Entering the domain of objects
Print Edition
“THE System of Objects” exhibition currently running at Shanghai Minsheng Art Museum features a number of big names active in China’s contemporary art scene.
The 44 artists include Chen Shaoxiong, Hu Jieming, Liu Wei, Zhang Enli and Sui Jianguo, while media range from painting and sculpture to installations, video and animation.
“When talking about objects, we usually refer to objects from the perspective of humans. It’s seen as pointless to talk about objects without taking humans into consideration,” said Ai Min, curator of the exhibition,
“This has been the simplest description of the relation between humans and objects since Kant and Heidegger.
“However, today’s young and radical philosophers have put forward ‘speculative realism,’ advocating that objects have their own domain and can be liberated from a human perspective and its connection with humans.
“Objects have a domain and destiny of their own. An object-oriented ontology is forming.”
For this exhibition, Ai selected some of the most representative object-related artworks created by Chinese contemporary artists during the past two decades.
Collectively, they compose the “system of objects” of Chinese contemporary art, casting light on artists’ discourses on objects; changes in people’s views about objects; the development and destiny of objects in contemporary Chinese society; and how humans manage to establish their own image through connections with objects.
Liu Jianhua’s “Blank Paper” considers everyday objects in what seems a very simple way. Paper serves as a medium on which to write and record. But it is what the viewers sees that forms the work.
Liu’s “Blank Paper” is actually made from porcelain, a pure, serene object with delicately lifting corners, at odds with the general perception of an ordinary piece of paper ready to have marks scrawled upon it.
This purity and serenity, removed from the grime and stresses of everyday life, are what many people long for.
“It’s necessary nowadays to keep a certain sense of distance from reality,” Liu explained.
“Facing a work like this, people may feel as if they’re writing all their feelings in the real world upon it.”
Another highlight of the exhibition is He Xiangyu’s “Coca-Cola Project — Extraction/Coca-Cola Residues/2009-2011.”
He bought 127 tons of Coca-Cola from supermarkets and built a makeshift “kitchen” in his studio. Then he hired 10 workers to make 10 huge iron pans. It took 100 workers more than 6,000 hours to boil the Coca-Cola. The resulting 40 cubic meters of Coca-Cola residue is on show at the exhibition.
“The process of extraction came as a ‘pleasant surprise’ to me,” said He.
“The Public Security Bureau, the Consumer Protection Bureau and the Environmental Protection Bureau visited to investigate what was going on.”
Authorities unhappy with the unlicensed industrial operation levied fines.
International symposium “Theories of Objects” will take place during the show.
Date: Through June 28, 10am-6pm, closed on Monday
Admission: 20 yuan
Venue: Minsheng Art Museum
Address: Bldg F, 570 Huaihai Rd W.
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