The 2012 9th Shanghai Biennale Special Exhibitions—Zhongshan Park Project, The Recessive Umbilical Cord—2436a Exhibition

All Exhibitions Lectures Information International News Editor's Choice

TEXT：Sue Wang DATE： 2012.10.12

00 Poster of The Recessive Umbilical Cord—2436a exhibition

October, 2012, the harvest season of golden autumn, the 2012 9th Shanghai biennial, under the organization of the chief curator Qiu Zhijie, has started the grand opening. Meanwhile, the Zhong Shan Park Project, the special project of the 2012 9th Shanghai Biennial, already has began officially on 10, Sept. As for the second round of the Zhong Shan Park Project, The Recessive Umbilical Cord – 2436a Exhibition, in the grand support of Consulat général de France à Shanghai, is hosted by the 9th Shanghai biennial committee and V Art Centre. And it will be held at V Art Centre exhibition hall in NO.50 Mo Gan Shan Road in Shanghai from Oct 12 through Nov 13. In the exhibition, the curator Xiao Ge, the returnee artist from France, will bring the latest works of the 2436a group to the public. Artists who participate in this exhibition include: Fang Qi, Gao Jie, Gao Yan, Li Qingbin, Lin Yuyan, Ma Chong, Wang Chengliang and Wang Ge.

As for Chinese artists living and working in France, there are Zao Woo-ki, Chu Teh-chun and Wu Guan Zhong as the elder generation, Wu later came back to China, after them there are Chen Zhen, Huang Yong Ping,Wang Du, Yan Pei Ming, Yang Jie Chang and Shen Yuan, also art critics and curators like Hou Hanru and Fei Dawei. They are all successful examples for Chinese artist to go abroad in modern times, and thus attracted more artists to pursue art dreams there.

In and around the 1990s, a wave of studying overseas was initialed, till now it seems far from an end. They left their hometown, went to a far away, foreign countries, only to pursue their dreams of art. Different from the elder generations, these young artists seems to be independent and self-conscious. They’d like to stay alone, and thus to be dispersed in the crowds. However, there are still a group of young artists, who chose to stay together, trying very hard to explore the free spirit of art creation. They are 2436a, this time they bring the exhibition here.

As an active young artists group, there are about ten individuals. The special number 2436a is the passwords for the entrance to their party place. They advocate unity while learning and encouraging among each other. They search for dialogue and interaction within the team, also between the team and the society. They are displaying works here, but more importantly, they are searching for a particular working method, a new communication mode. They deny simple symbols that might be attached to them, but aims at searching for deep cultural connotations with their works.

Such idealism seems to be unsuitable for the commercialized Chinese art circle at present, but they can not forget their homeland after years of living overseas. They are sincere, or to some extent even reverent to art, also they are embarrassed facing the reality, just as Clement Greenberg wrote in his article Avant-garde and Kitsch in 1939: " … it assumed itself to be cut off, but to which it has always remained attached by an umbilical cord of gold. The paradox is real."

[gallery link="file" orderby="title"]

This exhibition follows the idea of the 2012 9th Shanghai biennial--reactivation in order to explore and search the relations and meanings for the east and the west, the art and the economy, the individual and the society, people and others, the ego in yesterday and today. The exhibition will be held at the V Art Centre exhibition hall located in NO.50 Mo Gan Shan Rode, Zha Bei District, Shanghai. The “Zhongshan Park Project” begins with Shanghai’s Zhongshan Park, encompassing the Hongqiao High-Speed Rail station and Pudong Airport; extending southwards, it covers all the Zhongshan Parks in the Hokkien cities of Zhangzhou, Xiamen and Quanzhou. Going east, the project crosses the Straits of Taiwan to Kinmen, Hualien and Tamsui, demonstrating the artistic and innovative strength of artists on both sides of the Straits and internationally. Finally, all the information will gather in Jan, 2013. And the project will return to the Shanghai Edo Art Museum. The project still open to the public till 31st, Mar, 2013.

The 2012 9th Shanghai Biennale Special Exhibitions—Zhongshan Park Project

The Recessive Umbilical Cord—2436a exhibition

Organizer: 2012 the 9th Shanghai Biennale Committee

Sponsor: Consulat général de France à Shanghai

Co-organizer: V Art Center

Curator: Xiao Ge

Artists: 2346a group (Fang Qi, Gao Jie, Gao Yan, Li Qingbin, Lin Yuyan, Ma Chong, Wang Chengliang and Wang Ge)

Designer: LIU Li Na，ZHU Sha，

Assistant Curator: Wei Xing Yi, SUN Yi Huang

Translator: Deng Li Wen

Opening: 5 pm, October 12, 2012

Time: 11 am- 6 pm, October 13-November 13 (Monday closed)