2017 Screening Program
In 2017, Arthub will be continuously presenting excellent screening and exhibition on the table. We spot the theme on queer and human-tech this year.
Queer is not only about sexual minority. It is also a mindset, which is radical and questioning the conventional prejudice. It originates from sex, but larger than that. It is not only an inclusive topic within LGBTQ community. It is a weapon that everyone can use to against the traditional, major, but unnecessarily-always-correct social value. It is not sensationalism or drawing attention per se, but to liberate, to broadcast the voice of each different individual and make it heard. It advocate people to rethink what “take it for granted” really means.
New media artists engage in technology in their artworks as a inevitable trend. Just like what we talk about queer, we think about what identity is when we draw the topic of human vs machine. The theme of this year provides two different perspectives, which are queer and human-tech, to present 12 artist’s artworks.
Schedule
1.1 Wang Rou, SHOW. Wang Rou is the alias of Ray Tat as his online persona. We presented 11 episodes of his SHOW series which he created by collecting online raw material, found footage and his personal shooting, as to create a chaotic virtual world which tear apart one’s real personality and online persona.
2.1 Ming Wong, Art Muse Be Beautiful, with article written by Suchao Li (editor of Artco China Journal). By remaking the old films and playing roles in different races and genders, Ming Wong challenges the conventional definition of identity. In Art Muse Be Beautiful, a debate documentation happened in 2011 Hong Kong Art Fair, Ming Wong dragged as Maggie Cheung from In the Mood for Love addressing the topic if art should or should not be beautiful, and undress herself in front of the audience in the end.
4.1 Zanele Muholi, We Live in Fear and Ayanda and Nhanhla’s Wedding. With an interview conducted by Katy Roseland with the artist. Zanele Muholi is a visual activist from South Africa, documenting reality of the queer community in her lens: the hate crime against queer community makes them unite together, they are living in fear but strong enough to fight against it.
5.1 Carlos Casas, filmmaker and visual artist from Spain. His work is a cross between documentary film, cinema, and contemporary visual and sound arts.
6.1 Akram Zaatari, with essay written by Robyn Day. Akram Zaatari is a director and artist from Lebanon. His art creation focuses on post-war Lebanon common life. In this month, we are going to show his video artworks on LGBTQ reality.
7.1 Yuan Xiaopeng/Hu Di, video compilation. Yuan Xiaopeng is a photographer bases in Shanghai, in this screening, we will present his first experimental video artwork, which documented the nihil norms in Shanghai. Hu Di is a PhD students bases in France. By gathering the found footage, he explores the concept in a perspective of symbology as his visual essay.
8.1-9.17 Lin Ke. Interactive video artworks. By accompanying his published AR book, the audience is invited to scan the image to trigger a video on their devices. Computer interface always appears as an engagement in Lin Ke’s videos, to take the interface as a canvas screen of art creation.
9.18-10.7 Jakub Jochim, with article written by Alan Grillo.
10.8 BLAST! 2017, a compilation of the finalists of the latest BLAST! project.
11.1 Zheng Bo, “Queer Ecology” series. Zheng Bo explores the transcending sex between human and plants as a higher dimension of queer.
12.1 Tang Dixin, video compilation. Tang Dixin often engages in extreme behavior and provocative acts. Instead of solely challenging endurance of an individual, he is more concerned with public motivation and engagement and thus exposes the core of various crisis and upheavals in the Chinese society.
