It’s always a mystery to me how that we never had shows like this in HK, and people abroad sees more new Chinese artists than we do. However I do want to say that PS1 (public school one not play station one) might be the coolest comtemporary art museum ever, just because every Sunday afternoon they have a "Club" starting in the afternoon until evening. You pay 5 bucks, and then there is live bands, DJs, beer and you can walk around the converted school looking in all the different classrooms at contemporary art. Unlike in the biggest museums where they have "Friday Night Jazz," this museum has "Sunday Afternoon club day." It was surely one of those extra memorable places I have ever been, filled with hip-hop boys, manhattenites, families just out for the day, drag queens, tourists, artists, wanna bes, williamburg’s hipsters and just a nice creative cross section of people one might find in New York.
Next to the place is an art space, a pretty run down ex factory building that there are studios, public access TV rooms and general chaos. Then if you climb up to the top floor, you will find a view of Manhatten and a whole few thousand feet area covered from floor to walls, of graffitti art. Which is the spot that in swap of learning the basic "Six step" of breakdancing, I taught a bunch of guys from Queens to do the "Six steps of Ballet." Awesome….
PS1 (They have a online radio as well)
"The Thirteen: Chinese Video Now"
2006-02-26 until 2006-04-24
PS1 Contemporary Art Center
Long Island City, NY,
USA United States of America
P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center presents The Thirteen: Chinese Video Now,
an exhibition featuring a young generation of Chinese artists working
with new media and responding to the great socio-economic changes that
are taking place in the country. The thirteen emerging artists and
artist teams—most of them born in the 1960s and 1970s—will show
twenty-three video works. The Thirteen: Chinese Video Now is on view
from February 26 through April 24, 2006.
Their
choice to work with video—a relatively cheap medium that produces rapid
results—underscores the heady times they face. Unlike the earlier
generation of Chinese artists who gained recognition in the 1990s, the
majority of these young artists choose to remain in China, living and
working in major urban centers like Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai. In
these cities they experience first-hand the growing consumer culture
and rapid urban development.
Though most
of these artists have presented their work internationally, many of
them have not exhibited in the United States. This exhibition will
present, and in many cases introduce, some of the most exciting work
produced in China today. More
Artists in The Thirteen: Chinese Video Now are: 8gg (multimedia duo Jiang Haiqing and Fu Yu, based in Beijing); Cui Xiuwen (b. 1970 in Heilongjiang, lives and works in Beijing); Dong Wensheng (b. 1970 in Jiangsu province, lives in Changzhou); Cao Fei (b. 1978 in Guangzhou, lives in Guangzhou); Hu Jieming (b. 1957 in China, lives and works in Shanghai); Huang Xuaopeng (b. 1960 in Shanxi, lives and works in Guangzhou); Li Songhua (b. 1969 in Beijing, lives and works in Beijing); Liang Yue (b. 1979 in Shanghai, lives and works in Beijing and Shanghai); Lu Chunsheng (b. 1968 in Changchun, lives and works in Shanghai); Ma Yongfeng (b. 1971 in Shanxi, lives and works in Beijing); Meng Jin (b. 1973 in Chong Qing); Xu Tan (b. 1957 in Wuhan; lives and works in Shanghai and Guangzhou); and Xu Zhen (b. 1977 in Shanghai, lives and works in Shanghai).
The Thirteen: Chinese Video Now is co-curated by David Thorp and Sun Ning, Director of Platform China in Beijing.
Yan Sham-Shackleton Online 