“Between Past and Future.” Flash Art International 37:238 (October 2004): 66-67.
“Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video From China”
International Center of Photography and the Asia Society and Museum
June 11-September 4, 2004
Melissa Pearl Friedling
Christopher Phillips, co-curator of this jointly presented exhibition, admits in his catalogue essay that the work of this young generation of artists from mainland China may appear to a western eye to have an “out of kilter” set of references. But, he notes, Chinese artists were effectively isolated from western art from 1949 to 1979. Once they gained access, young Chinese artists went wild, stampeding through the styles, ideas, and forms of American and European post-war art. What resulted and is exhibited in this show, appears to be a bit of a rehashing of early ‘50s through ‘70s-era performance, experimental photography, and video art. But what Phillips maintains is that the Chinese spin on any Western approach to art is the difference that makes a difference.
This may be so, and much of the exhibition bears out this difference. Works documenting the performances of artist in Beijing’s own “East Village” resonate with the aggressive body art of Acconci, Schneeman, and Burden, but seem particular to post-June 4 massacre, Beijing. Notable among these are Li Wei’s mirroring series in which he appears as a disembodied head floating around public spaces in Beijing and Ma Liuming’s “Fen Ma Liuming Walks on the Great Wall” (1998) in which the alluringly androgynous artist slinks naked along the crumbling Great Wall until his feet bleed.
The show, divided into four thematic sections, includes the grouping titled “People and Places” (ICP) which, rather repetitively, demonstrates the changing urban landscape of China’s cities. Standing out among these works is Chen Shaoxiang’s “Multilandscape” which features cut-out photographs of city life in Guangzhou along with two videos that make funny juxtrapositions as hand drawn cartoons and actual toy monsters hover over images of the city.
Unfortunately, most of the video work in the show is confined to a single screening room in each of the two venues. While the majority of the video selections are performative, naturally recursive, and gallery-ready, only the highly polished 35mm film by Yang Fudong –distinctly unrepresentative of the gritty, low-tech look characterizing the bulk of the program –is shown in both the main gallery and the programmed screening. Though relegated to a marginal space, highlights of the video program include Liu Wei’s “Hard to Restrain” (1999) in which a dark, blurry, aerial shot of naked human figures move like hieroglyphs forming and deforming characters, expressions, and chance meanings. In fact, what shines through above all in this show is an exciting openness to chance -- a distinctly Eastern principle adopted by Western artists like John Cage during the years when China was closed off -- and now the principle of hope in the creative magma of contemporary Chinese photography and video.