Media Release
16 June 2009
China in Four Seasons: Jin Jiangbo
4 July - 6 September
Opening 4 July 2009, the vast and penetrating photographs of acclaimed artist Jin Jiangbo mark the beginning of the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery’s major series China in Four Seasons. Eschewing the national survey format in favour of a year long project comprising four exhibitions and residencies, that presents to New Zealand audiences the extraordinary power, singularity and insight of certain artists working in China today.
Against a backdrop of worldwide economic malaise, Jin Jiangbo presents recent series of photographic works begun in 2007. Using series titles such as Great Economic Retreat, Chinese Market Scene and Shanghai, Shanghai, his arresting panaromas offer an immediate response to the complex fabric within the unique socialist economic landscape of China as it negotiates within wider frames of globalisation and integration.
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The 2008 series Great Economic Retreat features the industrial ruins of factories in Dongguan, Southern China, recently and hastily abandoned by companies chasing ever lower productions costs. His images capture the empty production workshops and the deserted dormitories of factories shut down literally overnight.
The artist says, “My process enters a space of expressionless aesthetic research. Within the long process of history, things and people shuttle though, and as time passes they gradually disappear and are lost, leaving only the buildings and spaces, as ‘witnesses to history'.”
In the months immediately preceding this exhibition Jin Jiangbo turned his attention to Shanghai where he documents the massive construction, and urban renewal projects underway in the lead up to the 2010 Shanghai Expo with its theme of ‘Better City, Better Life’. The Chinese economic engine is being re-started, and the artist asks, 'Can it be sustained?' This series Shanghai Shanghai is presented for the first time as part of the Govett-Brewster’s exhibition.
As the Gallery’s 2009 International Artist in Residence, Jin Jiangbo will also explore related concerns by examining disused architectural factories and sites within the region of Taranaki, itself a unique story of radical economic growth and change over the past two decades.
China in Four Seasons curator and Govett-Brewster Director Rhana Devenport says 2009 is a potent moment to examine contemporary arts practice in China after twenty years of tremendous social, political, economic and cultural upheaval since 1989;
”This century has witnessed unprecedented attention on Chinese contemporary art from the (western) international arts community while art production, infrastructure and distribution within China has radically expanded and redefined itself. Museums alone have grown exponentially from 300 to 2,300 over the period. The current global financial crisis has now provoked an equally dramatic deflation of the Chinese art market 'bubble'. Jin Jiangbo's work interrogates the very heart of these last five to ten years as evidence of the China's 'Economic Miracle' and subsequent 'retreat' and 're-balance' playing out in the physical world”.
Based in Shanghai and Bejjing, Jin Jiangbo is one of China’s foremost recent generation of media artists while the exhibition presents his first investigations with the 'historic' process of medium format photography. Jin Jiangbo was born in 1972 in Zhejiang province. He is Director of Digital Arts at Shanghai University and is completing his PhD at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Jin Jiangbo exhibits internationally; exhibitions include the Venice Biennale (2003), the 3rd Nanjing Triennial (2008), the Shanghai Biennale (2002) and Booming?, Wall Art Museum, Beijing and Shanghai Gallery of Art (2008).
Further artists to be presented in China in Four Seasons include Guo Fengyi (curated with The Long March Space, a leading independent artspace in China), Song Dong and Yin Xiuzhen.
The Govett-Brewster’s Artist in Residency programme brings one international and one New Zealand artist to New Plymouth each year. It is offered in partnership with Western Institute of Technology at Taranaki and with support from Creative New Zealand. This exhibition is also supported by Asia New Zealand Foundation, Te Kairanga Wines and Radio Network Taranaki.
Image: Jin Jiangbo Mass production workshop no.1 of a foreign capital television manufacturer 2008
ENDS
For more information, high resolution images and to arrange interviews please contact:
Rhana Devenport
Director
Govett-Brewster Art Gallery
HYPERLINK "mailto:rhanad@govettbrewster.com" rhanad@govettbrewster.com
+64-6-759-0854
Hannah Leahy
Communications Co-ordinator
Govett-Brewster Art Gallery
HYPERLINK "mailto:hannahl@govettbrewster.com" hannahl@govettbrewster.com
+64-6-759-6717
《中国四季》：金江波
七月四日 - 九月六日
戈维特布鲁斯特美术馆主题系列展览《中国四季》，将于二○○九年七月四日，由倍受赞誉的艺术家金江波，以磅礡而尖锐的摄影作品拉开序幕。呈现给新西兰的观众，是特定的中国当代艺术创作者的气势、独特性和洞察力。
针对世界经济萧条的环境，金江波带给我们一系列始于二○○七年的摄影创作。他透过辛辣的现场全貌，以《经济大撤退》、《中国市场图景》、《上海呀，上海：引擎计划》为名称的系列作品，为中国特色社会主义经济整合到全球化架构内的繁复，提出一个最直接的回应。
二○○八年的系列作品《经济大撤退》，展出的是中国南方东莞，近日被追逐更低廉制造工资的企业仓促弃置的工厂废墟。他的影像捕捉的是经常一夜之间突然关闭的工厂所留下的空荡厂房和弃置的宿舍。
金江波表示：我的创作探索的是朴实无华的美学。在漫长的历史进程当中，尽管货物和人员来来去去，但是随着时间，他们逐一消逝，只留下一栋栋建筑物和空荡的空间来见证这一段历史。
在此次展览前的几个月，金江波将他的注意力移转到上海，针对为了《城市，让生活更美好》为题的上海世博会而建造的一批庞大楼房和都市更新计划进行研究。中国经济正处于重新启动的阶段，而金江波所提出的问题是：这样的情势能否持续下去？《上海呀，上海：引擎计划》系列作品，将在戈维特布鲁斯特美术馆的展览当中，首度呈现在世人眼前。
身为美术馆二○○九年驻馆国际艺术家，金江波也将利用此机会，研究过去二十年间同样经历过特色经济成长和根本变迁的塔纳拉奇省，并针对同样的主题，研究“后殖民时代的经济学考古”从中国东莞出发到新西兰的Patea，对这一带废弃的厂址进行现场探索。
《中国四季》策展人，戈维特布鲁斯特美术馆馆长Rhana Devonport表示，中国自一九八九年以来，经历了社会、政治、经济和文化上的巨大变动，二十年后的二○○九年，正是审视中国当代艺术活动的有力时刻。
『我们可以发现，西方艺术团体在本世纪对中国当代艺术投注了前所未有的关注。而同时，中国自身的艺术创作、基础结构、销售网络也出现重大的扩张和重整。这段期间，光是美术馆的数量就从三百家增加到两千三百家。当前全球的金融危机造成了中国艺术市场《泡沫》的消退，而金江波的作品触及了过去五年到十年间的核心，也正是中国经济奇迹，以及随继而来的撤退和再平衡上演于现实世界之际。』
常驻于上海和北京两地，金江波是中国新世代最重要的多媒体艺术家之一，而此次展览呈现的是他首度以大画幅摄影，透过历史性的纪录所进行的研究。一九七二年生于浙江省的金江波，是上海大学美术学院数码艺术中心数码影像艺术工作室主任，北京清华大学美术学院信息艺术设计专业博士生。他也是国际艺术展览的常客，曾经参与的展览包括《威尼斯双年展》(2003)、《第三届南京三年展》(2008)、《上海双年展》(2002)、北京墙美术馆的《繁荣？》和《上海艺术博览会国际当代艺术展》(2008)。
《中国四季》展览接下来将呈现的艺术家，还包括了郭凤怡(中国独立艺术空间要角《长征空间》策展人之一)、宋冬和尹秀珍。
戈维特布鲁斯特美术馆的艺术家驻馆计划，每年都会在新普利茅斯接待一名国际艺术家和一名新西兰本地艺术家。这项计划除了包括塔纳拉奇省《西方科技学院》的大力参与，也得到《创意新西兰》的顶力支持。这一次的展览更获得《亚洲新西兰基金会》、《Te Kairanga酒庄》和《塔纳拉奇广播网络》的热情赞助。
附图：金江波，外资企业电视机制造商，量产厂房，一号现场，2008。
进一步的信息、高解像度影像和访谈安排，请连络：
Rhana Devenport
戈维特布鲁斯特美术馆
馆长
HYPERLINK "mailto:rhanad@govettbrewster.com" rhanad@govettbrewster.com
+64-6-759-0854 Hannah Leahy
戈维特布鲁斯特美术馆
信息联络人
HYPERLINK "mailto:hannahl@govettbrewster.com" hannahl@govettbrewster.com
+64-6-759-6717