Chinese Microcinema: The Future is Here, Are You Coming?

Chinese Microcinema: The Future is Here, Are You Coming?

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Logan Center, Room 201
Add to Calendar 2022-11-14 19:30:00 2022-11-14 19:30:00 Chinese Microcinema: The Future is Here, Are You Coming? "The Future is Here, Are You Coming?" presents recent video works by four contemporary artists from China, all at varying stages in their careers. Cao Fei (b. 1978), Lu Yang (b. 1984), Xu Zhengyue (b. 1989), and Zheng Yuan (b. 1988) each draw upon unique contemporary conditions, fueled by major investments in robotics, AI technologies, video game aesthetics, as well as an ever-expanding online social and commercial landscape. These artists locate their moving image projects at the increasingly overlapping intersections between the real and the virtual, the present and the future. Collectively, they consider the mutability of the body in relationship to technology, labor, and other forms of cultural connectivity, largely framed within the speculative context of a China yet to come. This event is curated by Ellen Larson, University of Chicago’s Center for the Art of East Asia Postdoctoral Instructor of Art History. ABOUT THE ARTISTS Cao Fei (b. 1978) is an internationally renowned Chinese contemporary artist. Currently living in Beijing, she mixes social commentary, popular aesthetics, references to Surrealism, and documentary conventions in her films and installations. Her works reflect on the rapid and developmental changes that are occurring in Chinese society today. Cao Fei’s major projects in recent years include a solo exhibition at MoMA PS1, New York (2016), the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Chinese Art Initiative at the Guggenheim Museum in New York (2018), a solo show at the Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong (2018), a retrospective at K21 Düsseldorf (2018), a solo exhibition at the Centre Pompidou, Paris (2019), a solo exhibition Blueprints at the Serpentine Galleries, London (2020). Cao Fei’s recent projects include a major retrospective Staging the Era at the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2021), and a solo exhibition at the MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts, Rome (2021). Her works have been exhibited at several international biennales and triennials, including the Shanghai Biennale (2004), the Moscow Biennale (2005), the Taipei Biennial (2006), the 15th & 17th Biennale of Sydney (2006 and 2010), the Istanbul Biennial (2007), the Yokohama Triennale (2008) and the 50th, 52nd & 56th Venice Biennale (2003, 2007 and 2015). Lu Yang (b.1984), a Shanghai-based multimedia artist, creates fantastical, often painful, and shocking images which represent an interdisciplinary blend of religion, philosophy, neuroscience, psychology and modern technology, as well as the allusions to real life forms and structures of natural and religious origin. The output of Lu Yang’s artistic practice spans game engines, 3D-animated films, video game installations, holograms, motion capture performances, virtual reality and software manipulation. The artist also collaborates with acclaimed scientists, psychologists, performers, designers, experimental composers, music producers, robotics companies and pop stars. His work has been featured in major museums and institutions internationally including solo exhibitions at the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Aarhus, Denmark (2021-2022); Kunstpalais Erlangen, Germany (2022); Spiral, Tokyo, Japan (2017-2018); M WOODS, Beijing (2017-2018); MOCA Cleveland, Cleveland, USA (2017); UCCA, Beijing (2012); and Fukuoka Asia Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan (2011). Recent works in large-scale thematic exhibitions include Asia Society Triennial 2021, New York; Shanghai Biennale 2018 and 2012; Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale 2014; Athens Biennale 2018; Liverpool Biennial 2016; Montreal International Digital Art Biennial 2016; the 56th Venice Biennale 2015 China Pavilion; the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022. Lu Yang’s work was also included in the group exhibition Neurons, simulated intelligence at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2020. Lu Yang was awarded the BMW Art Journey in 2019 and Deutsche Bank's 2022 Artist of the Year. Xu Zhengyue (b. 1989), currently based in Beijing, uses video, animation, and photography to focus on various historical stages and changes in society. She is drawn to video’s visual language to express her own artistic thinking, exploring the hyperlink relationships that penetrate reality. Her video works have been exhibited at institutions throughout China, including the K11 Art Mall in Shenyang, 2018; Suzhou’s Hanshan Art Museum, 2017; and Epoch Art Museum in Wenzhou, 2016, among others. Zheng Yuan (b. 1988) lives and works in Beijing. He graduated from School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2015 with a master’s degree. Working primarily with time-based media, Zheng's work often operates at the intersection of fiction, documents and investigative studies. His focuses on identity and evaluation and it's ever-shifting relationship with history, social and representation. By introducing archival material alongside found footage and situations, Zheng's work acquires a layered complexity within overlapping contexts. His recent solo exhibitions include Forward, Backward, MadeIn Gallery, Shanghai, 2020; Up in the Air, Taikang Space, Beijing, 2017; and An Open Studio Practice, New York, 2016. SPONSORSHIP This event is sponsored by the University of Chicago Center for East Asian Studies with generous support from a Title VI National Resource Center Grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Additional support is provided by the University of Chicago’s Center for the Art of East Asia and the Department of Art History. Register Here! Logan Center, Room 201 Department of Art History drupal@seastar.uchicago.edu America/Chicago public
A robot stands behind a person slumped at a desk.

"The Future is Here, Are You Coming?" presents recent video works by four contemporary artists from China, all at varying stages in their careers. Cao Fei (b. 1978), Lu Yang (b. 1984), Xu Zhengyue (b. 1989), and Zheng Yuan (b. 1988) each draw upon unique contemporary conditions, fueled by major investments in robotics, AI technologies, video game aesthetics, as well as an ever-expanding online social and commercial landscape. These artists locate their moving image projects at the increasingly overlapping intersections between the real and the virtual, the present and the future. Collectively, they consider the mutability of the body in relationship to technology, labor, and other forms of cultural connectivity, largely framed within the speculative context of a China yet to come.

This event is curated by Ellen Larson, University of Chicago’s Center for the Art of East Asia Postdoctoral Instructor of Art History.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Cao Fei (b. 1978) is an internationally renowned Chinese contemporary artist. Currently living in Beijing, she mixes social commentary, popular aesthetics, references to Surrealism, and documentary conventions in her films and installations. Her works reflect on the rapid and developmental changes that are occurring in Chinese society today. Cao Fei’s major projects in recent years include a solo exhibition at MoMA PS1, New York (2016), the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Chinese Art Initiative at the Guggenheim Museum in New York (2018), a solo show at the Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong (2018), a retrospective at K21 Düsseldorf (2018), a solo exhibition at the Centre Pompidou, Paris (2019), a solo exhibition Blueprints at the Serpentine Galleries, London (2020). Cao Fei’s recent projects include a major retrospective Staging the Era at the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2021), and a solo exhibition at the MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts, Rome (2021). Her works have been exhibited at several international biennales and triennials, including the Shanghai Biennale (2004), the Moscow Biennale (2005), the Taipei Biennial (2006), the 15th & 17th Biennale of Sydney (2006 and 2010), the Istanbul Biennial (2007), the Yokohama Triennale (2008) and the 50th, 52nd & 56th Venice Biennale (2003, 2007 and 2015).

Lu Yang (b.1984), a Shanghai-based multimedia artist, creates fantastical, often painful, and shocking images which represent an interdisciplinary blend of religion, philosophy, neuroscience, psychology and modern technology, as well as the allusions to real life forms and structures of natural and religious origin. The output of Lu Yang’s artistic practice spans game engines, 3D-animated films, video game installations, holograms, motion capture performances, virtual reality and software manipulation. The artist also collaborates with acclaimed scientists, psychologists, performers, designers, experimental composers, music producers, robotics companies and pop stars. His work has been featured in major museums and institutions internationally including solo exhibitions at the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Aarhus, Denmark (2021-2022); Kunstpalais Erlangen, Germany (2022); Spiral, Tokyo, Japan (2017-2018); M WOODS, Beijing (2017-2018); MOCA Cleveland, Cleveland, USA (2017); UCCA, Beijing (2012); and Fukuoka Asia Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan (2011). Recent works in large-scale thematic exhibitions include Asia Society Triennial 2021, New York; Shanghai Biennale 2018 and 2012; Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale 2014; Athens Biennale 2018; Liverpool Biennial 2016; Montreal International Digital Art Biennial 2016; the 56th Venice Biennale 2015 China Pavilion; the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022. Lu Yang’s work was also included in the group exhibition Neurons, simulated intelligence at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2020. Lu Yang was awarded the BMW Art Journey in 2019 and Deutsche Bank's 2022 Artist of the Year.

Xu Zhengyue (b. 1989), currently based in Beijing, uses video, animation, and photography to focus on various historical stages and changes in society. She is drawn to video’s visual language to express her own artistic thinking, exploring the hyperlink relationships that penetrate reality. Her video works have been exhibited at institutions throughout China, including the K11 Art Mall in Shenyang, 2018; Suzhou’s Hanshan Art Museum, 2017; and Epoch Art Museum in Wenzhou, 2016, among others.

Zheng Yuan (b. 1988) lives and works in Beijing. He graduated from School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2015 with a master’s degree. Working primarily with time-based media, Zheng's work often operates at the intersection of fiction, documents and investigative studies. His focuses on identity and evaluation and it's ever-shifting relationship with history, social and representation. By introducing archival material alongside found footage and situations, Zheng's work acquires a layered complexity within overlapping contexts. His recent solo exhibitions include Forward, Backward, MadeIn Gallery, Shanghai, 2020; Up in the Air, Taikang Space, Beijing, 2017; and An Open Studio Practice, New York, 2016.

SPONSORSHIP

This event is sponsored by the University of Chicago Center for East Asian Studies with generous support from a Title VI National Resource Center Grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Additional support is provided by the University of Chicago’s Center for the Art of East Asia and the Department of Art History.

Register Here!