Each of us has a certain desire of accomplishing a movement.

--Xu Zhen

Provocation has always been a main aspect in Xu Zhen’s creation, touching upon taboos, definitions and rules. His early work 8848-1.86, fully reflects doubts power and truth - this installation is a ‘troublemaker’, ironizing humankind’s illusory and blind pursuit for a certain ‘apogee’ - it encompasses the current chaotic situation in politics, economy, culture and history generated by ambitions of hegemony, selfish desires. With provocation as a stimulus, Xu Zhen builds a systematized ‘destruction/reconstruction’ cycle. This logic reached its climax when in 2009 he announced that ‘Xu Zhen’ was over, and began ‘MadeIn Company’. Under his direction, MadeIn creative team acted in a more radical way, at the edge of art creation, power and business. Operating under a public ‘undercover’ identity, ‘MadeIn’ undertook all kind of experiences withiin this mechanism.

As Xu Zhen elaborated this art system, ‘Movement’ became a new keyword, it pointed out and aroused a reflection on the complexity of human collective consciousness and attitude. The series Movementism, created in 2012, was conceived by Xu Zhen as he subtly caught the fact that “people all have a certain desire of accomplishing a movement”. The newly created Movement Field that will be presented this time, is an Utopian space composed of multiplereal movement-related itineraries. This Movement Field is a memorial, which questions past and future commemorations; it constitutes a place for infinite spiritual quests. Thus, works from the series True Image exhibited within the Movement Field represents a form of media creation based on media diffusion. Among them, pictorial installations inspired by ‘faith’ and ‘symbols’, such as a lotus composed a gas stoves and huge rainbows buddha, embody Xu Zhen’s comprehension of faith and self-belief. ‘Ginseng’ images collected from the internet, probe Eastern and Western different cultural backgrounds and knowledge about a similar material, this work alludes to a certain upright tolerance within disorder and confusion.

These works by Xu Zhen, will all be displayd in MadeIn Company Spring 2013 New Works Exhibition organized by Long March Space. Visitors will have the opportunity to experience Xu’s Movementism. Xu Zhen considers that human actions (and thoughts) that are stimulated by goals constituted movement, he raises requests on its scale, adheres to this attitude, and determines a particular way of understanding. Through his signature provocation and doubt, Xu Zhen audaciously reveals his attitude towards the world.

About ‘Xu Zhen’

MadeIn Company Spring 2013 New Works Exhibition will be held at Long March Space. On this occasion, MadeIn Company is proud to announce the launch of the brand ‘Xu Zhen’. Simultaneously, MadeIn will become a company that represents and creates art brands. In 2009, as MadeIn Company was established, Xu Zhen declared he won’t use his individual identity anymore. This return isn’t an individual artist’s comeback, but the creation of a new brand. MadeIn Company will dedicate its work in terms of art creation, production, promotion, and collection to the brand ‘Xu Zhen’. Hence, Xu Zhen is experiencing a third identity phase: from an individual entity to MadeIn Company’s entrepreneur, to a brand introduced by MadeIn Company. The emergence of ‘Xu Zhen’ brand is a breakthrough in the openness and possibilities in contemporary art; ‘Xu Zhen’ brand development will become a new model in contemporary art.

About the exhibition

Duration: 27 April - 23 June, 2013

Venue: Long March Space

Courtesy of the artist and Long March Space.