Inventing Ritual, curated by Lu Pingyuan, Zhao Yao and MadeIn Company
- Date
- 30 January 2016 – 8:30pm
- Duration
- 40 min
© MadeIn Company, Lu Pingyuan, Zhao Yao © Fondation Louis Vuitton / Marc Domage
In collaboration with artists Lu Pingyuan and Zhao Yao, Inventing Ritual is a MadeIn Company production that examines the relationships between contemporary art and the notion of ritual by presenting works by some twenty artists, encompassing performance, video, text, painting, sculpture and installations.
*Chen Xiaoyun, Ding Li, He An, Hu Xiangqian, Kan Xuan, Lin Ke, Li Liao, Li Gang, Liu Wei , Lu Pingyuan, Liu Chengrui, Wang Jianwei, Wang Sishun, Wu Shanzhuan & Inga Svala Thorsdottir, Xu Zhen - Produced by MadeIn Company, Yang Zhenzhong, Yu Ji, Yuan Gong, Zhang Ding, Zhao Yao, Zheng Guogu, Zhou Xiaohu, Zhu Yu…
The artists
Xu Zhen
As curator, gallerist and head of a company, Xu Zhen is one of the most inventive artists of his generation. After studying at the Shanghai Arts & Crafts Institute, he began making performance videos and installations in the late 1990s, applying his ironic vision to products of consumer society and the art world.
In Shouting (1998) we see a crowd from the back, who turn round automatically when they hear the artist shouting. ShangART Supermarket (2007) is a replica of a Chinese shop, filled with empty packaging. Alongside his artistic work, in 1998 Zhen founded BizArt, the first non-profit arts centre in Shanghai, and helped launch Art-Ba-Ba, an online forum about Chinese contemporary art. In 2009, Zhen brought his own artistic identity to an end when he created MadeIn Company, set up to produce art, carry out research, stage exhibitions and publish catalogues. It also has a website and gallery. Playing on the phrase “made in China” but also on the Chinese expression “society without borders”, the company questions the limits of art and merchandise, the principles of the art market and the unicity of the oeuvre, assimilating his creations into "products" so that the name of Xu Zhen also becomes a brand.
Performers
Megan Clayton
Arnaud Guy
Maggie Grant
