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Zhang Yue
“If I Could”
GALLERY YANG

I’d rather be a hammer than a nail, Yes I would, if I could, I surely would.
—— El Condor Pasa

Yes I would, if I could, why wouldn’t I rather be a hammer? El Condor Pasa and Comandante Che Guevara, two songs roaring above the lands of South America, soars up across the seas, spreading its sounds all over the Eurasia. They stand for the resistance of the South American peoples against colonization, and their yearning for independence. The spiritual strength transferred is inspiring, and the reminiscences of the history of revolutionary culture and the left movements are touching. It has become a bugle call of resistance against oppression all over the world.

The exhibition starts with “Firing”. This first part, consisting of 162 pieces of target paper, as if cobblestones along the river of war, forms a path leading to every corners of the whole show. Since 2013, Zhang Yue has made a series of works about guns via investigation and research, displaying the shooting experiences in shooting ranges, veterans’ actual combat experiences, criminal cases, catalogued certificates for taking guns from different periods, and gun cants in vernaculars and local code words

靶纸, 2016 - 2017, 印刷品, 54 × 38 cm × 162 Target Paper, 2016 - 2017, Printed matter, 54 × 38 cm × 162

靶纸, 2016 – 2017, 印刷品, 54 × 38 cm × 162
Target Paper, 2016 – 2017, Printed matter, 54 × 38 cm × 162

朝鲜, 2017, 钢笔纸本, 41 × 32 cm Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, 2017, Paper, pen, 41 × 32 cm

朝鲜, 2017, 钢笔纸本, 41 × 32 cm
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, 2017, Paper, pen, 41 × 32 cm

In the second part of the exhibition, the entrance is a tent set up between the two rooms. In 2015, Zhang Yue stayed in a refugee camp in the Myanmar battlefields for 65 days. Here gun shots are no longer bullets holes on target paper, but are embedded in every wall;  the shooting scores are counted only by lives. The fragile shack-tent is people’s only safety house. There lived tea peasants, tobacco growers, guerrillas, drug dealers, prostitutes, and casino bosses. Two months later, Zhang Yue and Bao Xiaowei went to Kokang again with 50,000 jin (25,000 kilograms) of rice for which they had exchange their works in Beijing, and distributed it among over 6,000 refugee households. Nothing is more important than surviving

War and suffering have never found a solution, but are only substituted by renewed happenings. The core of this exhibition represents this constantly repeated tragedy which has now erupted along the Tropic of Cancer in this globalized world. Zhang Yue began with Asia. By reading books and Internet documents, he analyzed the arms trade of the Kim Dynasty, satellite-guided weapons of North Korea, its uranium ore detector, and its trade of parts of war vehicles and submarines. His work Empire Plan re-explained the 1961 Cuba missile crisis.

At the end of the Cold War, the history encountered an East Europe moment.  Inspired by some sci-fi plots of gene editing, Zhang Yue fabricated a story in which Serbs revise and rule the English pronunciations of Albanians out of the hatred of one nation toward another’s language. After the 911 terrorist attack, a new “global anti-terrorist war” began. Focused on the Boston terrorist explosion, Zhang Yue analyzed its mystical relations to several other attacks in 2013 in the form of 20 freehand blueprints. Seeking facts is not a work that an artist can do by himself. But such an independent investigation provides fresh approaches for analysis. It is like mosaic tiles, or an ever-running fax machine, piecing together a richest historical picture.

In the third part of the exhibition, various violent events took place in a “city” of a e-game. As a player, Zhang Yue became a 24-hour surveillance man, hiding himself behind the hundreds of CCTV cameras, and drawing up plans to take criminals under custody. There is a big screen too, which displayed another scenario: Zhang Yue played an opposite role, a killer in the city of “Los Angeles”, a “thug” who could be arrested at any time. The switch of role gives us a warning: who really are we? One who constantly surveil possible violence, or who are under surveillance? A victim of violence, or a potential gunman?

The facts are never transferred faithfully. We have to find out the “possible information” neglected by the history, put it into an alternative framework, and then think, doubt, criticize, and imagine. It is only by this way that we can approach as close as possible to the complicated reality, and form a personal view of history. This is the unique way of Zhang Yue’s work, and its meaning and value.

The last part of the exhibition is a description of Zhang Yue’s jail life, one of his most critical personal experience. His 80 drawings drawn in prison quietly shows his reminiscences. Outside the hall is the neat white courtyard. There the sonorous sound of a future war (from the artist’s work “Tomorrow”) is played, and the sky is defenseless as always. It will be played around-the-clock, as the sound of El Condor Pasa is ever soaring above the lands of South America. The spirit of the song is still inspiring, but we know very well that while we can choose between sparrow and snail, hammer and nail, forest and street in the game world, the real world can never be controlled by keyboard and mouse.

Curator: Cui Cancan
March 14, 2018

Welcome, 2017, 多频视频, 尺寸可变 Welcome, 2017, Multi - channel video, Variable size

Welcome, 2017, 多频视频, 尺寸可变
Welcome, 2017, Multi – channel video, Variable size

缅甸民族民主同盟军军事委员会通告, 2017, 钢笔纸本, 37 × 29 cm × 15  Announcement of the Military Committee of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Arm, 2017,  Paper, pen, 37 × 29 cm × 15

缅甸民族民主同盟军军事委员会通告, 2017, 钢笔纸本, 37 × 29 cm × 15
Announcement of the Military Committee of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Arm, 2017, Paper, pen, 37 × 29 cm × 15

地图 Map

地图 Map

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Zhang Yue was born in Jinan in 1985. His solo exhibition includes You Miss the Truth (Gallery Yang, Beijing, China, 2014). His project includes: About the War in Northern Myanmar (Gallery Yang, Beijing , China, 2015). He has participated in group exhibitions at a number of institutions and galleries, including MAXXI Museum(Rome, Italy), White Rabbit Gallery (Sydney, Australia), Minsheng Art Museum (Beijing, China), Today Art Museum, Klein Sun Gallery (New York, America), Whitebox Art Center, LIN & LIN Gallery (Taipei, China), and Pace Gallery (Beijing, China).

ABOUT THE CURATOR
Cui Cancan is an active independent curator in China. He was awarded the CCAA China contemporary art review youth award, “YISHU” contemporary art review award. Curated theme exhibitions including HEIQIAO Night Away (2013), Countryside Fashion (2013), FUCKOFF II (2013), Unlived By What Is Seen (2014), Between the 5th and the 6th Ring Road in Beijing (2015), Ten Night (2016), etc. Curated solo exhibitions for many artists including Ai Weiwei, Xia Xiaowan, Shen Shaomin, Wang Qingsong, He Yunchang, Ma Ke, Xia Xing, Zhao Zhao, Qin Qi, Li Qing, Chen Yufan, Chen Yujun, Li Binyuan, Feng Lin, Zhang Yue, Song Ning, Jiang Bo, MUer, etc.

  • 靶纸, 2016 - 2017, 印刷品, 54 × 38 cm × 162
Target Paper, 2016 - 2017, Printed matter, 54 × 38 cm × 162

    020b165b-6acf-435c-a011-dbe0f17af75b

  • 缅甸民族民主同盟军军事委员会通告, 2017, 钢笔纸本, 37 × 29 cm × 15 
Announcement of the Military Committee of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Arm, 2017,  Paper, pen, 37 × 29 cm × 15

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  • 地图 Map

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  • 朝鲜, 2017, 钢笔纸本, 41 × 32 cm
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, 2017, Paper, pen, 41 × 32 cm

    9df2c16d-e382-4404-a616-fbb2370551ab

  • Welcome, 2017, 多频视频, 尺寸可变
Welcome, 2017, Multi - channel video, Variable size

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  • db28e163-1704-4ab1-9206-e80c4c048051

    db28e163-1704-4ab1-9206-e80c4c048051