Yang Fudong
Estranged Paradise. Works 1993–2013
and
Alejandro Cesarco
A Portrait, a Story, and an Ending
6 April–26 May 2013
Opening: 5 April, 6–9pm
Kunsthalle Zürich
Limmatstrasse 270
8005 Zurich
Switzerland
T +41 (0)44 272 15 15
F +41 (0)44 272 18 88
info [at] kunsthallezurich.ch
Yang Fudong: Estranged Paradise. Works 1993–2013
Yang Fudong (born in 1971 in Beijing, lives and works in Shanghai) is one of the most important figures of China’s contemporary art scene and independent cinema movement. He came to the attention of the Western art world in 2002, when he premiered his film An Estranged Paradise (1997–2002) at Documenta XI. His films and photographic work, often rooted in traditional Chinese painting, examine tensions between urban and rural, history and the present, worldliness and intellectualism. Their atemporal and dreamlike quality, long and suspended sequences, dividing narratives, as well as multiple relationships and story lines reflect the conundrums of idealism and ideology of a new generation. At the same time, the works address the ideals and anxieties of young people who are struggling to find their place in the fast-paced changes of present-day China.
Estranged Paradise. Works 1993–2013, curated by Beatrix Ruf and Philippe Pirotte, is Yang Fudong’s first major institutional survey exhibition in Europe, presenting film, installation as well as photography from the late 1990s until today, highlighting the formal aspects of the construction of cinema in the artist’s oeuvre and its resonance in Film Noir aesthetics. Following the exhibition in Zurich, the show will travel to the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (21 August–1 December).
The publication Yang Fudong. Estranged Paradise. Works 1993–2013 will be published in collaboration with UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive at JRP|Ringier Kunstverlag. It contains numerous images and texts by Philippe Pirotte, Colin Chinnery, Ho Rui An and Rey Chow. With kind support by Sifang Art Museums in Nanjing.
Artist talk
Saturday, 6 April, 12pm
Yang Fudong in conversation with Philippe Pirotte, Adjunct Senior Curator, UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, and Beatrix Ruf, Director Kunsthalle Zürich
Alejandro Cesarco: A Portrait, a Story, and an Ending
With the project A Portrait, a Story, and an Ending by Alejandro Cesarco (born in Montevideo in 1975, lives and works in New York), the designated public library space in Kunsthalle Zürich doubles as an exhibition space. For his presentation, Cesarco has assembled three independent works that take up various literary modes and are further spatially linked by the suggestion of a common narrative. The exhibition marks the beginning of a series of artistic interventions in the future public library of Kunsthalle Zürich, which will explore the use of this space and extend its allocated meaning.
The press releases for both exhibitions can be downloaded through the following links:
Yang Fudong
Alejandro Cesarco
Kunsthalle Zürich thanks Präsidialdepartement der Stadt Zürich, Direktion der Justiz und des Innern des Kantons Zürich as well as Zürcher Kantonalbank (Partner of Kunsthalle Zürich), Luma Foundation, Swiss Re, Hulda and Gustav Zumsteg Foundation, and Ringier AG.
Yang Fudong Estranged Paradise. Works 1993–2013 is supported by Sifang Art Museums Nanjing, Marian Goodman Gallery Paris / New York and ShanghART Gallery Shanghai.
