China Now
February 12–16, 2004
Over the past five years, Chinese media artists
from Beijing and Shanghai to Hangzhou have gained access to the
latest cameras and computer technology, and are producing vivid,
original work. Their startling actions performed on crowded Chinese
city streets, diaristic works with the flavor of “reality
TV,” and narratives caught between tradition and utopian dreams
portray China now. Although media art has received official acceptance
in China, with prominent exposure in the Shanghai Biennial and the
Guangzhou Triennial, work continues to flourish in an extensive
alternative network that does not receive government endorsement.
The tapes selected for this exhibition include works from what has
traditionally been China’s underground art network, as well
as from biennials in Venice, Istanbul, Havana, and Cairo.
Organized by Barbara London, Associate Curator,
Department of Film and Media.
.
1997–2002. China. Directed by Yang Fudong. A quiet meditation
on peace, love, melancholia, and boredom, this video tells the story
of a young man living in a small town in China with his fiancée.
For no apparent reason, he begins to suffer from disaffection and
restlessness, which threaten to undermine his life. But his malaise
lifts as the rainy season comes to an end…. 76 min.
.
2002. China. Directed by Zhang Peili. A whole new twist is added
to footage appropriated from a 1964 film by Wang Pei, Soldiers
under Neon Lights, about a young soldier enthralled by romance
who gets tutored in the superiority of patriotic love. 20 min.
. 2000. China. Directed
by Wang Jianwei. Unfinished mansions on the outskirts of Chengdu,
in Shanyuanli Province, become home to a community of feisty squatters.
They prepare meals on open fires, and a few entrepreneurs grow vegetables
in yards that one day might sprout flower beds. In Chinese, English
subtitles. 40 min.
. 1997. China. Directed by Wang
Jianwei. Old and new China come together in a rural teahouse, where
people gather and exchange information as they have for centuries.
In Chinese, English subtitles. 20 min.
. 1998. China. Directed by Xu
Zhen. The artist walks down Shanghai’s crowded sidewalks with
his camera, disturbing the order by emitting startling shrieks,
and filming the process. 4 min.
. 2002. China. Directed
by Liang Yue. In this video styled somewhere between MTV and “reality
TV,” the artist wakes up and draws the viewer into her daily
life. 10 min.
. 2001. China. Directed
by Liang Yue. Witty diaries reveal the intricacies of daily life.
4 min.
Program 98 min.
. 2003. China. Directed by
Yang Fudong. Reminiscent of traditional brush and ink drawings and
1920s Shanghai cinema, and based on the story of seven talented
individuals from the Wei and Jin Dynasties, this work addresses
the dramatic changes Chinese society has undergone over the past
century. Contemporary youths gather together in the bamboo forest
to drink, sing songs, and play traditional Chinese musical instruments,
in the hope of escaping earthly life. In Chinese, English subtitles.
30 min.
. 2002. China. Directed by
Lu Chunsheng. These cartoonlike adventures taking place on Shanghai
streets give a new spin to the traditional gangster movie. 15 min.
. 2002. China. Directed by
Yang Zhen Zhong. The war between the sexes is portrayed here by
a rooster and a chicken competing to see who can consume the most
rice. 8 min.
. 2001. China. Directed by
Yang Zhenzhong. Strangers on the street are asked to confront their
mortality by facing the camera and repeating, “I will die.”
12 min.
San Yuan Li. 2003. China. Directed by Cao Fei,
Ou Ning. Set in the city where the 1841 Opium War took place and
where drug trafficking became notorious during the 1990s, this video
by two Guangzhou artists captures the pulsating rhythms of life
along the river. 40 min.
.
1998. China. Directed by Yang Fudong. Romance flounders in the nitty-gritty
of daily life, in this video by Shanghai artist Yang. 3 min.
. 2000. China. Directed by
Yang Fudong. A group of sophisticated young men enjoy life with
the ennui-laden affectation of fashion models. 10 min.
Program 118 min.
.
2002. China. Directed by Wu Wenguang, with Wen Wei. Documentarian
Wu and choreographer Wen collaborated with a corps of thirty farmers
from the provinces to chart their transformation from awkward innocents
to savvy performers at a public event. In Chinese, English subtitles.
57 min.
.
2002. China. Directed by Zhou Xiaohu. In this witty satire in claymation,
a newscast opens with a group of putty-faced politburo members self-importantly
deplaning and then pontificating at assembly meetings. 10 min.
. 1999. China. Directed
by Song Dong. The artist destroys one reflected scene to reveal
another hidden behind it. The act of destruction becomes a moment
of revelation. 4 min.
. 1995–96.
China. Directed by Li Yongbin. A poignant portrait created in one
single take, in which the artist, trying to make visual whatever
is on his mind, mysteriously transforms an image of his own face.
62 min.
Program 76 min.
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