“Theatre for Climate Control,” Shi Qing Solo Exhibition
ShanghART Beijing (261 Caochangdi, Old Airport Rd., Chaoyang District, Beijing, China) May 18 – Jun 18, 2013
At ShanghART in Beijing – and also in various spots around Caochangdi art district — are pieces by Shi Qing. His work is often infused with a bygone aura of Modernist dreaming; there are residues of Marxism, Tatlin and the architectural projections of political regimes — vast libraries and observatories, the structures of thought and ideology for the populace.
Here, the idea of a “Climate Theatre” as imagined by the British psychologist/mathematician/ meteorologist/physicist Lewis Frye Richardson in 1922 (“Weather Prediction by Numerical Process”) is newly applied to the Caochangdi art district, its contemporary context and dissemination. Admittedly, the exact nature of the application is somewhat unclear, but what results is a group of works composed of boxy and frame-like forms in cardboard and metal — some with wheels, cylinders and legs; there is also an anthill of plaster flecked with red paint, as if for dystopian measure.
Shi Qing, “Theatre for Climate Control-E”, mixed media and plaster, 150 x 40 cm, 2013
Walking amongst these low-lying works in the gallery (itself a carefully-construed “terrain”), one detects an alternative pattern of thought which proceeds with wit and not a faint thread of social engineering. Accompanying the work “Caochangdi Window” [sic]:
Different political spaces in Caochangdi are gathered in a Babel tower shaped building.
Arrange by openness and public / Order is from top to bottom / Observatory > Outlook port > Hospice > Administration > Residence place > Museum > People Square
The size and density of the window / is a visual presentation and react upon social reorganization relationships
The connection of spaces is located in the central of elevator / each political group is isolated completely
This unabashed and rather dark approach born of Modernist dreamings feels refreshing, and perhaps perversely relevant.
