SH Contemporary seeks new energy
By Wang Jie |
September 5, 2012, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
SH Contemporary art exhibition, running from Friday through Sunday, is trying hard in its sixth edition to make a big splash and compete with ART HK. Wang Jie reports.
Since its launch in 2007, SH Contemporary has tried to establish itself as the best contemporary art fair in Asia, and it has made a mark as the Chinese mainland's biggest such fair.
But it is seriously challenged by the recent booming of ART HK in Hong Kong.
In this latest edition from Friday through Sunday at the Shanghai Exhibition Center, SH Contemporary aims to retain its "elder brother" status in regional art shows.
It features 90 exhibitors from 18 countries and regions; last year it had around 100 exhibitors from 18 countries. A media report called it "a huge, chaotic brain dump of creativity," with special projects focusing on various themes.
The first edition of SH Contemporary in 2007 was a big hit and it attracted major galleries from around the world. But after the global financial crisis in 2008 and the cooling of the formerly red-hot Chinese contemporary art market, some of the top Western galleries have been absent.
The glamor of the first edition has faded in recent years, especially with the frequent changes of art directors. After Rudolf Lorenzo and Collin Chinnery, former Italian magazine editor Massimo Torrigiani took the helm last year and is back for this year's voyage.
"SH Contemporary seems to have encountered a bottleneck," says Shanghai artist Wang Yuhong. "It has become a must-attend event in the art community, but its influence on the international stage is weakened by its competitor (Art HK) in Hong Kong."
Due to the free tax on art import, convenient geographic location and an easy English-language environment, ART HK obviously takes the lead. And Art Basel established its Asian branch in Hong Kong; its first exhibition will be held in May 2013.
SH Contemporary is racking its brains to further its development and as a high-quality brand and platform for important exhibits, commercial dealings and special projects.
In addition to the quality and diversity of its exhibitors, this year the annual event tries to distinguish itself among Chinese and Asian fairs with special projects, exhibitions, video and photography projects, site-specific and monumental artworks.
Most of the major artworks, including eye-catching pieces, were commissioned for SH Contemporary and displayed for the first time.
The new strategy is expected to generate public enthusiasm and dispel the languid atmosphere of previous fairs.
For example, an installation of nearly 3,000 egg-shaped porcelain works will be arranged in orderly fashion in the square outside the Shanghai Exhibition Center. The work by Chinese artist Shi Shaoping, features eggs resembling dinosaur eggs, each weighing around 2 kilograms and manufactured in Jingdezhen, the cradle of China's china making in Jiangxi Province.
"This is the first time that I ever tried porcelain," Shi says. "I experimented in Jingdezhen for nearly a whole year, even the act itself is a brave and interesting performance art."
Each egg is solid and fired-through in a kiln at 1,300 degrees Celsius for three days and nights.
"I can't tell you how many eggs were broken during the process; it was a test of patience and endurance," says the artist.
According to Shi, the eggs have two meanings: They symbolize nurturing of life but at the same time they are solid and leave no space for air for a new life.
"This piece reflects the collision of hopes and desperation," he says. "Like dinosaur eggs, this work can exist for 10,000 years. I'm glad to have exposure for such a daunting piece."
Likewise, "Dragon Chronophage," a contemporary installation work by John C. Taylor from the United Kingdom, is a mixture of contemporary design, precision engineering and engaging whimsy. Its main feature is a moving dragon that houses a grasshopper escapement (a low-friction escapement for pendulum clock).
"It was Einstein who said time was relative. When asked for an example, he paused and then said, 'If you think about it, an hour spent on a park bench with a pretty girl passes in a moment, but a moment sitting on a hot stove seems like an hour'," Taylor says.
It was through thinking about Einstein's theories on time that Taylor conceived the idea for the Chronophage - from the Greek word chronos meaning time and phage meaning eater - a mythical, insect-like creature that controls the golden clock.
Taylor says time is both eternal at a universal level yet extremely limited at a personal level, and that the time we have spent cannot be regained - it's almost as if it has been eaten up by a relentless, menacing creature.
This year the fair inaugurates "SH Contemporary Focus," an overview dedicated every year to a different country. This year it's "India Focus," with newly commissioned projects and important works by some of the more sought-after Indian artists working across different media, including Rohini Devasher and Shilpa Gupta.
Date: September 6, 5-7pm (preview, VIP only), 7-10pm (opening, VIP only); September 7-8, 11am-6pm; September 9, 11am-5pm
Address: 100 Yan'an Rd M.
Admission: 50 yuan
Since its launch in 2007, SH Contemporary has tried to establish itself as the best contemporary art fair in Asia, and it has made a mark as the Chinese mainland's biggest such fair.
But it is seriously challenged by the recent booming of ART HK in Hong Kong.
In this latest edition from Friday through Sunday at the Shanghai Exhibition Center, SH Contemporary aims to retain its "elder brother" status in regional art shows.
It features 90 exhibitors from 18 countries and regions; last year it had around 100 exhibitors from 18 countries. A media report called it "a huge, chaotic brain dump of creativity," with special projects focusing on various themes.
The first edition of SH Contemporary in 2007 was a big hit and it attracted major galleries from around the world. But after the global financial crisis in 2008 and the cooling of the formerly red-hot Chinese contemporary art market, some of the top Western galleries have been absent.
The glamor of the first edition has faded in recent years, especially with the frequent changes of art directors. After Rudolf Lorenzo and Collin Chinnery, former Italian magazine editor Massimo Torrigiani took the helm last year and is back for this year's voyage.
"SH Contemporary seems to have encountered a bottleneck," says Shanghai artist Wang Yuhong. "It has become a must-attend event in the art community, but its influence on the international stage is weakened by its competitor (Art HK) in Hong Kong."
Due to the free tax on art import, convenient geographic location and an easy English-language environment, ART HK obviously takes the lead. And Art Basel established its Asian branch in Hong Kong; its first exhibition will be held in May 2013.
SH Contemporary is racking its brains to further its development and as a high-quality brand and platform for important exhibits, commercial dealings and special projects.
In addition to the quality and diversity of its exhibitors, this year the annual event tries to distinguish itself among Chinese and Asian fairs with special projects, exhibitions, video and photography projects, site-specific and monumental artworks.
Most of the major artworks, including eye-catching pieces, were commissioned for SH Contemporary and displayed for the first time.
The new strategy is expected to generate public enthusiasm and dispel the languid atmosphere of previous fairs.
For example, an installation of nearly 3,000 egg-shaped porcelain works will be arranged in orderly fashion in the square outside the Shanghai Exhibition Center. The work by Chinese artist Shi Shaoping, features eggs resembling dinosaur eggs, each weighing around 2 kilograms and manufactured in Jingdezhen, the cradle of China's china making in Jiangxi Province.
"This is the first time that I ever tried porcelain," Shi says. "I experimented in Jingdezhen for nearly a whole year, even the act itself is a brave and interesting performance art."
Each egg is solid and fired-through in a kiln at 1,300 degrees Celsius for three days and nights.
"I can't tell you how many eggs were broken during the process; it was a test of patience and endurance," says the artist.
According to Shi, the eggs have two meanings: They symbolize nurturing of life but at the same time they are solid and leave no space for air for a new life.
"This piece reflects the collision of hopes and desperation," he says. "Like dinosaur eggs, this work can exist for 10,000 years. I'm glad to have exposure for such a daunting piece."
Likewise, "Dragon Chronophage," a contemporary installation work by John C. Taylor from the United Kingdom, is a mixture of contemporary design, precision engineering and engaging whimsy. Its main feature is a moving dragon that houses a grasshopper escapement (a low-friction escapement for pendulum clock).
"It was Einstein who said time was relative. When asked for an example, he paused and then said, 'If you think about it, an hour spent on a park bench with a pretty girl passes in a moment, but a moment sitting on a hot stove seems like an hour'," Taylor says.
It was through thinking about Einstein's theories on time that Taylor conceived the idea for the Chronophage - from the Greek word chronos meaning time and phage meaning eater - a mythical, insect-like creature that controls the golden clock.
Taylor says time is both eternal at a universal level yet extremely limited at a personal level, and that the time we have spent cannot be regained - it's almost as if it has been eaten up by a relentless, menacing creature.
This year the fair inaugurates "SH Contemporary Focus," an overview dedicated every year to a different country. This year it's "India Focus," with newly commissioned projects and important works by some of the more sought-after Indian artists working across different media, including Rohini Devasher and Shilpa Gupta.
Date: September 6, 5-7pm (preview, VIP only), 7-10pm (opening, VIP only); September 7-8, 11am-6pm; September 9, 11am-5pm
Address: 100 Yan'an Rd M.
Admission: 50 yuan
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