Selected recent video, photography and other multimedia works by artists Chen Chieh-Jen, MadeIn Company, Huang Ran, Liu Wei, Xu Zhen, Wang Jianwei, Wu Shanzhuan and Zhou Xiaohu collectively construct a visual dimension evoking reinterpretation of their works.

This group of artists is well established and highly respected in the Chinese contemporary art scene, communicating with their works in a language their audience is familiar with. In A C T ► T I O N, an exhibition focusing on the mediating quality of multimedia, the viewers are provided with a fresh perspective to rediscover the complexity and dynamism obscured by the prescribed interpretation of the work. A C T ► T I O N attempts to inspire new possibilities by reconfiguring the relationship between the past (previously created work) and the eternal present (the ever-changing subjectivity of the author/artist).

The works are linked not by the “medium” of video (the physical carrier of this transmission), but rather the artists seek to re-understand, re-use and raise questions about the extension of human thought and action itself – “media”. An effective “extension” must solidify and promote a unified value and judgment. This closed power system is omnipresent and could be seen as an apt description for how the contemporary art world functions.

If A C T ► T I O N is merely regarded as a multimedia exhibition, an environment only for the visual communication between the artist and the viewer, the symbolism and performativity derived from the curatorial narrative, organization and adjustment are at risk of being overlooked. Possibilities brought about by this performativity may far surpass anything we could currently imagine. Therefore, expressions and acts carried out for various purposes and objects should be transformed into the bearer and executor of the action in order “to act”. The ongoing process is precisely the authentic “action”.

Artists who take themselves as the creative subject are artists in the broadest sense, daring to challenge the singular narrative and exploring the possibilities of untapped human cultural and social resource through the subtle experiences of the contemporary social condition.