Organized by Guangzhou Redtory Museum of Contemporary Art and curated by Lu Mingjun, the exhibition "Stereognosis Zone" will launch at Hall 1, Redtory Museum of Contemporary Art (RMCA) on August 22, 2015. This exhibition gathers 17 artists, including Chen Xiaoyun, Chen Yujun & Chen Yufan, He An, Ma Qiusha, Qiu Zhijie, Shi Yong, Song Dong, Sui Jianguo, Xu Qu, Xu Wenkai, Xu Zhen, Yang Zhenzhong, Yu Ji, Zhang Hui, Zhang Peili, Zhu Yu and Zhuang Hui.
"Stereognosis Zone" is an exhibition with the image and concept motif of "hands-and-feet". However its purpose is not to present hands-and-feet, but to lead us to another world of consciousness. We are not strangers to the description of hands-and-feet in art history. There are many unique manifestations of hands either in the pictures of Michelangelo, Durer, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Manet and other artists or those religious and secular artworks in ancient China. As the French art historian Henri Focillon said in his article "In Praise of Hands", "All great artists pay close attention to researches about hands. It is because their lives are depended more on their hands than others why they feel more exceptional power contained in hands." Hands are not only the "tools" or objects of art practice, but also a method to touch and perceive the world. The condition of feet is, of course, similar. It is not rare to find classic portrays and expressions in the history. Nevertheless, the morphology and the conception of hands-and-feet vary in different artists and different centuries. It may be related to the sense of tactility, the action of viewing, the experience and the knowledge including art history – as it is a form as well as an image which undoubtedly belongs to the domain of visual culture. Furthermore, each practice about hands-and-feet is actually a different tactile world involving a variety of problems about body, health care, culture, politics, religion, ethics and media or art itself. As to the contemporary condition, it is obviously more manifold and abundant.
The artworks from 17 participating artists are more or less, overtly or covertly related to the concept hands-and-feet. However it is not a necessity to verify that their motivations and starting points exactly stem from hands-and-feet. Some of them may even never consider this. Actually, hands-and-feet just provide a new perspective of perception and precisely unfold a peculiar realm of consciousness.
In conjunction with the exhibition, the organizer invites five scholars to respectively write monographs from the perspectives of Contemporary Culture Studies, Chinese Ancient Ideology History, Film History, Modern Art History in China and Western Art History. They are Professor Wang Min’an from Institute for Cultural Studies in Capital Normal University, Professor Ke Xiaogang from Philosophy Department in Tongji University, Senior Editor Yang Beichen from Chinese network Artforum, Associate Professor Hu Bin from School ofHumanities in Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts and Qian Wenyi, Master of Art History from University College London. During the exhibition, organizer also invites them to attend the relevant academic speech and dialogue.
The exhibition will last until November 16, 2015.
About the exhibition
Dates: Aug 22, 2015 - Nov 16, 2015
Opening: Aug 22, 2015, 16:00, Saturday
Venue: Redtory Museum of Contemporary Art
Curator: Lu Mingjun
Artists: Chen Xiaoyun, Chen Yufan + Chen Yujun, He An, Ma Qiusha, Qiu Zhijie, Shi Yong, Song Dong, Sui Jianguo, Xu Qu, Xu Zhen, Xu Wenkai, Yang Zhenzhong, Yu Ji, Zhang Hui, Zhang Peili, Zhu Yu, Zhuang Hui
Courtesy of the artists and Redtory Museum of Contemporary Art, for further information please visit www.redtory.com.cn/rednew_en.
