Zhan Wang
‘Garden Utopia’ – Solo Exhibition
May 11 – May 21, 2008
National Art Museum of China, Beijing
‘Sculptural’ Intervention – Conference
May 12, 2008
Organized by Sculpture Research Center, Central Academy of Fine Arts
’86 Divinity Figures’ – New Project Initiation
May 13 – June 4, 2008
Long March Space, Beijing
“My approach is to marry together the two extremes of primitive, untamed nature and the artificial, which is manmade and, therefore, man-controlled. The highest aim we can seek to attain is the unity of Man and nature, to achieve goals without going against nature. Stainless steel, with its mirror-like surface, produces a direct and pure effect on the viewer. It is an illusion that is necessary for uplifting the spirit of mankind…It is important to express an idea precisely using physical materials. Man’s tendency to over-intellectualise often diverts attention away from physical matter. The spiritual inferences we derive from physical matter are frequently directed by social change. This is why I am interested in materials commonly used in modern life. Only when a material has been used in all possible permutations and for every kind of application, does its true significance become apparent.”
Zhan Wang
‘Garden Utopia’ at National Art Museum of China
“Garden Utopia” articulates the traditional perspective of a Chinese garden as a space for contemplation, a borderland between reality and fantasy to escape the trappings of the modern world and reconnect humanity with nature. It is this traditional aesthetic that Zhan Wang situates against a violently changing Chinese society, his works examining the tensions between landscape and industrialization, tradition and modernity. This exhibition will feature over 50 works by Zhan Wang, from his celebrated stainless steel ‘scholar rock’ monuments to the spectacular reflective steel installations of urban landscapes, Zhan Wang’s work will spectacularly transform the spaces of the National Art Museum of China.
Curator Fan Di’an
Co-curator Huang Du
Exhibition advisor Xie Suzhen
Co-organized by Long March Space
Opening reception: Saturday May 11, 2008 3pm – 6pm
‘Sculptural’ Intervention – Conference at Central Academy of Fine Arts
On the occasion of Zhan Wang’s solo exhibition “Garden Utopia” at the National Art Museum of China, artists, curators, critics and practitioners will engage in an open discussion on the relationship between traditional sculpture and contemporary art. Inviting leading Chinese and international art historians, curators, critics and artists, this symposium will question the public and social nature of contemporary art raised by Beuys’ “social sculpture” and the idea of “intervention”, to articulate new possibilities and definitions for “sculpture” as a medium that informs and engages other material explorations of the social condition.
This symposium is moderated by Fan Di’an, Director, National Art Museum of China and Lu Jie, Director, Long March Project. Presenters: Lisa Corrin, Lu Peng, Chia Chi Jason Wang, and Zhu Qingsheng.
’86 Divinity Figures’ at Long March Space
86 Divinity Figures is a new month-long project by artist Zhan Wang. This series of performative accumulative acts, involving the creation and destruction of identical divinity figures, calls forth the artist’s investigation into his personal family history of 86 generations. Zhan Wang traces his lineage back to Zhan Jiqin, the sage of peace and harmony and his possibly mythic sibling, Zhan Zhi, known as the ‘saint thief’, both widely celebrated as divinity figures in Zhan Wang’s hometown in Shandong Province. Through the action of making and destroying, this project generates questions of renewal, ancestral lineage and the desire to break from the past, while always being constrained and re-incorporated by our genealogy.
Venue: Long March Space C
Initiation Ceremony: 4 pm, Tuesday May 13, 2008
National Art Museum of China
1 Wusi Dajie, East District, Beijing, China, 100010
9:00 am – 5 pm (No Entry after 4:00 p.m.)
Long March Space
4 Jiuxianqiao Rd (Factory 798), Beijing China 100015
Tues – Sun 11:00 am – 7:00 pm
Central Academy of Fine Arts
No.8, Hua Jia Di Nan Jie, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China.
Press contact:
Long March Space
Tel +86 10 6438 7107
Fax +86 10 6432 3834
press@longmarchspace.com
