Curator：Manman CHENG
Artists：Biwen DENG（China）
Stan WANNET（Holland）
Resident Time：2015.09.18——09.27
Chief Advisor： Zhijie QIU
Producer：Ga YANG
When considering the curatorial position of this exhibition, we ask questions from the angle of our original initiation of cultural interaction, questions such as: have the artworks granted the audience the right to have a dialogue? How do I response in my own way to certain things you presented to me? The questions are also answers – in the exhibition space, the audience are willing to discuss interactively because their wishes may be granted with answers, giving birth to a platform that can generate new meanings in the artwork, hoping to touch on differences rarely seen in our daily life.
In this exhibition, artists using interactive mechanical installations as their main form of medium raised questions in the fields of culture, religion, architecture, and the environment. Prior to the preparation of the show, artist Stan Wannet was studying the venue in exploring the relationship between the space and the architectural structure. Wannet has a degree in Electronic Engineering, he is also an animal protectionist. He combined the Google Street View and the concept of 3D digital space and created a virtual space. Given the venue of the Unicorn Centre for Art at Caochangdi is very much like a labyrinth， Wannet constructed a “non-fictitious” space for us – you can see yourself in the space, but through the 3D visual illusion you can also have the experience of being outside of the space. Artist Deng Biwen is a teacher at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, he laid out a snake-shaped carpet simulating the history of human evolution, creating religious symbols with burning traces. There is a mysterious space called “Undead” (immortal), paying homage to philosophical masters with different skin color using mechanical simulation devices. A series of “scientific reiteration” of “historical disappearance” evokes contemplation on the past, the present, and the future. From the juxtaposition of works of two artists from different geographical locations in the same space, we see the collision and impact of different cultural backgrounds.
Forms of contemporary art has expanded beyond its physical media. With this exhibition we hope to create an environment fostering communication and connection, a mechanism of coalition with vitality. Each artwork thus becomes a “point” on a “line”, a moment on the endless participatory chain.
Manman CHENG
September 12th, Paris
