ARTHUB FAVORITE WEEK 22
Arthub would like to introduce Zhou Xiaohu’s new solo exhibition Chimera, opening this Sunday at Minsheng Art Museum. In his latest exhibition Xiaohu moves from social-installation to cultural-installation in an attempt to reconcile many conflicts within Chinese contemporary culture. The country has endured a long and arduous journey towards modernity – constantly challenged by the vast differences between rural and urban environments.
Opening: June 12, 2016 at 4:30pm
Duration: June 12 – July 10, 2016
Venue: Minsheng Art Museum, Bldg. F, 570 West Huaihai Road
Curator: Colin Siyuan Chinnery
Zhou Xiaohu is one of China’s leading contemporary artists. He is renowned for pioneering animation art in China, as well as making important works in video, photography, installation and performance, all of which he uses to probe the socio-political psyche of the country. He describes this process as Social Installation.
For Chimera, Xiaohu is creating a new project that mixes Chinese philosophy and folk art with creative narrative and contemporary form – culminated in one scene, spread across the main exhibition hall. A central element to this project is Xiaohu’s collaboration with the Zhejiang Taishun Puppet Theatre, with whom he is working to create an interpretation of the Zhuangzi allegories, a famous collection of philosophical stories from 4 BCE. The artist has created a set of life-sized puppets for the theatre group, to be filmed in different locations across China, climaxing in a live show at the exhibition opening. The preceding puppet performances will be presented in video works during the show – in sync with the live performance (which includes both music and narration).
This synchronization of space and time revolves around the show’s core goal of creating a multiple perspective montage, like that of a Chinese landscape painting, but with the added dimension of time. Xiaohu’s reimagined montage shall be further articulated in a series of moving sculptures, installations, and two-dimensional works.
About Artist
Zhou Xiaohu (b. 1960 Changzhou, lives and works in Shanghai) is one of the first contemporary artists in China to work experimentally with sculptural video and animation. He has participated in the Shanghai Biennale (2002); Seville International Art Biennale (2004); China Now, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA (2004); Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, Australia (2006); The Real Thing, Tate Liverpool, UK (2007); Not Soul For Sale, Tate Modern Turbine Hall, London, UK (2010); the 8th Gwangju Biennial, Gwangju Art Museum, Korea (2010); and Pandamonium: Media Art from Shanghai at MOMENTUM, Berlin (2014). Zhou Xiaohu was awarded the CCAA Award in 2002 and 2006. In 2014-2015, he was the recipient of the prestigious DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program.
About the Curator
Colin Siyuan Chinnery (based in Beijing) is the founder of the Beijing Sound Museum and is contributing editor for Frieze magazine. Chinnery was Director in 2009 and 2010 of ShContemporary Art Fair in Shanghai, and between 2006-2008 he was Deputy Director and Chief Curator of Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA) in Beijing. Between 2003 and 2006, as Arts Manager for the British Council in Beijing, he initiated major projects in experimental theatre, live art, sound art, and visual arts, bringing a wider public into contact with experimental practice.
Also ongoing in the museum during the same period is the solo exhibition by artist Yan Bing.