Chai Yiming: Untitled, ink on silk, 60 x 60 cm 2005-2011
Rebecca Catching: In this painting you've created a mountain which is also a house and another mountain
which is spouting a flag. Can you explain the man-made elements in this work?
Chai Yiming: This house is like a mountain, because we live in the city and we are surrounded by man-made
things. This a flag represents how every country wants to plant a flag to claim their territory. To
show that he the master of the mountain, but at the same time, the flag represents those stores
that advertise with flags to tell to the customers, "You can come and buy me; I am very cheap!"
Rebecca Catching: You often incorporate erotic imagery into your work. Can you tell us about the mountains
in this piece?
Chai Yiming: These mountains are like breasts because there are lots of mountains that look like breasts.
Mountains are like breasts because they nourish many things like grass and trees and on the
mountains there are lots of rivers and streams.
Rebecca Catching: What is the significance of the stack of people lying on the ground here?
Chai Yiming: They are making a pile and their form is like the form of a mountain. Because the forms of
natural things are always with no straight lines. When people die they become the nutrients for
the mountain and then the mountain produces nutrients to feed the people.
Rebecca Catching: Can you tell me about the donkey in this piece and why he is wearing a halo?
Chay Yiming: He has a halo like the gods in the Western painitngs of the Middle Ages. I think not just gods
but all living things should have a halo.
Rebecca Catching: Because all living things are precious?
Chai Yiming: My way of thingking is realy conservative. There are lots of people who don't care about these
things. Humans have no reason to say that they are the highest beings. If they say that, it means
that they have no respect, without respect then there will be chaos. Confucious, Zhuangzi and
Buddhism all promote harmony between man and nature.
Rebecca Catching: That person in "Untitled 2" looks like a crash test dummy, was that your intended effect?
Chai Yiming: He is a fake person, who doesn't look too much like a person. It has to do with the literati
mindset - albeit the literati mindset made strange. For the literati when they didn't have an actual
mountain, they could create a "jiashan" or rockery so they would be able to have the feeling of a
mountain. But instead it's a mountain in a snow globe.
Rebecca Catching: What is that liguid leaking out of the figure?
Chai Yiming: It's like when it's cold in the windter when liquid turns to solid, like in outerspace or in a cold
place. Also it's like many things made here which are not of such high qulaity they often leak.
Rebecca Catching: Tell me why are you interested in creating an image of a "fake person"?
Chai YIming: There is this Daoist term "zhenren" like when a person reaches a level of knowledge
(enlightenment) then they become a "zhenren" or real person.
The oposite of this is a fake person. There are very very few "zhenren." If you look at Confucius
was very respectful. You must be respectful, otherwise you are not considered a person.
Nowadays we have no "zhenren" because we've become animals and monsters. We now
consider our current [monstrous] state to be real, and the the real "zhenren" are considered fake.
Rebecca Catching: What is this figure pushing on the outside of the glass ball?
Chai Yiming: There are lots of peole who want to be "jiaren" or fake people. They want to come in to the
sphere of the "zhenren" but the "zhenren" won't let them come in. In the purpose of the action
made is not clear. It could be construed as touching or pushing or maybe trying to get in.
Rebecca Catching: Can you tell me about the hand gestures of the "zhenren"?
Chai Yiming: His gestures are taken from Guanyin, the thousand armed Buddha although I just painted two arms.
Rebecca Catching: Why are you interested in Guanyin?
Chai Yiming: Guanyin is there to save the world and also care about each individual. The "jiaren" or fake
people always say they will save or help people but they don't really ever do anything constructive.
Chen Hangfeng: Invasive Species: The Vegetables Chen Hangfeng text animation (duration: 4.03 mins), photo, light box, LED and controller, power adapter, dimensions variable, 2010
I took photos of different vegetables at night time - they were planted by people in one of residential compounds in Shanghai. This was illegal and caused lots of trouble between the neighbors and the compound management. I turned these photos into flashing LED light boxes which were governed by program which turned them on and off. At the same time, I made up a series of fictive "conversations" about how the vegetables had evolved with different abilities or super powers to protect themselves. This dialogue was shown on a big screen under the guise of a scientific log. I.e. the conversations from the vegetables were captured by a "high-tech device" which analyzed their "biological signals." The rhythm of the dialogues were synchronized in time with the flashing light boxes… so when one plant was "talking", it’s particular light box would light up.
Chen Xi: Worm Philip Chen Xi pigment ink and marker on Fabriano water-color paper 100 x 70 cm 2011
When the creatures of this work face the harsh environment, they will face both complex and simple dangers.. How do they form their survival strategies? Can the strategies withstand the test of time? To what degree do they live in the environment voluntarily? I am always delighted by questions that can’t be answered. In this way, I believe the work reflects the real world.
Girolamo Marri: A Portrait of the Artist Dawning, photograph by Daniele Mattioli digital print mounted on MDF board, 70 x 43 cm 2011
By all means, let’s not deny that surrendering is sometimes a very brave and valuable solution. Timing is of its essence. I make surrendering on time a must, every time I gamble into something way above my modest capabilities. I limit the damage – the degeneration of utopia into dystopia.
The courage to acknowledge the possibility of facing failure and the consequential slow-motion bitterness at every commencement is holy. Diving into that bitterness at the right time is hallowed. Rising up and starting anew is blessed. The sun is not yellow it’s chicken. This work is about this and also about this.
This artist was photographed in a very specific moment, or actually a very specific moment was photographed in this artist. Every good utopian realizes, at some critical point, that reality always finds a way to mess up your ambitious plan. Your omelette gets burned; your city of the future is just a cocoon for potentially violent sociopaths; the earth is never going to be as green as it was half an hour ago; your country is no better than before, the poor are still poor, ignorant, dirty and unhappy, the rich are still rich, ignorant, dirty and unhappy in their Cayennes; no Cayenne picks you up and drives you to heaven when you die. Though your idea was simply brilliant.
And this artist, whose very modest desire was to make a decent painting of a tree he has seen in his hometown, who tried and tried, just had to admit to himself that the tree in his hometown is much happier where it is and has no intention of moving to his canvas, which is instead hosting what looks like green pubes on a stick. It’s a sad moment, because, on many levels, trees are better than green pubes. But if a second photograph was taken, only half an hour later, it would show the same artist, oblivious to his failure, who has moved on to a new project. The optimist fool.
Ji Wenyu: Controlling the Forces of Nature, installation, dimensions variable
A Barbie doll's hand constantly swings back and forth, emitting sensual moans, while an accompanying cloud passes by with every wave of the hand. This juxtaposition of the delicate shape of the hand with the power of natural forces recalls the butterfly effect proposed by the American meteorologist Edward Lorenz. Thirty years ago, we shouted that the revolution would be achieved in the way that one crosses a river by feeling for stones. Meanwhile, we carried out the production required of each household. Who can imagine a poor and weak country now has the world’s second largest GDP? Though we enjoy the glory, will the effects of this achievement bring us good fortune or anxiety? Should we seek pleasure under this halo of success? Will we be able to relax? Now, we feel confident and proud; we even feel we can control the forces of nature.
Leung Chi Wo: The Great Development of Smythe Kangaroo Island, chromogenic prints and video, set of 4 27.9 x 35.6 cm, Ed 3/10 2003
I wandered through the Chinatown in Melbourne till the very end, where I found a tiny dull alley named after Smythe. I had no idea who Smythe was but only wondered how many immigrants from China had been there. It’s an old neighborhood in the city and you would imagine only the older generations lived there. The very cramped homes could be only transient. Thus suburbia might be a destination for a better life and more space, or simply a disconnection from the past.
Qian Rong: Shanghai Alliance, No.21, watercolor and ink on craft paper, 41 x 43 cm, 2011
Historical unions have happened at various times in all countries. I have been concerned about historical issues for a long time and have never lost interest; history is like a mirror, it reflects the rich and complex nature of humanity. The figures in my works stem from well-known images. I combined and updated them for this project. As I see it, many different kinds of graphic fragments can be given a new look. The absurdity of framing a truth in fallacy will not obstruct our understanding of history. Rather, it will help us to think deeply and inspire our actions in the future. Shanghai is a word which forces us to pull history into our contemporary lives – closing the gap between history and the present. Shanghai is a very rich concept. The development process of Shanghai offers a microcosm of the development process of China. At the same time Shanghai is different, it has certain characteristics, like the mighty Huangpu River are which is possessed by only Shanghai alone.
Su Chang: Expedition, photographs on archival paper, 100 x 73 cm, 2011
This series is about adventure. Man is always in a state of discovery, which is not the same as invention since the process of knowledge acquisition entails risk. When Edison invented the electric light, it was through a process of numerous failures that ended when he discovered that glass could provide a covering for the filament and that tungsten could act as a wick. The important thing was not the light but the process of learning the attributes or properties of these materials. It is in following the same vein of thought that the X-ray machine was invented and penicillin was discovered. At the same time in America, Haley's Comet was also discovered. In this way we can say that the refrigerator was discovered, a device which creates a low temperature zone in a small area. And then there was James Cook, who discovered Antarctica. I think this mood of release and the excitement of discovery is often concealed by a sense of habitual logic.
