Arthub Favorite: Week 43

What is the relationship between Chinese calligraphy and consumable products? Yangjiang Group will answer this seemingly strange question with their performative artworks involving calligraphy, leftovers and tea ceremonies, opening as a part of Calligraphy Is the Way to Communicate with the Most Primal Power this Tuesday, October 18 in Seoul, South Korea.

Duration: October 18, 2016 – August 27, 2017
Venue: Seoul Box, 313 Gwangmyeong-ro
Gwancheon-si, Gyeonggi-do 13829

Korean Air Box Project is a long-term project that organizes displays of installation artworks by renowned artists from around the world at Seoul Box, the central exhibition space of MMCA. Celebrating the experimental spirit of contemporary art and presenting a new vision for the future, the project chose Yangjiang Group (active since 2002) from China to be the next artists to showcase their works in 2016. Yangjiang Group is preparing diverse installations, performances, and interactive artworks based on the themes of writing and tea drinking.

Zheng Guogu, Chen Zaiyan, and Sun Qinglin, are the three artists who make up the group. They have been highly active on the international stage, displaying their works at major events such as the 2002 Gwangju Biennale, 2003 Venice Biennale, and 2007 Kassel documenta. These artists have been drawing considerable international attention with their large-scale installation works and diverse interactive programs for audiences in their hometown of Yangjiang, located in China’s Guangdong Province.

Their latest project, entitled Calligraphy Is the Way to Communicate with the Most Primal Power, will feature four participatory and interactive workshop-style performance works, based on topics such as “After Dinner Calligraphy” and “Tea and Incense Ceremony”, in which the group will continuously transform the appearance of Seoul Box. Calligraphy, a highly valued part of East Asian tradition, will be revived through a unique reinterpretation, where the artists will invite visitors to enjoy a large meal together and use the leftovers to perform calligraphy.

There will also be a workshop on tea drinking, offering an opportunity for visitors to share and enjoy traditional teas of China together. Yangjiang Group hopes that these activities will enable visitors to actively share their joy and freely interact with one another. Visitors will be encouraged to join in the process of creating art in attempt to reaffirm the idea of solidarity through participation, without the dichotomies between China and the rest of the world, between the traditional and the modern, and between art and daily lives.

Throughout the exhibition, Seoul Box Archive will feature a documentary showing the daily activities and artistic processes of Yangjiang Group in their studio, as well as interviews with the artists.