The Present

The Present: art exhibition

Today, art is more and more about business, while the relationship between artists is becoming increasingly complex. Consider ancient China, when intellectuals would meet to eat, drink, and write poems or prose in each other’s company, like Li Bai’s “To Friends” and Kafka’s “Letter to My Father”. At this time, art was not a product as such, and art had a wider definition; a letter or a present could also be a piece of art. Art can in itself embrace values that are important in everyday life: honesty, friendship, respect, happiness and longing

With the above in mind, and Christmas and New Years soon to be celebrated, we decided to curate the exhibition ‘Present”. For this exhibition, the gallery conventions, or “game rules”, have been revised in order to differentiate it from the common exhibition norm. We wish that this exhibition could bring a further understanding of the current situation of contemporary arts.

The Rules of the Game:
-TC/G Nordica invited three artists; each of these then had three days to choose a partner.
Note: The original artists are not permitted to choose any of the other two original artists as their partner; and no two artists could have the same partner.

-Each of the artists makes one art piece for their partner and one art piece for the audience. The artists may unrestrictedly choose the form of expression and material as their communicative medium. The art piece for the audience must be interactive.

-The art piece given to the partner artist must communicate something about the receiver; the art piece must explicitly express the name of the receiver somehow, for example with a sign: To (receiver’s name). New Media art does not have to communicate the receiver of the art piece in the above stated manner, but it must in this case be stated through either a visual or audible representation of the receiver. The receiver can also be stated in the title of the art piece. The art piece for the audience has none of the limitations stated in this rule.

-When all gifts are completed, they will be displayed at TCG Nordica

-After the exhibition, the artists collect the art piece that they have received from their partner-artist.

Curator: Luo Fei
Participant artists: Pan Dehai + Dong Xue, Zhang Qiong Fei + Wu Yiqiang, Li Ji + Guo Peng
Note: The relationships between the artists are: Husband and wife, friends, teacher and student.
Especially thanks to Zhou Guanqi, Yang Shunchan, Ou Yangwei

opening: 2004/12/3//20:00

artists statements
Guo Peng “Wish you a Good Life!”
Old photos convey the history of the past one hundred years, and the affection of our parents and their peers. They convey the twisting and blending of present and past. Since 1949, the Chinese social structure has conformed people into accepting a “regular and orderly” working situation, a classic contract of selling your soul.
In increasingly modernized cities, the youth embrace nihility. Cities become more and more materialized and modernized, and the cool pictures of fashionable men and women are the only representatives of those who are born in the 1980s.
The classic contract appears again as a blessing? Or as an allegory?
Type: Photos and text (2001-2004 Dazhou, Kunming, Chongqin, Chendu, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Nanjing, Hangzhou). The work is to be continued. (There are DV recordings and photographical records of some of the works.)
The photos were taken for young couples, free of charge, and developed into 1-Cun old photos. The developed photos were then mailed to the addresses given to me.
Around 90% of the couples chose not to partake or co-operate in my work.. In some cases, I was permitted to photograph the backs of the couple. From some couples I received the wrong address, resulting in return to sender mails. Others yet became my friends, writing back and maintaining communication with me.
I chose to put my performance work on display in this exhibition because Christmas and New Years are coming up, and moreover because my working direction to a degree is in line with the subject of this display.

Li Ji “Trip”
For audience and Guo Peng
The journey through life is always on going.

Pan Dehai “Flowing Red Flag”
For audience (bricks, flags(1956-1970 various colors and qualities)
Although she is constantly getting to know more about the present me, I’d like to let her see the whole me by telling her about my past. So, I am going to give her a gift that is made of the past things of mine. And I wish this gift could also make people yearn for their memories that have been forgotten in the excitement of another new year coming.

Pan Dehai “Sketches 1977-1978” For DongXue
Although she is constantly getting to know more about the present me, I’d like to let her see the whole me by telling her about my past. So, I am going to give her a gift that is made of the past things of mine. And I wish this gift could also make people yearn for their memories that have been forgotten in the excitement of another new year coming.

Dong Xue: “The Holy Heart”
For Pan Dehai and audience
Listen. The bell in Heaven is ringing, guiding us. When the past gradually dissipates, I can remember nothing, nothing but a holy heart.
When he opens the white curtain and sees the white dress, he will know this is what I have left behind. I am not there anymore, but he will know a wife who loves him much more than her own life, with a holy heart.
Let’s rest our hearts at this holy moment, even for a split second.

Zhang Qiongfei:
“No title” For Wu Yiqiang

Zhang Qiongfei “Open” For audience
Plan: A large board with paper-cuttings, drawings and decorations
Will people gain or lose something when they give presents? Sometimes, giving is having, people cannot have something until they give away certain things. That’s why people feel warm at heart when they make someone happy by giving them flowers.
I will cover a big board with paper-cuttings for people to take. Under each cutting, there is another in the same shape. Before the paper-cuttings are taken away, it is a common board, but afterwards it leaves something that can bring joy to everybody.

Wu Yiqiang”Perforating” and “Draw”
For audience and Zhang Qiongfei
One associational string, one imaginary string and one string of solid material to make us reflect on the connection between human and matter, between human and human.Point A，B，C，D，E，F and G have been fastened to the pillars in TC/G Nordica.String A-a, B-b, C-c, D-d, E-e, F-f and G-g are visible to the audience.1. When every piece of string is fastened to its respective component, my art piece for the audience is complete. I name it “Perforating”. By using this method, I hope to inspire the audience to further reflection.2. In the other part, “Draw’, Zhang Qiongfei will participate in connecting points g-o, a-b, c-d and e-f, using paint. With the important supplement by Zhang Qiongfei in “Draw”, my previous “Perforating” has been endowed with a whole new meaning. And her contribution will be an unforgettable gift to both of us, for sure.