2004 Shanghai 5 Biennale
Techniques of the Visible
Shanghai Art Museum
September 29 - November 27, 2004
The Exhibition
Since its first edition in 1994, the Shanghai Biennale has been China"s first and foremost international exhibition for contemporary art. Continuing this commitment to contemporary artistic practice, the theme of the 2004 Shanghai Biennale, Ying Xiang Sheng Cun, “Techniques of the Visible”, will focus on the close relationship between art, science, and technology, in particular how art has revealed the interdependent social and political forces that produce and subject technology and humanity.
By bringing together the work of more than 120 artists from Asia, Africa, North America, Latin America and Europe, the curators have worked towards a diversity of approaches to technology, revealed both through the number of artist projects exhibited and the variety of sites in which these installations are located.
The exhibition space of the Shanghai Art Museum is divided into five areas, focusing on projects dealing with spaces of visual production and consumption: the film studio, the dark room, the theatre, the painting studio and the cinema. In the Museum, the contemporary practices range from traditional forms, to photography and film. To emphasize the multiple interrogations by artists towards technology by bringing together practices from around the world, the curators of the 2004 Biennale have expanded beyond the main venue of the Shanghai Museum. The dispersal of these projects in the public spaces outside the Museum reveals an effort made by the curators to highlight a multifaceted approach to the theme of the Biennale.
In the People’s Park, located beside the Museum, more than ten installation spaces will be constructed to act as Media Houses for projects that investigate the relationship between technology and human action. The works exhibited here will utilize every possible new media method.
A more historical dimension of the theme of the Biennale will be investigated in an exhibition geared towards the establishment of a Museum of Chinese Photography in Shanghai. The exhibition will look at the development of photography in simultaneity with the emergence of Modernism in China. Pictures and captions representing historical documents of Chinese photography will be displayed in a corridor of more than 100 meters in length, set up in the People’s Park.
International Film & Video
In addition to the exhibitions in the Museum and People’s Park, a program of International Film & Video will also be shown at the Auditorium of Shanghai Art Museum (4th Floor, 325 West Nanjing Road). Divided into three sections: experimental short films by contemporary artists (including a special screening for Hong Kong Short Art Film); Chinese independent films 2000-2004; and Chinese documentaries, the Opening Screening of this program will be at 6:30 pm on Wednesday September 29th, featuring the films of Yoko Ono. A timetable of screenings will be available on the website www.shanghaibiennale.com.
International Symposium
Along with the exhibitions, the Shanghai Art Museum will host an International Symposium on September 29 and 30, bringing together distinguished scholars, curators, critics and contemporary artists. This two-day symposium will provide a space for the development and concerns revealed by the main theme of the 2004 Biennale. Taken from Chinese terminology of ying xiang and sheng chun, the concept emerges from an interest in the technology-based visual products that retain critical historical and emotive references. Ying Xian Sheng Cun suggests that artistic practice engaging with “technology” is inherently placing itself within a historical continuum, where cultural metaphor becomes critical to its understanding. The Symposium will also take place in the Auditorium of Shanghai Art Museum (4th Floor, 325 West Nanjing Road).
Opening Gala
An Opening Gala will be held on the 28th of September in the People’s Park adjacent to the Shanghai Art Museum, to coincide with the famous Mid-Autumn Festival. This night will include performances and multi-media installations by twenty artists, as well as internationally recognised D.Js and V.Js.
Public Lectures
A Public Lectures program will also be announced, scheduled to take place between September 28 and November 27, where curators, scholars and participating artists will be invited to discuss the exhibitions and other key topics related to issues of technology and art.
A catalogue with contribution of the curators and the works in the exhibition will be available, together with a Guide for the Public.
2004 Shanghai Biennale Participating artists
including Film and Video
(listed alphabetically)
Tariq Alvi, Rotterdam, London
Tiong Ang, Amsterdam
Big Dipper Group (Tang Yingshan \ Sun Zhezheng \ Wang Kai \ Yan Fenglin), Beijing \ Nanjing \ Shanghai \ Wuxi
Miguel Rio Branco, Rio de Janeiro
Tania Bruguera, Havana, Chicago
Robert Cahen, Paris
Chen Haiyan, Hangzhou
Chen Jieren, Taipei
Chen Shunzhu, Taipei
Chen Xiaoyun, Hangzhou
N + N Corsino (Nicole & Norbert Corsino), Marseille
Mauricio Dias \ Walter Riedweg, Rio de Janeiro
Gonzalo Diaz, Santiago (Chile)
Stan Douglas, Vancouver
Touhami Ennadre, Paris
Kota Ezawa, San Francisco
Feng Jiangzhou, Beijing
Feng Mengbo, Beijing
Feng Qianyu, Yangjiang (Guangdong)
Fu Yu \ Jia Haiqing, Beijing
Coco Fusco, New York
Gan Chao \ Liang Zi, Shanghai
Geng Jianyi, Hangzhou
Maruch Santiz Gomez, San Juan Chamula (Mexico)
Group Muro Sur, ( Represented by: Voluspa Jarpa \ Josefina Guilisasti ), Santiago (Chile)
Gu Xiong, Vancouver
He Jianjun, Beijing
Hong Donglu, Taipei
Hong Kong Art Centre \ Videotage, Hong Kong
Hou Bo, Beijing
Hu Jieming, Shanghai
Hung Keung, Hong Kong
Jia Zhangke, Beijing
Jiang Yue, Beijing
Choi Jong Bum, Seoul
Philipp Lachenman, Cologne
Ladder to Heaven Group ( Jiang Zhi, Cao Fei, Yang Fudong, Chen Xiaoyun ), Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Hangzhou
Yuri Leiderman, Moscow , Cologne
Mee Ping Leung, Hong Kong
Li Tianbing, Hu-an ( Fujian )
Li Xiao, Beijing
Li Yang, Beijing
Shu-Min Lin, New York
Liu Bingjian, Beijing
Liu Wei, Beijing
Liu Zheng, Beijing
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Montréal, Madrid
Lu Chunsheng, Shanghai
Oswaldo Macia, London
Fabian Marcaccio, New York
Sebastian Diaz Morales, Comodoro Rivadavia ( Argentina )
Ni Haifeng, Amsterdam
Nibroll (Represented by Takahashi Keisuke), Tokyo
Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba, Ho Chi Minh City
Khyentse Norbu, Paro ( Bhutan )
Ellen Pau, Hong Kong
Park Junebum, Seoul
Vong Phaophanit, London
Keith Piper, London
Qiu Shihua, Shenzhen
Qiu Ting, Beijing
Qiu Zhijie, Beijing
Kerim Ragimov, St. Petersburg
Rong Rong \ Inri, Beijing, Tokyo
Michal Rovner, Tel Aviv, New York
Graciela Sacco, Rosario ( Argentina )
Berni Searle, Johannesburg
Shao Yinong \ Mu Chen, Beijing
Cindy Sherman, New York
Karla Solano, San José (Costa Rica)
SS Creative Group (Represented by Zhu Qingsheng \ Russell Pensyl), Beijing
Su Xia, Guangzhou
Sun Liang, Shanghai
Vivan Sundaram, New Delhi
Trinh T. Minh-ha, Berkeley (California)
Tsai Wen-yin, New York
Tseng Kwong Chi, New York
Humberto Velez, Manchester
Julia Ventura, Lisbon, Amsterdam
Bill Viola, Los Angeles
Jeff Wall, Vancouver
Wang Bo, Beijing
Wang Hui, Beijing
Wang Jianwei’s Group ( Shi Qing \ Wang Wei ), Beijing
Wang Ningde, Guangzhou
Wang Qiang \ Suzuki Ryoko, Beijing, Hokkaido
Wang Xiaoshuai, Beijing
Wang Youshen, Beijing
Wei Xing, Kunming
Wu Ershan, Beijing
Wu Quan, Beijing
Xiao Yu, Beijing
Xu Xiaobing, Beijing
Miranba Ngai Tsui, Hong Kong
Xu Zhen, Shanghai
Yang Fudong, Shanghai
Young Hay, Hong Kong
Yoko Ono, New York
Yu Hong, Beijing
The Mapping of Yanchuan Country Paper-cuttings, Beijing, Yanchuan ( Shanxi )
Yue Minjun, Beijing
Zhang Hui, Beijing
Zhang Peili, Hangzhou
Zhang Xiaogang, Beijing, Chengdu
Zhao Gang, Chengdu
Zhou Hao \ Ji Jianghong, Guangzhou
Zhou Tiehai, Shanghai
Curators
Xu Jiang (Head Curator) was born in Fujian, China. He is currently the President of China Academy of Art, and the Vice Chairman of Chinese Artists Association. As a practicing artist he held one-man shows in Berlin, Hong Kong and Hamburg. His work was also exhibited during the first Guangzhou Triennial (2002), the 14th Asian International Art Exhibition (1999), The 24th San Paolo Biennale (1998), the 1st Shanghai Biennale (1996) and the 1st Asian Pacific Triennial (1993). He has curated and contributed to the international events such as "The Living in Time" (Berlin) and "Edge of the Earth - Migration of Asian Contemporary Art and Regional Politics" (Tokyo, Bangkok, Istanbul, Teheran, Hangzhou).
Sebastian Lopez was born in Argentina. He is currently the General Director of the Gate Foundation, Amsterdam. He taught at the Art History Institutes in Amsterdam and at Leiden University. He has already curated and co-curated quite a lot of exhibitions including East International; The Democracy Show; Talking Back to the Media; A City-A World; Art > Work > Nature; Not a Chinese Show and A Short History of Dutch Video Art in Amsterdam (the latter one toured to San José, Madrid and Zagreb). He has also contributed to exhibitions such as Latin American Artists in Europe. Creativity Between Cultures, 1945-1982, (Venice). He is the editor of Van het Post-Modernisme (On Post-Modernism) and Talking Back to the Media, among others. He also contributes to Third Text(London); Camera Austria(Vienna), Lápiz(Madrid); Kunstforum and Neue Bildende Kunst(Berlin).
Zheng Shengtian was born in China and taught at the China Academy of Art. He is currently the managing editor of an English magazine called Yishu - Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art (published in Taipei), and a Board member of the Vancouver International Center for Contemporary Asian Art. As an independent curator his curatorial work over the past few years has included Jiangnan - Modern and Contemporary Chinese Art Exhibitions (Vancouver), The Art of Proletarian Cultural Revolution (Vancouver, Toronto, Winnipeg), and Shanghai Modern ( Munich). He has also frequently contributed frequently to periodicals and catalogues about contemporary Chinese and Asian art. He was the Vice Director of the Academic Committee for the 2nd Shanghai Biennale and a committee member of the 4th Shanghai Biennale.
Zhang Qing was born in Suzhou, China. He is currently one of the curators of the Shanghai Art Museum and the head of Shanghai Biennale's Office. He was chosen as one of the "Best Curators in China" in 2000 by CCTV and other 49 Media organizations. He has curated or co-curated exhibitions such as City_Net Asia 2003 (Seoul), Art of Cai Guoqiang (Shanghai), Junction - Architectural Experiment of Contemporary Chinese Art (Shanghai). As a member of the editorial board of Art China, a bi-monthly periodical, he has frequently contributed to essays and interviews on contemporary Chinese art and has published a book Chinese Art, 1990-1992. He was the co-curator of the 3rd Shanghai Biennale.
Directed by the Shanghai Municipal Culture Broadcasting Film & TV Administrative Bureau
Organized by the Shanghai Art Museum and East Morning Newspaper, Shanghai
Co-organized by Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Dongjie Advertising & Media Co., Ltd., Shanghai People’s Park Management Company
SHANGHAI BIENNALE
Shanghai Art Museum
325 W Nanjing Road, Shanghai
www.shanghaibiennale.com
