“Goulash” is Liu Xinyi’s second solo exhibition at White Space Beijing since “Agent L”, in which his most recent installations will be presented.
The term of “Goulash” was firstly known to the artist from his father’s bantering appropriation of the former premier quote to celebrate of achieving Communism in their family life. Later, through Liu Xinyi’s verification, this joke first appeared on the “Cankao Xiaoxi” published by the Xinhua News Agency in 1958 from the former premier’s visit to Budapest and his mention of a local dish, the Goulash. By which, the former premier envisioned a future with prosperous social imagination for the Hungarian people. Interestingly, the Chinese interpreter translated the dish according to the Chinese linguistic context, which made the precise political metaphor relevant to Chinese popular customs that left a lasting impact in China. Regardless of the editor’s translation of foreign ideas and its response to this explanation in China at that time, the historical sample highlighted inspired the artist’s new understanding of his own practice. For example, how his understanding of visual elements behind complex political concepts deconstructed through the analysis of menu structures, as well as the diverse potential embedded in visual understanding of these mutually effective elements.
In this exhibition, Liu Xinyi experiments with this work approach. He adopts the visual elements of national emblems of defunct socialist states that once ruled by communist ideology as his resources, while combining with his interest in the various political subjects the world confronts today, to endeavour on a playful journey of interpretations.
Liu Xinyi was born in 1982, Hangzhou, who has studied sculpture at the China Academy of Arts, and MFA course at Goldsmiths College in London, now, living and working in Beijing. His recent exhibitions include, “Contemporary Photography in China: 2009-2014” at the Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai; “Pull left: Not Always Right”, Urban Arts Space, Ohio State University, Columbus, USA.
