, Manish Nai, Moataz Nasr, Ni Youyu, Gyan Pachal, Shan Fan, Shen Fan, Charwei Tsai, Wang Xieda, Wu Chi-Tsung, Yu Ji and Zhang Jianjun.
HOT SPOTS
Punctuating the whole space of the fair, inside and outside the venue, Hot Spots presents monumental works by established artists: Maurizio Anzeri, Yto Barrada, Chen Zhou, Olafur Eliasson, Shilpa Gupta, Huang Zhiyang, Aaditi Joshi, MadeIn Company, Raqs Media Collective, Shi Qing, Yuh-Shioh Wong and Zhang Enli.
First Issue
On display on the terrace over looking the stairs at the entrance of the venue’s West Wing, FIRST ISSUE displays artists who had their first relevant solo show in the 18 months preceding the fair. This year: Chen Tianzhuo, Cheng Ran, Gao Luyun, Nandan Ghiya, Aki Kondo, Li Jun, Liao Guohe and Yu Cheng-Ta.
A special room is dedicated to Absolut Vodka, the sponsor of the section.
Video Room
The Video Room collaborates this year with New York based Independent Curators International (ICI) and is dedicated to the latest developments in moving image and new media.
In 2010, Independent Curators International (ICI) launched Project 35, a program of single-channel videos selected by 35 international curators who each chose one work from an artist they think is important for audiences around the world to experience today. The resulting selection has been presented simultaneously in more than thirty venues around the globe, inspiring discourse in places as varied as Skopje, Macedonia; Lagos, Nigeria; Tirana, Albania; Cape Town, South Africa; Storrs, Connecticut; New Orleans, Louisiana; Berlin, Germany; Los Angeles, California; and Taipei, Taiwan.
Considering the widespread popularity and success of Project 35, ICI has collaborated with an additional 35 curators to produce Project 35: Volume 2. ICI again draws from its extensive network of curators to trace the complexity of regional and global connections among practitioners and the variety of approaches they use to make video.
Curators: Leeza Ahmady, Meskerem Assegued, Daina Augaitis, Defne Ayas, Regine Basha, Valerie Cassel-Oliver, Rosina Cazali, Stuart Comer, Veronica Cordeiro, Christopher Cozier, María del Carmen Carrión, Rifky Effendy, Özge Ersoy, N’Goné Fall, Amirali Ghasemi, Vít Havránek, Hou Hanru, Virginija Januškevičiūtė, Abdellah Karroum, Sun Jung Kim, Pablo León de la Barra, Maria Lind, Yandro Miralles, Srimoyee Mitra, Nat Muller, Sharmini Pereira, Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez, Kathrin Rhomberg, Mats Stjernstedt, David Teh, Philip Tinari, Christine Tohme, Raluca Voinca, Jochen Volz and Adnan Yildiz.
Artists: Alexander Ugay, Helen Zeru, Jin-Me Yoon, Michael Blum and Damir Nikšić, Jenny Perlin, Bradley McCallum & Jacqueline Tarry, Aníbal López (A1 53167), Agnieszka Polska, Sara Ramo, Heino Schmid, Elena Damini, Prilla Tania, Aslı Çavuşoğlu, Dale Yudelman, Sona Safaei, Zbyněk Baladrán, Sun Xun, Antanas Gerlikas, Shezad Dawood, Park Chan-Kyong, Jonathas de Andrade, Annika Eriksson, Reynier Leyva Novo, Deanna Bowen, Basim Magdy, Annemarie Jacir, Ivana Müller, Josef Dabernig, Lars Laumann, Wok the Rock, Chen Zhou, Marwa Arsanios, Pavel Braila, Cinthia Marcelle and Ahmet Ögüt.
PERFORMANCES
The Main Hall of the fair will host a series of audio-visual performances by Zhang Jianjun and Roberto Paci Dalo alongside the students of Fudan University Institute of Visual Arts.
Special Presentation: The Making of Meeting, 5 years of activities by Arthub Asia iPad publication launch. ArtHub Asia enters its fifth year in 2012. In just a few years of activity it has grown, positioning itself as a dynamic platform that encompasses all of Asia and brings its projects and, most importantly, its spirit worldwide.
To celebrate these achievements, Arthub Asia proudly presents its brand new publication available on iPad and Android, The Making of Meeting. The book comes into being as a reflection of the four-day symposium, The Making of the New Silk Roads held in Bangkok in the Summer of 2009. Cultural practitioners from around Asia and the Arthub Asia-instigated, match-made peers from the rest of the world came together to discuss the dynamic, ongoing echoes of the now-defunct Silk Road trading route and its multiple dimensions, reassessing the complex interconnections within Asia’s cultural and artistic spectrum at the beginning of the 21st century.
This publications summarizes the concerns and thoughts shared over time by the Arthub Asia think tank and serves as a memento of what Arthub Asia has achieved in its first five years of existence. Similar to aspects developed in The Making of the New Silk Roads, Arthub Asia aims to contribute to the development of SH Contemporary as a site for collaboration, bridging the intervals between cultures and media, while identities merge and blur, the rhetoric of the exotic is ignored and playfulness is highlighted and contoured.
Opening Hours:
Friday and Saturday, September 7th-8th from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm
Sunday, September 9th from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm
For more information, please visit here.
