Press release
Tang Contemporary Art is pleased to announce a collaborative exhibition by Colin Chinnery, He An, and Zhang Hui entitled Once, from 14 December, 2013 through 5 March, 2014. This exhibition shall present a collaborative video made by the three artists and a further solo presentation by each artist.
The title of this exhibition is less a title than a statement of intent. In it lies the nature of this project. It is not a group show, three solo shows, nor an artist collective; it is a one-off collaboration between three artists with completely different practices. The nature of this collaboration is also telling – although none of the three artists have ever made video art, they decided to work together on a video piece. Each artist had then to take ideas from the collaborative work to create personal work for the show. In order to create a collective persona, however temporary, each individual persona has to be destabilized. The artists made this possible by deliberately throwing themselves into the void of an unfamiliar medium – video. The void afforded them the potential of new discovery, not necessarily about group creativity, but something to feed back into their personal practice.
Three giant screens dominate the main exhibition hall, populated also by several small TV monitors. Instead of attempting to create a common narrative, each artist made a separate element that when combined with the other artists’ elements created the whole work. Rhythm, sound, and stark contrast in light are the principle components of this work. One screen features close-ups of people opening bags and purses to ominous grating and hissing sounds; another screen is almost entirely black in which almost invisible people create movements based on Tai Ch’i; a third screen shows a pair of rhythmically moving legs and shoes, cut in half by a horizontal shadow. The screens are positioned to allow visitors see only two screens at once, but the combination of what is shown changes with each loop. Small TV monitors compliment the content of the large screens, and create a bridge between the collaborative and personal work.
If the large video screens represent a public and collaborative space, the artists’ individual rooms are a return to the intimate and personal. Within these personal spaces one can contextualize the whole project, and retroactively understand the collaborative work better. Here He An continues his exploration of space through poetic architectural gestures, Zhang Hui creates an abstract narrative involving personal history and trains, and Colin Chinnery examines subjective construction with images of facial features and body parts.
This special exhibition project shall travel to Asia Triennial Manchester in October 2014.
About Artist
Colin Chinnery is an artist and curator based in Beijing. His recent exhibitions include “The Unseen: The Fourth Guangzhou Triennial”, Guangdong Art Museum, Guangzhou; “It Might Also Be”, solo project at Art-Ba-Ba Mobile Space and AIKE-DELLARCO, Shanghai. Chinnery is also Artistic Director of WH.A.T. (Wuhan Art Terminus) under development in Wuhan, and was previously a founding director of UCCA, Beijing, and Director of ShContemporary art fair, Shanghai.
He An is based in Beijing. He is represented by Tang Contemporary in Beijing and Galerie Daniel Templon in Paris. This year he participated in “The 2013 Carnegie International” and “Art Basel 2013 Art Unlimited”. Previously his work has been shown among other places at UCCA, Beijing; Pace Gallery Beijing; Tate Liverpool; and Ikon Gallery, Birmingham.
Zhang Hui is based in Beijing. He is represented by Long March Space, Beijing. His recent shows include “Sharjah Biennial:Re: emerge – towards a new cultural cartography”, Sharjah; “Groundless”, solo show at Long March Space, Beijing; and “The 8th Shanghai Biennale – REHEARSAL”, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai.
About Tang Contemporary Art
Since 2000 Tang Contemporary Art has been promoting Chinese contemporary art to Chinese and international audiences. Acting as one of the most progressive and critically driven exhibition spaces in China, Tang Contemporary Art showcases some of the leading key figures in Chinese art such as Wang Du, Yang Jiechang, Sun Yuan & Peng Yu, Yan Lei, Lin Yilin, Liu Xiaodong, as well as collaborating with international renowned artists such as Rirkrit Tiravanija and Navin Rawanchaikul. The gallery strives to initiate dialogue between artists and institutions working both locally and internationally.
In the past decade, ground breaking exhibitions have earned Tang Contemporary Art significant recognition in China, and has established its status as a pioneer of the bourgeoning art scene in Asia. With three locations in Beijing, Bangkok, and Hong Kong, Tang Contemporary Art is fully committed to promoting local and international art, as well as encouraging the dynamic exchange between Chinese artists and those abroad.
