Birth of a Nation, IRISH WAVE 2016
This post will take a very brief overview of the main exhibition “ Birth of a Nation” held at the beautiful old warehouse space NING SPACE in 798. Only some of the works are mentioned here.
IRISH WAVE 2016 “Birth of a Nation” Exhibitions in Beijing and Shanghai as part of the Irish Festival in China this March.
This post will take an overview of “Identity” exhibited at the Emerging Arts Research Centre (EARC) in 798, Beijing and a brief look at a few individual works.
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Here is a quick look at IRISH WAVE Exhibitions showing this weekend in 798
Exhibition 12 March – 9 April 2016
IW 2016 Niamh Cunningham , When I was 11 2-quicktime copy
IW 2016 Niamh Cunningham , When I was 11 2-quicktime copy
BIRTH OF A NATION @ 798 at NING SPACE – Formal opening: 5:30-7:30pm 15 March
Collectors Talk: 2:00 – 4:00pm 12 March (please request invitation)
Website http://www.ningspace.com/ / Email ning@ningspace.com
Address: 706 North 1st Street, No.2 Jiu Xian Qiao Road, 798 Art District, Beijing
Opening Hours: Tues – Sun 10:00am – 6:00pm Exhibition runs from 12 – 20 March
IDENTITY @ 798 at Emerging Arts Research Center – Formal opening: 4-6:00pm 13 March
Followed by an informal artist’s talk & guided tour
Phone 18610317535 / Email yun@betweenartlab.com
Address: 300m walk inside Gate No.2, 798 factory, Jiu Xian Qiao Road, 798 Art District, Beijing
Opening Hours: Tues – Sun 10:00am – 6:00pm Exhibition runs from 12 – 16 March
STRUGGLE @ Sanwei Art Center – Formal Opening: 5.30 – 7:30pm 19 March
Website www.sanweiartcenter.com / Email jshjw8008@sina.com
Address: 68 Xinqiao Road, Shanghai
Opening hours Tues-Sun 10:00am – 6:00pm
Exhibition runs from 19 March – 9 April
This was my first visit to a snow covered Hohhot, the exhibition was held in the south campus of the University of Inner Mongolia. As a participating artist I had just arrived (by the skin of my teeth) on the overnight train for the 10 am opening ceremony on Monday morning, Dec 14th.
I was showing some of my portraits from the Transparent Milk Series which I based on the young generation of China. I taught all of these young students during my first year in China, some were tutored individually so I knew them well and others were from art workshops at a migrant school. Before this point my portraits were heavily saturated in colour but I needed to paint my students differently. I began to paint my students in milk colours in reference to the earlier story of powder milk contamination.
This exhibition titled “Recombination and Mutation of Gene” was curated by Gu Zhenqing and Wu Rijin. Four of the participating artists at this exhibition are Irish Wave Artists: Jia YouGuang, Ma Yanling, Fion Gunn and myself.
I have been installing group exhibitions with Fion Gunn in China for over 4 years, this recent show was different. Participating artists came from over 13 countries, each compelled to make
their statement on sexual violence as a weapon of war. The narrative for this begins with the issue of the comfort women and extends to a contemporary perspective. This project was presented by Sam Chen, president of CAPA Centre for Asian Pacific Affairs based in Flushing NYC. Some artists had shown work in the first show in New York September 2015 and others are artists living and working in China. As co curator for this show at Inter Gallery in 798 , I was on familiar ground working with Fion Gunn and also with the venue Inter Gallery where we had already installed an Irish Wave exhibition earlier this year.
The exhibition investigates individual and collective accountability, it is not a documentary of horrors nor a mechanism for assigning blame but it does speak of loss and resilience, of sorrow and our shared humanity, aiming to bring insight and perspective and also to allow space for the viewer to consider what continues to happen in the world today. This post will take you on a few of the pathways we built for visitors to explore and learn more about this challenging subject.
As you can see from the front page of the catalogue above the project is ambitious with the line up of intended venues. Hangzhou is planned for April 2016. Hangzhou is an area where the Japanese military had a comfort women camp.
If you are in Beijing on Sunday Oct 25th please come to Inter Gallery 798 for this multimedia contemporary art show which deals with the difficult subject of sexual abuse particularly in times of conflict .The artworks on display respond to the transnational issue of violence against women during times of conflict from both a historical and contemporary perspective.
I am co curating this show with curator Fion Gunn and once the show is installed I will write on some of the works showing.
Intimate Transgressions can be seen at Inter Gallery until 1 November 2015. . Guided tours by the artists and curators will be open to the public throughout the show. It will then tour in other Chinese cities throughout 2016. 34 artists are participating in the exhibition and come from as far afield as Australia, India, Mexico, Ireland, Israel, Taiwan, France, the United Kingdom and the United States as well as China. The work is diverse and covers a range of media and styles from drawing and print to installation and video. The cohesion of the exhibition is its desire to initiate a dialogue about conflict and violence against women from a global and shared oppositional stance. For those opposed to global conflict this is an exhibition you should see.
“Reciprocal Plane” is a two artist exhibition at the ancient Daoist venue Dong Yue Art Museum, opening on August 8th 2015 at 3 pm, all are welcome.
Renowned Shanghai artist Huang A Zhong will show his oil paintings in this joint exhibition. He is a Professor of Fine Arts at Shanghai University and he has also published numerous essays and poetry.
“ Tong yi Ping mian” literally means “Same plane”. The show will take a look at two very different backgrounds coming together to have a conversation on some similar themes and interests.
I will be showing the first section of my Ginko Series which are based in an area in Olympic Park nearby where I live.
As part of this series, three large paintings which are a commission work for Huaxin Hospital First hospital affiliated to Tsinghua University will be available for viewing. I will also be showing a few small sugar painting works.
The show runs until August 22nd.
open from August 9th to August 22nd except Mondays
opening hours : 10.00 to 17.00
June 28th August 20th at 798 Art space Memories Toward the Past
Many years ago I remember reading an autobiography titled ‘Unreliable Memoirs’ by Clive James. I chose it for the credibility of its title and happy to report it didn’t disappoint or at least… that is the way I remember it.
Memory is the theme of various exhibitions at the China-Italia Biennale curated by Sandro Orlandi. I would like to bring you a few of the highlights.
Etheral Conclusions Feng Ling and Ma YanlingA significant moment in 798 Art history occurred on Saturday April 8 (2014) when curators Wendy Zhao and Catherine Cheng hosted the reception for Etheral Conclusions in the naturally illuminated Bauhaus factory.