"Moving Image in China" Exhibition

The Luigi Pecci Center for Contermporary Art in collaboration with the Minsheng Art Museum in Shanghai presents the first major exhibition of Chinese video art:  Moving Image in China 1988 - 2011.More than forty pieces have been selected to tell the story of video art from the first video made by Zhano Peili in the late 80's up to  the most recent work by international star, Yang Fudong.

 

50 years ago the earliest examples of video art exploded in the West. In the Far East the situation is different. It is a relatively recent phenomenon there, that goes back only about 25 years. The debate on the concept of video art is very much alive in China, and as the title of the show expresses, moving images are considered part of the language of art and its expression, including animation, digital art and so on.

 

Moving Image in China 1988-2011 shows the work of Zhang Peili, Yang Fudong, Cao Fei, Qiu Zhijie, and Wang Jianwei. Generally speaking, the use of this new media form is overall quite poetic but the show also looks at directions that younger representatives like Lu Yang, Chen Zhou, Wang Sishun are going in. 

 

This exhaustive exhibit is curated by He Juxing, Guo Xiaoyan, Zhou Tiehai and Marco Bazzini and is divided in four sections:

 

1988 - 1993: The media's critique and bio-political reflections.
In China in the late 80's, television became a new source of entertainment. And yet, for many artists 1990 is really considered the year when the artistic revolution in the language of image began. 30x30 by Zhang Peili opens the exhibit. It is the first video in Chinese art history and was represented at the 1989 show China Avantgard. At the same time, Yan Lei and Qiu Zhijie developed new forms of the art and saw the use of television as a way of the media to express and hide ideological content. Video thus became a way for people to gain awareness. Despite technological difficulties, artists used this art form in a systematic manner and sought to use it to critique the world around them. 

 

1994 - 1999: An analysis of terms and the formation of video art. 

In the 90's new media forms were developed and Chinese artists learned to use them. It was a key time for video art. By 1996 a new art form had really taken hold. Not only was video used to make documentaries, but as a form of recording.Through creation and reflection, the artists discovered that new media forms stimulate people to think and so they began to pay more attention to the visual effects of their films, together with their temporal reflections. Chinese video art began to capture the interest of the international community when more than 30 artists participated in Video Art Exhibition, which took place in 1997 in Peking, and which was a trampoline for the Chinese artistic community. Key artists include: Zhou Tiehai, Ellen Pau, Chen Shaoxiong, Jiang Zhi, Lin Yilin, Wang Jianwei, Wang Gongxin

 

With the computer revolution in 1998, video art developed. Many artists found that they could use the form to express social ideologies. Underground movements that went against social media developed. Using the language of documentaries, another group pushed the limits of this narrative form. Some key artists include: Tsui Kuang-Yu, Gu Dexin, Lu Chunsheng, Yang Fudong, Zhou Xiaohu

 

The new media form has become an important platform with its own characteristics and is connected to the development of technology thanks to the Chinese artists' use of the new language. The artists began an intellectual discussion on Chinese video art and on the connection between film, drawing, and installations. Key artists include: Chen Chieh-jen, Cao Fei, Hu Xiangqian, Huang Ran, Feng Mengbo Sun Xun, Zhang Ding.

This exhibit was on show in September last year at the Minsheng Art Museum; it was produced in collaboration with the Luigi Pecco Center for Contemporary Art.

Hours: Every day from 10-7, from May 30 from 4-11pm, closed Tuesdays

Entrance fee: 4 euro, reduced rate 3 euro

Guided Tours
Free with ticket entrance every Saturday and Sunday at 5pm starting on April 22; in June on Wednesdays at 9pm

Information
Centro per l’arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci
Viale della Repubblica 277, Prato
Tel. +39 0574 5317
www.centropecci.it