Flying Bird from Samantha Culp on Vimeo.

“It returns the child’s eye to the retinas of men. Emerging from subway, [taxi] or even hydrofoil, the visitor to the [Shanghai Expo 2010] feels that he is in a special world, full of runaway pylons, impossible cantilevers, and buildings that look like flowers or accidents of flowing lava.

Is it the future? Not exactly.”

This John McPhee surveying the 1964 New York World’s Fair in his essay “Fairs: The World of Already,” but he could just have equally been describing the Shanghai Expo. Some photos from the still-unfolding, barely-comprehensible spectacle.

Slideshow of May 1 (on Flickr):

Slideshow of May 2 (on Flickr):

The start of the Year of the Tiger was icy but beautiful in Berlin… Full set here.

Since Beijing was preoccupied with military parade mania over the October holiday, it seemed like a good time to escape to Tokyo.

Full set here.
Bonus: learn Chinese from an animated panda on Japanese television.

My rambling notes from the week of SHContemporary are up at Artforum China; read the full article online here or in the vault. They didn’t end up using all of my pictures, however, so here are a few extras below…

Also, just for reference, here are three other articles about the Shanghai Fair week:
“Shanghai Art Week Review,” The Art Newspaper, Chris Gill
“Chinese Art Scene at SHContemporary,” Artnet, Barbara Pollack
“Postcards from Shanghai No. 1, 2, 3,” Frieze Editors Blog, Jörg Heiser

Hurun Lounge - Nobody Knows China's Rich Better

Seeing One's Own Eyes: Middle East Contemporary Art Exhibition

Bourgeoisified Proletariat: Bicycle by Guangzhou's Borges Libreria

Bourgeoisified Proletariat: Wall destruction by Polit-Sheer-Form Office

Bourgeoisified Proletariat: MadeIn's Metal Language

Bourgeoisified Proletariat: MadeIn's styrofoam disco room

Title: “Jiang Zhi’s ‘Attitude’”
Publication: Housevibe, the Opposite House Blog
Date: Sep 2009
Article Link (English)
Article Link (Chinese)
Full Text Below (English and Chinese Translation)

This month, the international art crowds descended upon Shanghai for SHContemporary 09, the third edition of the city’s art fair. But the best parts of any art fair are usually the satellite events surrounding it, and Shanghai’s visitors had plenty to choose from this year. Word quickly spread that one of the not-to-miss highlights was “Attitude,” Osage Gallery’s solo show by Jiang Zhi, which features three brand-new works by the often provocative artist.

Like many Chinese artists of his generation, Jiang is known for his being somewhat of a renaissance man, and his pieces have appeared equally in art festivals like the Venice Biennale, and film festivals from Hong Kong to Torino. Born in 1971 in Hunan Province, he was based in Shenzhen for several years as he began creating distinctive works across photography, video, and installation. For his landmark quasi-documentary “The Moments,” he carried a hand-held DV camera around Shenzhen every single day from 2000-2003 to capture random snippets of city-life: an old man cursing at traffic, two kids learning how to kiss. In the controversial video and photographs of “Our Love,” he profiled the morphing bodies of two individuals: a female ballerina battling breast cancer, and a male nightclub dancer undergoing gender transformation. His more recent photographs and videos have become less raw, more polished, but his basic concerns remain the same – unflinching observations of a changing society, via the microcosm of human emotions, expressions, and bodies.

In “Attitude,” he deeply investigates artifice and reality in how we perform our emotions. “Maiden, All Too Maiden!” is an installation of 100 photographs, all of young women posing against pink backdrops with an expression of “coyness.” The total effect is disturbing rather than charming, suggesting how even this cute and innocent look is a mask we can never see beneath. Upstairs in the 7-channel video loop of “Tremble,” a diverse line-up of naked individuals stand upon vibrating platforms, their flesh shaking at a high frequency as they attempt to hold a rigid pose – simultaneously vulnerable and fierce. But the most striking attempt to peel back these layers of perception and reality is perhaps “0.7% Salt.”

Presented in an intimate alcove at the very top of Osage’s beautiful 1920s villa, this single-channel video shows a beautiful young woman staring straight into the camera, her face gradually shifting from a shy smile to controlled tears. The fact that the woman is Hong Kong starlet Gillian Chung is an extra surprise, and makes the cinematic nature of her crying more beguiling. Though the tears are staged, they’re very much real – the “0.7% salt” solution rolling down her cheeks remains the same, regardless of her “true” emotions. Jiang suggests that in a media-saturated world, perhaps the artificial surface is all we can trust.

Jiang Zhi, “Attitude,” in Shanghai Sep 08-Nov 08, 2009, travelling to Hong Kong December 2009 and will finally hit Beijing April 2010

Osage Gallery Shanghai
93 Duolun Road, Hongkou District
Shanghai, China 200081
Tel: +86 21 5671 3605
www.osagegallery.com

(Chinese Translation)

蒋志的“表态”

上个月，上海09年第三届上海艺术博览会国际当代艺术展开幕，很多国际艺术团体来到上海。但是艺术节最令人兴奋之处还是在于卫星转播，上海的游客选择范围非常广泛。传说万万不能错过的就是奥沙画廊蒋志的个展“表态”，这位激进的艺术家展出了三幅新作。展览到 11 月份，所以还可以安排时间去看。

和许多同年代的艺术家一样，蒋志也多少有些文艺复兴的味道，他的作品在威尼斯双年展、香港电影节和托里诺电影节上展出过。1971年出生于湖南，他现居深圳数年，进行摄影、影像和装置作品的创新工作。从2000年到2003年，为了他那里程碑似的类纪录片“ The Moments” 他每天都带着他的手提DV在深圳的大街小巷抓取这个城市生活的零星碎片：老头儿咒骂交通堵塞，俩小孩儿初试接吻……在那极具争议的视频和摄影作品 “Our Love” 中，他描绘了两个变形的个体：一个女性芭蕾舞者与乳腺癌抗争，一个男性夜店舞者接受变性手术。他近期的摄影作品和影像作品已不如先前露骨，而是更加精致，但是他所关注的东西并没有改变——-通过人类情感，面部表情及肢体的微观世界来直观社会的变迁。

在“表态”这个系列作品中，他对我们在真实或是虚伪的表现情感的问题上深究了一番。Maiden, All Too Maiden 是一件由100张照片组成的装置作品。均为年轻女性在粉红的背景下展现出“羞赧”的表情。而这件作品产生的整体效果不是妩媚可爱，而是令人心烦。暗示着这些可爱的纯真面庞不过是一张张无法透视的面具。而在楼上7频影像输出的“tremble”,一排形态各异的裸体人物站在振动台上，尽管他们想保持静止的姿态，他们的身体还是剧烈的抖动着—-既敏感又激烈。然而这一系列剥离感知和现实层面的作品中最具有冲击力的当属“0.7％的盐。”

呈现在奥沙画廊1920年精美别墅顶端的壁橱内，这幅单频视频表现的是一个漂亮的女人直视着镜头，她的表情渐渐由羞涩的笑容转变为强忍泪水。而作品中此人正是香港影视明星阿娇，这不得不令人格外惊讶。而正是这点也使得她影像性质的哭泣更具迷惑性。尽管眼泪仅是舞台效果，却非常真实。不管她心理感受如何，这些0.7%的盐溶液照样从她的脸颊上滚落下来。蒋志暗示的是在这个媒体浸泡的世界中，我们能相信的也许也只有虚假的表面了。
蒋志作品“表态”，2009年9月8日至11月8日，在上海展出。巡展于12月到达香港，并最终将于2010年来到北京。

上海市虹口区多伦路93号 奥沙画廊
邮编：200081
电话：+86 21 5671 3605
www.osagegallery.com

Where was I during the longest and most complete solar eclipse of my lifetime? On the Bund, in a rainstorm. If we didn’t see the sun, at least we saw the darkness.

Recommended soundtrack

(It’s cool, once I get the flux capacitor working again I’m headed here)

Click here for full set.

Click here for full set.