Presents Shangri-La On The Horizon

Presents Shangri-La On The Horizon

49 Nord 6 Est – Frac Lorraine

Xu Zhen, 8848-1.86, 2005. Video, 811. Copyright : Xu Zhen & ShanghART Gallery, Shanghai.

July 6, 2007

SHANGRI-LA ON THE HORIZON
07 july – 16 september 2007
opening : Friday 6th July 19.00

49 NORD 6 EST – Frac Lorraine
1bis rue des Trinitaires, Metz
Admission : free
From Wednesday to
Sunday: 12.00 – 19.00
Except Thursday: 14.00 – 21.00

www.fraclorraine.org

The Silk Road, the Land of the Rising Sun, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall of China, so many evocations of a Far East redolent of adventure and mystery. Down the centuries, travellers’ tales have helped to uphold an idealized, fantasy view of a fabulously wealthy and impenetrable Asia, whose thousands-year-old traditions were jealously guarded and perpetuated. The Utopian city of Shangri-La, a Tibetan enclave somewhere in the middle of the Himalayas, is emblematic of this fanciful view forged by the West. The country of the sacred and of peace, Shangri-La is the ideal city, surrounded by magnificent landscapes, where time seems to slow down and the inhabitants live in the most perfect harmony. Described in western literature (Edgar Allan Poe, James Hilton), the city focuses the ideal of purity, peace and spirituality embodied by Tibet. This Elsewhere is where everything becomes possible, every Utopia, and this view was copiously passed on by all manner of explorers and adventurers setting out to conquer these lands, by hippies looking for spiritual meaning, then by artists who went out to challenge these outsize landscapes and constructions.

Following in their footsteps, we are inviting you to tread the paths leading to Shangri-La and to look out from the city to see if the Utopia is still alive and peace flourishing.

Let’s head off due East! And to help us on this quest for Shangri-La and the mythical Asia, we’ll begin by brushing up on its geography.

Su-Mei Tse, following Chinese conventions, turns the cardinal points the other way round and offers to take us on the journey from the East. A simple but tremendously effective switch that invites us to relativize our way of looking at and seeing things. But does the Utopian city really lie in that direction? This is the quest we invite you to embark on with a few artists who deconstruct current clichés, rethink and take over this historical and philosophical Asian heritage (Kimsooja), even when it drifts towards Utopian and revolutionary ideas. They invite us to follow their tracks across the preserved land of Tibet (Qui Zhijie) up to the top of Mt Everest (Xu Zhen), to go on the “Long March” undertaken by Mao’s troops (Qin Ga), confronting us on the way with the ideological and exotic dimension of our view, with this eternal western model through which we attempt to understand the world.

Crossed horizons: the quest for adventure continues in the steps of a few artists, travellers and land surveyors for whom the very act and process of walking, the transient inscription within the landscape form a work (Hamish Fulton, Marco Godinho). But watch out, exploration and adventure are not necessarily on the other side of the world, they begin exactly wherever we decide, including in the familiar everyday situation! (Tixador & Poincheval).
ARTISTS:
Exhibition: Su-Mei Tse (Frac Lorraine Collection) and Kimsooja, Qin Ga, Qiu Zhijie, Xu Zhen.

Exhibition bis: Hamish Fulton (Frac Lorraine Collection) and Marco Godinho, Laurent Tixador & Abraham Poincheval.

Partners:
Galerie In Situ, Paris
Long March Space, Beijing
ShanghART Gallery, Shanghai
Peter Blum Gallery, New York

The Fonds régional d’art contemporain de Lorraine, member of (( Platform )), is supported by the Lorraine regional Council and the Regional Cultural Affairs Department (DRAC) at the Ministry of Culture.

Press agency:
Heymann, Renoult Associées / Tel. : 0033 (0)1 44 61 76 76 / Fax : 0033 (0)1 44 61 74 40
info@heymann-renoult.com

www.heymann-renoult.com

Advertisement
RSVP
RSVP for Presents Shangri-La On The Horizon
49 Nord 6 Est – Frac Lorraine
July 6, 2007

Thank you for your RSVP.

49 Nord 6 Est – Frac Lorraine will be in touch.

Subscribe

e-flux announcements are emailed press releases for art exhibitions from all over the world.

Agenda delivers news from galleries, art spaces, and publications, while Criticism publishes reviews of exhibitions and books.

Architecture announcements cover current architecture and design projects, symposia, exhibitions, and publications from all over the world.

Film announcements are newsletters about screenings, film festivals, and exhibitions of moving image.

Education announces academic employment opportunities, calls for applications, symposia, publications, exhibitions, and educational programs.

Sign up to receive information about events organized by e-flux at e-flux Screening Room, Bar Laika, or elsewhere.

I have read e-flux’s privacy policy and agree that e-flux may send me announcements to the email address entered above and that my data will be processed for this purpose in accordance with e-flux’s privacy policy*

Thank you for your interest in e-flux. Check your inbox to confirm your subscription.