Arario Beijing is hosting an exhibition of Wang Jianwei, and Nalini Malani, the two pioneering media artists from China and India, between November 21 to January 24, 2010. This exhibition is titled Himalaya Project and is curated by Huang Zhuan,a well-known art theorist in China, and the art historian Johan Pijnappel who has researched Indian video art since 10 years. The exhibition features the borderless art worlds of the artists, including their representative video works, paintings, installations and photographs. We are compiling the conversations between the artists and curators, which were recorded since last July for the exhibition, the process of selecting exhibited works, and the concept of the exhibition into a catalogue in documentary format. Thus, the exhibition and the catalogue will serve as the first basic material for the project of Methodology of Asian Art History that is being co-organized with the Visual Art Research Institute of Peking University.
Changes in the worldwide paradigm of globalism and capitalism have expanded the focus of discourses on politics, economics and culture centering on the relationship between the West and the developing world. The background of the era when trans-national and cultural pluralism were forming, has brought China and India, two gigantic Asian nations rapidly developing with economic growth, into the spotlight. Their deep-rooted tradition and long history are no longer the subjects of mere admiration of Orientalism and exoticism but two main bodies of new aesthetic paradigm. However, the art of Asia is still valued and appreciated within the restricted perspective of the West, despite the new movement and understanding.
This exhibition that was initiated from the recognition of the aforementioned issues will examine the possibilities of better communication among Asian countries, centering on China and India, two great nations in Asia with similar yet different cultures. Wang Jianwei and Nalini Malani are representative media artists in China and India respectively, who have established art worlds based upon a critical consciousness of its history. Comparative studies of history and culture of their countries through the exhibits will set a good example to establish another standard or methodology in the discussion of Asian art.
The historical process and the surroundings of the artists' countries serve as the subject of works as well as a concept that binds different works into one framework. Wang Jianwei, who has a comprehensive knowledge of history and philosophy, has been concentrating on restructuring the historical narrative process in diverse ways. His works border upon Brecht's idea of Total Theater, and a narrative of them is represented in three ways through individual media genres, such as video, photography and installation and later these three versions are re-synthesize by the artist. This process will enable multiple explanations of a single narrative and event through endless dissection and reconstruction.
Nalini Malani, who was brought up in India, the melting pot of diverse ethnic groups, languages and religions, focuses on the trauma caused by endless conflicts between religions and ethnic groups. The history of constant disunion and chaos, which dispersed to racial and religious disputes even after they were liberated from long colonialism, have been the solid basis of her works. Her artistic language that is categorized into race, class and gender is represented as a visual final product with the wounds of sufferings from Indian history mixed with the stories which she had kept to herself. Their narratives, where the past and present, true records and falsehoods, and history and myth are linked like a Mobius strip, are dismantled and restructured in various methods within the organic space, where the visual media and their creators and viewers join together. They are both inscribers and creators of history at the same time.
Since Indian and Chinese contemporary art have emerged as a new focus of investigation in the field of art, it is true that their art has been noticed in the commercial context rather than being aesthetically evaluated. The two countries should lead the aesthetic practice in the current field of art where the discourses such as globalism, cultural pluralism and post-colonialism are formed and argued. This exhibition will be a good exemplary case of comparative studies and an opportunity to increase cultural interaction among Asian countries. Furthermore, it will lay the foundation for meeting the need for a methodology for Asian art history that reflects the different historical backgrounds and cultural differences of Asian countries. Our grand project may not be fulfilled with this exhibition, however we anticipate that through the exhibition, the Himalayan Range will no longer be an obstacle, but rather an effective communication passage between the two countries.
Himalayas Project: Wang Jianwei & Nalini Malani
Organizer: Arario Beijing
Curators: Huang Zhuan, Johan Pijnappel
Academic support: Peking University Visual and Image Research Center
