LEAP: The International Art Magazine of Contemporary China
COVER FEATURE: A TALE OF TIER TWO CITIES
Having resisted the temptation in our first two volumes, LEAP finally succumbs to the lulling call of China’s second-tier cities for our thirteenth issue, visiting the two outlying megalopolises of Wuhan and Chongqing. Through firsthand observation of the local art ecology in both, our editors uncover shared stories, destinies, and elements of a mindset that may explain just why we ourselves choose to remain in Beijing.
OTHER FEATURES
Elsewhere in the middle section is an intimate tête-à-tête with Thai artist and filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul, an intricate profile of up-and-coming Taiwanese artist Charwei Tsai by Tony Godfrey, a meteorological summary of the art market in 2011, a heartfelt memoir of the late Mu Xin by New York-based filmmakers Francisco Bello and Tim Sternberg, and a recap of the conceptual “capsules” of artist Liu Ding.
TOP
In the front end of the issue are interviews with curator Hou Hanru and installation artist Nari Ward, a foray into the metaphysical explorations of ink painter Hao Liang, a manifesto for the brush from Wang Yuping, and an account of six Chinese artists’ time spent on a residency in Nantes.
BOTTOM
The back of this issue offers a slew of critical takes on solo exhibitions of Ding Yi, Jiang Zhi, Sarah Sze, Wang Xingwei, Yang Fudong, and others, alongside group showings in Wuhan, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and a major museum show at the ZKM in Karlsruhe.
EXCERPTS FROM THIS ISSUE
In this era where capitalism, globalization and neo-liberalism are commonly regarded as unavoidable constituents of our socio-political reality, I wanted to try to imagine what might happen if this were to suddenly change.
—Hou Hanru (My Miles: Hou Hanru)
If one is to have a discourse about spirituality they have to come to terms with the present moment or offer some kind of connectivity to it.
—Nari Ward (Nari Ward: Semiotic Hijacking)
If Smithson’s work smells of the classroom, Tsai’s smells of either the dovecote or the bedroom. (Of course, associations are always slippery…)
—Tony Godfrey (Stopping for a Moment: The Art of Charwei Tsai)
Will China’s art boom enter the history books as the stoned hippie phase in the history of the contemporary art world?
—Kito Nedo (Review, The Global Contemporary: Art Worlds After 1989)
In the case of Rothko’s painting—even though the exhibition dispenses with Greenberg’s argument, only to return again to the cosmic philosophy of Rothko himself—the question is whether the work of Rothko…can be placed on par with the subjectivity that developed following the minimalism of extreme materialization.
—Po Hung (Review, Beijing Voice: Leaving Realism Behind)
At the instant when the material world falls apart, when unsatisfied desires manifest as symbolic possibilities, point, line, plane, and shape each assumes its most alluring posture, surging toward us.
—Wu Zhongsheng (Review, Jiang Zhi: A Thought Arises)
As MadeIn itself turns into an event-based artwork, the significance of its specific products becomes a mere extension of this event, so it really doesn’t matter if these are made in earnest or in jest.
—Bao Dong (Review, MadeIn Company: Action of Consciousness)
We should never forget that art’s radical nature is built upon imagination—not upon viewer participation and spectatorship…
—Nikita Yingqian Cai (Review, The Things they are a-Changing)
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Meanwhile, be sure to stop by our booth and say hello at the upcoming international art fairs:
100th College Art Association Conference | 2.22–25
The Armory Show | 3.8–11
Art Dubai | 3.21.24
Art Fair Tokyo | 3.30–4.1
CIGE | 4.12–4.15
Art Beijing | 4.29–5.2
Frieze NY | 5.4–7
ART HK | 5.17–20
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