The Hong Kong Arts Centre, in collaboration with the Shenzhen HeXiangning Art Museum and the Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts at Taipei National University of the Arts, will be presenting the “1+1: A Cross-Strait-Four-Region Artistic Exchange Project”. This inter-regional exhibition will feature the collaborative works of 14 eminent artists paired up in 7 artistic units, the first stop will be at the Shenzhen HeXiangning Art Museum in April this year, the second stop, the Hong Kong Arts Centre in May, and the final stop, the Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts in Taiwan this August.
The organisers hope to set up a “mechanism of exchange”, allowing artists to have a brand new approach to creativity through the inspirations derived from exchanging ideas. Nevertheless, in the process of collaboration there may be a certain level of compromise and self-alienation. However, it is exactly such kind of collaboration and communication that allow the unique character of different regions to be liberated through art.
Chief curator, Feng Boyi (Beijing, China) hopes to cultivate and foster deeper understanding between artists from diverse backgrounds, given the capacity of the Project. He said, “The Project brings together artists from different places, encourages in-depth cultural exchange and collaboration. We see this project as a great chance to make a different approach to individual creativity, seeing how different thoughts and concepts can be blended. Through these exciting collaborations and communications, we hope to exhibit how the differences in social contexts and conditions can influence the attitude of the artists towards life and art, and put these interesting differences into meaningful juxtaposition.”
Curator from the Mainland, Wang Xiaosong said, “This Project has been a continual emphasis of the HeXiangning Art Museum over the two recent years. We hope to build a good platform and a healthy mechanism for cultural exchange between the four participating regions. We can see that there’s always a focal city for contemporary art in every country. For China, it may be Beijing. However, if we try to synchronize every city with Beijing without considering their respective individuality, it would cause great harm to the overall development of contemporary art. Shenzhen is a relatively open city in China and we hope to make use of this privilege to set up the cultural exchange between the four regions on both sides of the strait. This is going to be a helpful phenomenon for the daring young artists.”
The Hong Kong curator, Jeff Leung, expects to see how the participating artists will express their diversity in culture and individuality through their artistic creations. “There will be three artists and one design unit from Hong Kong participating in the project. What makes the whole thing distinctive and exciting is that not only will each individual artist work on their own art piece, but through the mechanism of “1+1” – pairing up one artist from Hong Kong with one from another place, the pair will cooperate on creating a collaborative piece. We hope to see a breakthrough from the traditional form of joint exhibition, where artists usually happen to work on his or her own, and speak on behalf of only themselves.”
The Macau curator, Leong Chi Kin, is glad to be part of the curatorial team for the project. “We recommended two artists to take part in this exhibition. While the equation “1+1” represents a summation of the dynamics between different places and different people, we hope to foster genuine exchange of thoughts through collaboration, presenting a collective exhibition which stands distinctively different. We aspire to bring something remarkable to the audience no matter whether they are from or in Macau, Hong Kong, Mainland China or Taiwan.”
The Taiwan curator, Wang Te-yu, is full of expectation for the exhibition. She said, “The Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts has presented four young artists to join this project. From Shenzhen to Hong Kong and finally Taiwan, this exhibition will be an invaluable platform to display the multiple layers and the cultural plurality of the four regions. When you visit the exhibition, you are going to be amazed at how the Golden Bauhinia Square of Hong Kong and the Taiwan National Democracy Memorial Hall thrust up at the same time on the same site at the Shenzhen HeXiangning Art Museum.”
Exhibition Details
Title: “1+1: A Cross-Strait-Four-Region Artistic Exchange Project”
Co-presenters:
The Hong Kong Arts Centre
The HeXiangning Art Museum &
The Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei National University of the Arts
Exhibition Venues & Dates:
Shenzhen‧The HeXiangning Art Museum‧02/04/2011 – 08/05/2011
Hong Kong ‧The Hong Kong Arts Centre ‧19/05/2011 – 12/06/2011
Taiwan ‧The Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei National University of the Arts‧ 19/08/2011 – 25/09/2011
Chief curator: Feng Boyi (Mainland)
Curators: Wang Xiaosong (Mainland), Jeff Leung (Hong Kong), Ieong Chi Kin (Macau), Wang Te-yu (Taiwan)
Assistant curators: Yan Ke-ning, Jiang Qian-wei
Participating Artists (14 in total) & Design Units (2 in total)***:
Mainland: Bai Xiaoci, Liu Liyun, Liu Zhizhi (design unit)***, Liang Yuanwei, Wu Jianan, Zhao Zhao
Hong Kong: George Wong, wen yau, Hui Nga Shu Rita, Trilingua***(design unit)
Taiwan: Chen Chih-Chien, Ho Ming-Kuei, Shan Kai-ti, Yao Chung-Han
Macau: Bai Qiang, João Ó Bruno Soares
*** The two design units will produce the promotional materials for the Project.
Artists’ Pairing:
- Bai Qiang (Macau) + Wu Jianan (Mainland)
- Bai Xiaoci (Mainland) + Liang Yuanwei (Mainland)
- Chen Chih-Chien (Taiwan) + wen yau (Hong Kong)
- Ho Ming-Kuei (Taiwan) + João Ó Bruno Soares (Macau)
- George Wong (Hong Kong) + Liu Liyun (Mainland)
- Shan Kai-ti (Taiwan) + Zhao Zhao (Mainland)
- Hui Nga Shu Rita (Hong Kong) + Yao Chung-Han (Taiwan)
The Project brings together 14 artists from four regions to form 7 artistic collaborative units. Each pair will work around a thematic approach to produce one collaborative work and two independent art pieces, in an attempt to explore the possibility of one plus one equals two or more than two: “1+1≥2”. The exhibition will feature paintings, moving images, installations, performance art, etc.
