Taikang Space
Taikang Space will present “Genders Engender”, a major exhibition of the year, accompanied by forums, workshops and publications altogether. Focusing on gender studies and practices that take place nowadays or have impacts on social recognition of gender disparity, it attempts to create a platform for display, a space for conversation, even a workshop for production for these plural discourses through curating an exhibition. It embraces and welcomes participants from every field and every community, expecting to open up a broader sight of view, to build up more diverse connections. “Genders Engender” is not an exhibition presenting “feminist art” or “art of the women artists”, nor providing any definition or producing the tags based on any essentialist tendencies. We believe that gender identity is a kind of symptom or phenomenon which requires reading and interpreting rather than the cause or standard. It is not the similarity of the temperament, the theme or the method that link these works and performances together. On the contrary, the inner connection among the exhibition is a gender perspective that has been already integrated into the practice of all the exhibition participants. It is the latter that plays the key role in identifying or choosing a viable ethics toward a better life and a desirable feature of all the people. Taikang Space commissioned 11 artists (groups) from around China to create works for this exhibition. The works include photography, installation, videos, multimedia and performances, as well as engaging or interactive programs, social investigation and archives. Part of the exhibition space will be used for inviting consecutive events organized by the participant artists and feminist activists. There will also be three forums calling for the engagement of academics, authors and activists to share their gender expressions in the field of writing, photographing and social practice.
李爽，《T》，4频录像，15分17秒，2017-2018，音乐 Eli Osheyack
Huang Jingyuan was born in 1979, Guangxi. Huang received a BFA from Concordia University (Montreal) in 2005 and a MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2008. Currently lives and works in Beijing. She is the initiator of “Writing Mothers,” an on-going collaborative writing project with the ambition of discovering the potential of a feminist critique offered through the lens of family life.
Li Shuang was born in 1990. She received Bachelor of Arts in English in Civil Aviation University of China in 2012, and Master of Arts in Media, Culture, and Communications from New York University, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development in 2014. Currently based in Shanghai.
United Motion United Motion is a long-term plan which focuses on the contemporary art industry and gets itself involved in it. It aims at improving the awareness of all the practitioners in the art world about their rights, among which the issue of gender is a continuous concern. This includes phenomena such as the unbalanced ratio of gender in the industry, sexual harassment, the “glass ceiling” phenomenon…etc. By organizing artists programs, promoting public education, doing research and archives, offering legal consultancy services, publishing press release as well as other plural means, United Motion attempts to arouse the general concern for gender equality and to seek for solutions based on specific cases and demands.
Ma Qiusha was Born in 1982, Beijing. She graduated from Digital Media studio of the China Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2005, and received her MFA Electronic Integrated Art in Alfred University, New York in 2008. Currently Lives in Beijing.
Xiaoshi Vivian Vivian Qin was born in 1989, Guangzhou. In 2015, she earned an MFA in Visual Arts from Columbia University following a BA in Studio Art and Communication from Denison University in 2012. Currently based in Guangzhou.
Mountain River Jump! Mountain River Jump! is an artist-duo founded in 2016 by identical twin sisters Huang Shan and Huang He, both born in 1985. They work as a group while continue their own practices under certain context.
Writing Mothers Taikang Project Working Group Members: FENG Junhua, HUANG Jingyuan, WAN Qing, YU Guo, ZHAO Yiren (The full list of the participants can be found on the wall at its site) “Writing Mothers” is an ongoing collaborative writing project initiated by Huang Jing Yuan in July 2017 with Feng Junhua as its co-editor and publisher. Focusing on writing as a driver for the meeting of minds and lives, understanding situations, and responsible action, the project seeks to discover narrative-based and critically focused alternatives to political quietism. In 2017, in addition to two writing episodes (28,000 Chinese characters by eight participating writers for the first and more than 27,000 Chinese characters by seven participating writers in the second), the project also organizes Writing Mothers Working Groups (WMWG) to respond to specific situations, requests, or invitations. These groups are comprised of researchers, activists, social workers, writers, curators, and artists, with the intent that each time its scale, locations, and participants vary. To date, the “Writing Mothers” project has been invited to collaborate in several thematic exhibitions, workshops. It has worked with local community centers and independent spaces to form new programs, as well as taken part in editorial projects, to address a particular topic.
Zhang Ran was born in 1980 in Fushun, Liaoning province. She graduated from No.3 studio of painting department in Luxun Academy of Fine Arts in 2005. Currently lives and works in Shenyang.
Zhang Sirui is an author and curator focusing on contemporary art and architecture. She graduated from Columbia University in the city of New York with a Master of Science degree in Critical Curatorial and Conceptual Practices in Architecture. Currently she works at Artforum.com.cn as marketing director.
Li Juchuan Li Juchuan was born in Shashi, Hubei province, China in 1964, and graduated from Department of Urban Planning of Wuhan Urban Construction Institute in 1986. Since 1990s he has been applying himself to the architectural practice, which utilizes performance, video, photo, and on-site installation. Meanwhile, he has been involved in articles, lectures, teaching, and exhibitions. Currently he lives in Wuhan.
Folded Room wonders in unexpected venues as city nomads with the mission of constructing fluid networks between the experience of action and the path of knowledge. As a group of social activists and independent intellectuals, Folded Room explores the swiftest path in connecting diverse domains and stimulating actions in the social bodies.
覃小诗，《末日生存展会 I》，X架金属支撑、塑料膜，160×60cm，2018
