At 3:00 pm on November 27, 2016, “Feminine Power: New Perspective” opened at Daqian Contemporary Art Center (DCAC). The exhibition was co-organized by Sheng Jia Xi He·Daqian Contemporary Art Center and the Association of French Contemporary Art World, and co-organized by Double Ten Sunshine Art and Culture. Tao Wei, Executive Director of Sheng Jia Xi He Culture Industry Group and Daqian Contemporary Art Center, Li Zhaorong, Executive Director of Sheng Jia Xi He Culture Industry Group and Sheng Xi Hui, Xian Tong, Director of Daqian Contemporary Art Center, Zhang Yini, Director of Marketing at Double Ten Culture Beijing, Academic Director Shao Yiyang, and curator Liang Shuang attended the opening ceremony of the exhibition.

It is themed feminism, and invited 18 outstanding artists from China, France, Italy and the United States to participate in the exhibition. It aims to showing how artists from different cultural backgrounds think about women’s existence and the current understanding of the development of feminism in the world, and hopes to establish an artistic context and an art platform for international exchanging, which is different from the previous ones. Curator Liang Shuang believes that the theme of the exhibition “Feminine Power: New Perspective” perfectly cuts in the main point of the exhibition – started from a gender perspective. It presents the latest responses and explorations on the universal ancient propositions by the artists from different countries, based on the correct cognition.

Academic Director Prof. Shao Yiyang believes that: In this case, the fight for women’s rights and interests is still an important issue, and the feminist enterprising can’t stop yet. Therefore, the selection of participating artists in this exhibition focuses on Feminine Power, demanding works of both aesthetic significance, discussion on aesthetics, and social significance.

For the choice of the artists, it is out of the double considerations of the concept of art and social significance. In the balance between panorama and focused discussion, the exhibition is ultimately divided into three parts: Body as a Medium, Expression of Feelings, and Neutral Position in Society.

In the part of “Body as a Medium”, it is through the convergence of individual experiences to reflect the artists’ awareness of the sublimation of gender. Gao Xiang’s work is mixed media on paper, with a solid and indeed broken woman body that brings a strong sense of ruins. Kong Ning’s video “Marry a Horse” records the process of a performance, in which she expresses the spirit of Mongolia, the power of man and nature in a metaphorical way. Lin Ran’s video installation “Cross-Section” uses the three-channel effect to present the dazed actions of the body, with a peeping-type lens to construct broken images. Li Geyin has been concerning about the antenatal care and B-mode ultrasound before abortion – it indicates the physical images of the death and the newborn, and extracts their images, transformed to the works of different mediums. Tan Yingjie’s work “Untitled” applies a piece of lace fabric to encase a large block of paper clays, and then together extrude the clay from the meshes, finally, the fabric is unfolded, the clay flows down by gravity to form a flowing vertical object.

“Expression of Feelings” reflects the different expressions of feelings in the Feminine Power, including both ardency and gentle. Cai Yaling’s feelings come from her feelings of the younger generation and parents, “Polka Dot-black” and “Polka Dot-white” respectively apply her own black hairs and her mother’s white hairs to wave, and the work is continued in the hairs which are constantly growing, and full of warmth. Cui Fei’s work “Read by Touch II” uses rose thorns – parts of the plants that survive for all seasons, to record a personal experience. Geng Geng’s oil painting embodies her feelings of the existing rules and body desire. Geng Xue’s “Love Song by Michelangelo” is through her hands and clays that mutually interact to form feelings, in order to have a spiritual dialogue with Michelangelo passing through time and space. Wang Yinglu’s installation work “Cut Out” is like a grenade, when it is cut out, we find that it is seemingly a female body part, both expressing the women’s vocation and sense of crisis. Xiao Lu’s performance “Drunk” which was created in 2009, strongly expressed the behaviors and feelings controlled by the emotion when she was drunk.

“Neutral Position in Society” introduces the theme of the exhibition into the sociological level, releasing its own judgment in a more complex and hierarchical culture. Italian photographer Arianna Siena’s work “I Long to be Seen by You” series has told many experiences and stories about women’s life, personality, and emotion. In Jiang Li’s “Five Rings”, she copied and superimposed a contraceptive ring of an X ray film of a woman, and it is dislocated into the shape of Olympic rings, and also reflects the dislocation of the era of Olympic. The sculptor Liang Hao presents the work “Array”, the logs are full of aesthetic and reflecting the original power after they were reduced by a chainsaw. The painting by the artist Xu Xiaoyan who has passed away, reflects that the socialites are the products of the gender perspective in consumerism. The French artist Yann de Gaetano’s video is through delicate lens to record the true stories of the women struggling to achieve self-worth in France. American photographer James Whitlow Delano has long-term focused on human rights and culture, he was from a male perspective to photograph a large number of people engaged in sex work.

The exhibition is on show from November 28 to December 27, 2016, this exhibition is as an international exhibition of feminism, and it will be moved to display in Paris and Brussels. It is as a preheating exhibition of Daqian Contemporary Art Center (DCAC), and it will usher in the first exhibition next year.

Edited by Yang Zhonghui, Image courtesy of the organizer

Translated by Chen Peihua and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO

About the Exhibition  

Title: “Feminine Power: New Perspective – International Feminism Touring Exhibition”

Duration: November 28 - December 27, 2016

Organizer: Sheng Xi Group • Daqian Contemporary Art Center (DCAC)

Venue: 1 / F and 2 / F, Daqian Contemporary Art Center (DCAC)

Curator: Liang Shuang

Academic Director: Shao Yiyang