Exhibition at Witte de With: Dai Hanzhi: 5000 Artists

Opening: Thursday, 4th of September from 5:00 to 10:00 pm

Welcome address at 6:00 pm by exhibition curator Marianne Brouwer, and Samuel Saelemakers (Associate Cutrator, Witte de With)

Exhibition: September 4th 2014 to January 4th 2015

Location: Witte de With in Rotterdam

The exhibition is dedicated to the life and work of Dutchman Hans van Dijk (1946–2002) and will outline his seminal role in Chinese contemporary art. Van Dijk, whose Chinese name was Dai Hanzhi, was active as a curator, art historian and gallerist in China throughout the nineties. Though hardly known in the Netherlands, Van Dijk is still revered by Chinese artists today.

Dai Hanzhi: 5000 Artists includes historical installations, paintings, video, and photography by artists who were close to Van Dijk. A number of artists, including Ding Yi, Liu Ding, Ni Haifeng, Wang Xingwei, and Zhang Peili, created new works or proposed a personal selection from their oeuvre. The works on view are supplemented by rare archival material from Europe and China, including letters, photographs and unique “Ming-inspired Rietveld-style” furniture made by Van Dijk in the early 1980’s, as well as a digital presentation of Van Dijk’s hitherto undiscovered life’s work, a lexicon of 5000 Chinese artists born between 1880 and 1980.

Participating Artists: An Hong, Chen Shaoxiong, Ding Yi, Duan Jianyu, Thomas Fuesser, Geng Jianyi, Han Lei, Hong Hao, Hong Lei, Liu Anping, Liu Ding, Luo Yongjin, Ni Haifeng, Ielnay Oahgnoh, Shi Yong, Wang Jinsong, Wang Xingwei, Wu Shanzhuan, Xin Kedu (The New Analyst Group), Xu Tan, Yan Lei, Zhang Hai’er, Zhang Peili, Zhao Bandi, Zhao Shaoruo, Zheng Guogu, Zhuang Hui, and others.

On the same night of the opening of Dai Hanzhi: 5000 Artists, the downstairs neighbor of Witte de With, TENT will be opening their exhibition The Value of Nothing.