Press Release
Trespassing – YANG Zhenzhong’s Solo Show
From 17th August to 17th November 2013 at OCAT, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal Shanghai, 1016 North Suzhou Road, Shanghai
Opening: 16th August 2013, 5 – 9pm
Curator: LI Zhenhua
Curatorial Assistants: Mariagrazia Costantino, GENG Boyuan, TAO Hanchen
Press Office: YUAN Qingyi
OCT Contemporary Art Terminal Shanghai is pleased to announce Trespassing – YANG Zhenzhong’s Solo Show, from 17th August through 17th November 2013. This is YANG Zhenzhong’s first collaboration with Chinese public art museum. The solo exhibition will be embracing a wide-range of creation including both installation and video installation, whose presentation outlines parts of YANG’s career as an artist, unfolding unreservedly the diversity of the media applied and inherent coherence of his artistic language.
One of the recurring themes in YANG’s work is the urge to emphasize with an irreverent attitude the many contradictions and derangements of society, aberrations which can only be dealt with by playing with them, turning them into seemingly innocent games or funny scene.
Another theme central in YANG’s research is the (mis)perception of space and its political and psychological appropriations. The site-specific work Trespassing should be conceived as an all-embracing pedestrian crossing in which the typical pattern of black and yellow stripes covers the entire area of the installation which is designed to be walked through and explored. As soon as the viewers enter the space, they receive a sense of displacement, as if walking on top of automatic traffic barriers, as well as the possibility to overcome physical limits and transgress spacial norms. YANG’s urge to achieve a deeper understanding of society and its spaces (both physical and conceptual) can be seen in the desire to actively involve the visitors.
The apparent mismatching of the English and Chinese titles of this exhibition activates an even deeper level of meaning. While the English title refers to disrespect of normative laws regarding space, the Chinese one alludes to time and can be literally translated as “not at this moment”, which hints at a missed correspondence or intentional absence. Still, the two titles prove to be complementary: “Trespassing” allows us to be where we should not be, to go where we are not supposed to go. Definiteness of time is sacrificed, but corresponding space is compensated.
Born in 1968 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, YANG Zhenzhong has been living and working in Shanghai since 1997. One of the most important artists in the area, he has curated and organized, along with other local artists, a dozen of highly influential contemporary art exhibitions in the past dozen of years. They have not only enlivened the atmosphere of the new media art industry in Shanghai, but also helped with the promotion of the artist himself onto an international stage. YANG has previously displayed in a string of exhibitions including Venice Biennale, Shanghai Biennale, Asia Pacific Triennale of Contemporary Art, Lyon Biennale and so forth. His works can also be found in collection of significant public and private institutes such as MoMA New York, IKON Gallery (UK), Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Musée National d’Art Moderne and the UBS Collection.
Organizer: OCT Contemporary Art Terminal Shanghai
Support: OCT Land (Shanghai) Investment Ltd.
Sponsors: ShanghART Gallery, CP Denmark+WTi Group, PUXI NEW CENTURY HOTEL SHANGHAI
Special thanks to Uli Sigg, K11 Art Foundation, Bund18
