Talk by Chinese Video Artist: Zhang Peili
The Art Center, Center of Academic Resources, Chulalongkorn University, and Jim Thompson Art Center, cordially invites you to join a talk by the man who is considered to be the ‘Father of Chinese Video Art.’
A talk by Zhang Peili about video art in China and his experiences since the 1980’s.
Time: Monday March 7th, 2011, 5:30 from 7:00 pm
Location: William Warren Library, 4th foor Henry B. Thompson Building, BTS: National Stadium
6 Soi Kasemsan 2, Phyathai Road, Bangkok, 10330
* The talk will be conducted in Mandarin with Thai translation
With regard to Zhang Peili’s participation in the exhibition Survival Techniques: Narratives of Resistance, curated by Davide Quadrio, sinologist, curator and historian, currently on display at The Art Center, Center of Academic Resources, Chulalongkorn University, The Art Center and Jim Thompson Art Center have come together to host a special talk to discuss the emergence of video art in China and the artistic journey of Zhang Peili over the past 30 years.
About Zhang Peili
Zhang Peili was one of the most innovative painters of the 1980’s in China and is regarded as the ‘Father of Chinese Video Art.’ In 1988, he presented a lengthy video piece entitled 30×30, in which the artist is shown breaking a mirror and sticking the pieces together and repeating the motion for three hours. Even though many critics in the past did not view this work as ‘video art’ in a strict sense, Zhang Peili said he wanted to create a very dull video piece. He used images devoid of value to test the audience’s reactions. This is one example of the ways in which the artist pushes viewers and critics alike to consider what video art is and how the parameters and boundaries of film can be manipulated to challenge our perceptions.
In Survival Techniques, Zhang Peili showcases his 2006 piece entitled Happiness, consisting of short clips from celebrated films during the Cultural Revolution. On one side of the screen, a man is speaking about the political and social greatness of China in chopped rhetorical sentences. On the other side, a group of people applaud enthusiastically. In this simple link, repeated and somehow mechanically connected, we can see the universal efficiency and drama of political populism.
Zhang Peili was born in 1957. He lives and works in Hangzhou.
About Survival Techniques: Narratives of Resistance
Curated by Davide Quadrio, the exhibition consists of video works by five artists: Zhang Peili, Shen Shaomin, Yang Zhenzhong, Rainer Ganahl and Artur Zmijewski.
The show addresses ways of surviving and the survival of individuals, groups of people, races and nations. Each work reflects problems arising from conflicts in ideologies and failures in having dialogues. Davide who is currently residing in Thailand, conducting research with the support of the National Research Council of Thailand on cultural and artistic development, has formed a special connection with the country that informs his intentions and direction for the exhibition.
Davide speaks about Survival Techniques, “When I was asked to put together this show, I thought of my last years in Thailand and Bangkok and I wanted to express through this curatorial adventure my own connection with the Thailand that I had personally discovered. When I think back over my last two years in Bangkok, with all the unrest and social and political uncertainty, the works chosen for this show seem to me very significant and universal. It is quite a testimony to the uneasiness that I feel–and I am sure many other people feel–when thinking about nationalism, ethnicity and power.”
For more information, please contact:
Siriwat Pokrajen (PR Officer)
Telephone: 081-629-0457
Email: siriwatpokrajen@yahoo.com, info.artcenterchula@gmail.com
The Art Center
7th Fl, Center of Academic Resources, Chulalongkorn University
Phyathai Rd, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330
Telephone: 0-2218-2965, Fax: 0-2218-2907
Email: info.artcenterchula@gmail.com
www.car.chula.ac.th/art
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