[syndicate] Gao Brothers - Field of Vision : Beijing

[epistolaris at freemail.hu]

September 9 - 28 2006

Opening: September 16 at 15:00

Symposium: September 15 from 15:00 ? 18:00

http://www.field-of-vision.net/Beijing

Beijing New Art Projects
798 Art District, 4 Jiuxianqiao Road
Chaoyang District, Beijing
100015 China

T / F China: +86 ? [0]10 ? 84566660

Curators: Gao Brothers, China; Marcel Hager, Germany; Stephan Hausmeister,
Germany / UK

Symposium host: Malcolm Ferris, University of Hertfordshire, UK
Alison Dalwood - Cang Xin - Feifei Lu - Han Bing - Helen Marshall - Ji
Shengli (Hei Yue) - Kazuaki Tanahashi - Lao Liu (Tian Yi Bin) - Liu Fei - Ma
Han - Miao Xiaochun - Michael Wright - Paul Dacey - Sam Jury ? QingQing - Ye
Fu

...and another 160 artists from 23 different countries, submitting more
than 900 images for the Beijing field. A first preview of all images
submitted until August 15 is visible at www.field-of-vision.net/Beijing/Raw,
images collected later than August 15 will be published by September 14.

Beijing New Art Projects, situated in the fashionable 'Factory 798' Art
District of Beijing, is the venue for the first Asian staging in the 'Field
of Vision' global art project. 'Field of Vision: Beijing' presents a
freeze-frame slice through the multiple perspectives of the many real and
imagined contemporary Chinas. This immense wall-based installation is
constructed from a skillfully edited assemblage of uncensored 'visual blogs'
collected worldwide over the Internet following a highly successful call for
submissions.'Field of Vision: Beijing' is the result of a year long
collaboration between Chinese photography
and performance artists the Gao Brothers and German artist Stephan
Hausmeister, currently based in the UK. The Beijing field, like all other
geographical instants in this ongoing global series, reflects a unique local
situation at a fixed point in time, including its relationships to global
issues and perceptions, both positive and dissonant. Invitations to produce
further 'Fields' at key locations in Berlin, Sofia, Belfast and Bangkok have
been received, with each planned as a new and unique unfolding in the map of
contemporary perceptions, both global and local, that chart our steps into
this uncertain century. The final artwork resulting from the 'Field of
Vision' gallery event appears as an on-line version on the ever expanding
project website, where visitors can navigate across the entire surface of
the work and zoom in on the selected focus points to explore in detail the
vast field of diverse viewpoints. All images are identified by the name and
country of the contributor,
and many are accompanied by small personal statements that add to the depth
and fascination of the artwork.

Events:
'Field of Vision: Beijing' opens at 15:00 on Saturday 16 September, also
celebrating the re-launch of the newly renovated Beijing New Art Project's
gallery space.

Construction and installation of 'Field of Vision : Beijing' takes place as
a live event from 9 - 14 September with gallery visitors welcome to view the
emerging 'field'. Progress updates and live-audience reporting will appear
on the project website throughout.

A symposium at 15:00 on Friday 15 September will include video interviews
with Chinese artists, artist's talks, and an open discussion. These
presentations are the result of an ongoing critical investigation into the
current boom in Chinese artistic production, and in the position of Beijing
specifically - including the rapid emergence of the 'Factory 798' Art
District into the international limelight. Through a diversity of content
and views the symposium will raise and challenge a number of critical
perspectives on China and the West today, highlighting the need for critical
debate supporting the 'internal' perceptions of Chinese cultural producers,
alongside issues concerning 'Orientalism' and the internalization of Western
views of self, Eastern 'Occidentalism', and state absolutism and the
'absolutism' of capitalist exchange-value.

For press enquiries and images please phone UK: +44 ? (0)20 - 77193 5961 or
+ 44 ? (0)1608 - 641070 or e-mail: stephan at digitalartprojects.net (contacts
inside China above).