Fotofest 2008 - Photography from China
Weng Naiqiang, Chairman Mao on Tiananmen, 1966FotoFest’s 12th edition of the International Biennial of Photography and Photo-related Art, presents work by 34 Chinese artists till April 20 in Houston, Texas. Photography from China 1934-2008 features ten newly commissioned and curated exhibitions, including two recently recovered archives from the 1930s and 1940s. The China programs are a cornerstone of FOTOFEST2008, the six-week city-wide celebration of photo-based art.
In addition to these China exhibitions, FOTOFEST2008 presents a symposium, The Evolution of Photography in 20th Century China and a film program, New Cinema in China. The film program is organized with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Forty Chinese artists and curators will attend FOTOFEST2008. Among 118 participating spaces in FOTOFEST2008, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is presenting three special exhibitions for FOTOFEST2008: the work of contemporary Japanese photographer Miwa Yanagi from The Deutsche Bank Collection; a retrospective of the influential British photographer Bill Brandt; a presentation inter-relating photography and the scholarship of pioneering U.S. photohistorian Beaumont Newhall. The Menil Collection presents the exhibition Vivid Vernacular: William Christenberry, William Eggleston, and Walker Evans, highlighting unexpected connections between these three remarkable photographers. The Holocaust Museum Houston shows works on the conflict and genocide in Darfur by seven photojournalists.
In addition to these China exhibitions, FOTOFEST2008 presents a symposium, The Evolution of Photography in 20th Century China and a film program, New Cinema in China. The film program is organized with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Forty Chinese artists and curators will attend FOTOFEST2008. Among 118 participating spaces in FOTOFEST2008, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is presenting three special exhibitions for FOTOFEST2008: the work of contemporary Japanese photographer Miwa Yanagi from The Deutsche Bank Collection; a retrospective of the influential British photographer Bill Brandt; a presentation inter-relating photography and the scholarship of pioneering U.S. photohistorian Beaumont Newhall. The Menil Collection presents the exhibition Vivid Vernacular: William Christenberry, William Eggleston, and Walker Evans, highlighting unexpected connections between these three remarkable photographers. The Holocaust Museum Houston shows works on the conflict and genocide in Darfur by seven photojournalists.
Photography from China 1934 - 2008
Photography from China 1934-2008, FotoFest’s exhibition program for FOTOFEST2008, reveals the diversity of roles and styles that have shaped photographic art over the past 74 years in China.
Ethnography, Photojournalism and Propaganda, 1934 - 1975
Reflecting a growing interest by the Chinese in the peoples and politics of China’s western border regions near Tibet, ZHUANG Xueben (1909-1984) began traveling to China’s far-western border regions in 1934. His work from 1934-1939 is one of the earliest and most serious photographic examinations of ethnic minorities in these regions. FOTOFEST2008 is the first time this work is being shown outside of China.
In 1937, at the age of 25, Sha Fei (1912-1950) had himself assigned to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 8th Route Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). Sha Fei photographed combat and training with the Chinese forces allied with CHIANG Kai-shek, against the Japanese. He set up pictorial magazines to publicize the 8th Route Army and its work in rural villages, and he organized a mass media system that became a principal part of the CCP’s propaganda system for the next 20 years, through the 1970s. After Sha Fei’s controversial execution in 1950, his work was blacklisted until the late l980s when his family and colleagues succeeded in rehabilitating his name. FOTOFEST2008 exhibits the newly recovered work of Sha Fei for the first time outside of China.
Editors and photographers trained by Sha Fei during the war became leaders of major CCP pictorial news media and propaganda agencies, using photography as one of the primary media promoting Chairman MAO Zedong’s agenda during The Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The exhibition curated by CHEN Guangjun and XU Vicky, founders of 798 Gallery, one of Beijing’s most respected photography galleries, shows how photography was choreographed to promote the message of collective solidarity. The exhibit, commissioned by FotoFest, features three photographers working for news publications during The Cultural Revolution: WENG Naiqiang, XIAO Zhuang, and WANG Shilong.
Independent documentary Photography, 1985 - 2000
In the mid-1980s, a new generation of Chinese photographers began to produce strong personal bodies of photo-documentary work outside official media and news agencies. The first to gain international prominence was WU Jialin with his work on Yunnan province. A chance discovery of this work by FotoFest co-founder Frederick Baldwin at Marc Riboud’s Paris apartment led to his first exhibition in Western art world at FOTOFEST1996.
Two subsequent generations of photographers continue to develop independent approaches to documentary work. LU Nan’s interest in the ethics of social interaction, led him to photograph the institutionalization of the mentally ill and underground Catholic communities in China. LI Lang’s early poetic work with the Yi People in central-western China has led to his current work exploring the human imprint on China’s landscape.
Conceptual and staged work - New Photo, 1994 - 1998
In 1996, two Beijing artists, RongRong and LIU Zheng founded the influential New Photo magazine, an independent, underground publication that circulated in Beijing’s art circles. The magazine signaled a burgeoning Chinese interest in photography as a medium of contemporary art, and marked an important turning point in the development of contemporary photography in China. FOTOFEST2008 presents this new exhibition for the first time outside of China, with 15 artists published in New Photo magazine. The exhibit, curated by ZHANG Li and WU Hung, is organized by Three Shadows Photography Art Centre in Beijing. The New Photo exhibit features ZHUANG Hui, LIU Zheng, GAO Bo, GUAN Ce, JIN Yongquan, QUI Zhijie, AN Hong, RongRong, WANG Xu, ZHAO Liang, JIANG Zhi, ZHENG Guogu, SAN Mao, and HONG Lei.
Conceptual and staged work - Current Perspectives, 1998 - 2008
Individual shows of 10 current, multi-disciplinary Chinese artists address issues of identity, memory, spirituality, gender, urbanism, and the complex relationships between the present and the past in contemporary China. Designed as a series of one-person exhibitions, these shows feature BAI Yiluo, CANG Xin, CHENG Lingyang, XING Danwen, LIU Lijie, SUN Guojuan, WANG Chuan, WU Gaozhong, YAO Lu, and ZENG Han.
Photography from China 1934-2008, FotoFest’s exhibition program for FOTOFEST2008, reveals the diversity of roles and styles that have shaped photographic art over the past 74 years in China.
Ethnography, Photojournalism and Propaganda, 1934 - 1975
Reflecting a growing interest by the Chinese in the peoples and politics of China’s western border regions near Tibet, ZHUANG Xueben (1909-1984) began traveling to China’s far-western border regions in 1934. His work from 1934-1939 is one of the earliest and most serious photographic examinations of ethnic minorities in these regions. FOTOFEST2008 is the first time this work is being shown outside of China.
In 1937, at the age of 25, Sha Fei (1912-1950) had himself assigned to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 8th Route Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). Sha Fei photographed combat and training with the Chinese forces allied with CHIANG Kai-shek, against the Japanese. He set up pictorial magazines to publicize the 8th Route Army and its work in rural villages, and he organized a mass media system that became a principal part of the CCP’s propaganda system for the next 20 years, through the 1970s. After Sha Fei’s controversial execution in 1950, his work was blacklisted until the late l980s when his family and colleagues succeeded in rehabilitating his name. FOTOFEST2008 exhibits the newly recovered work of Sha Fei for the first time outside of China.
Editors and photographers trained by Sha Fei during the war became leaders of major CCP pictorial news media and propaganda agencies, using photography as one of the primary media promoting Chairman MAO Zedong’s agenda during The Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The exhibition curated by CHEN Guangjun and XU Vicky, founders of 798 Gallery, one of Beijing’s most respected photography galleries, shows how photography was choreographed to promote the message of collective solidarity. The exhibit, commissioned by FotoFest, features three photographers working for news publications during The Cultural Revolution: WENG Naiqiang, XIAO Zhuang, and WANG Shilong.
Independent documentary Photography, 1985 - 2000
In the mid-1980s, a new generation of Chinese photographers began to produce strong personal bodies of photo-documentary work outside official media and news agencies. The first to gain international prominence was WU Jialin with his work on Yunnan province. A chance discovery of this work by FotoFest co-founder Frederick Baldwin at Marc Riboud’s Paris apartment led to his first exhibition in Western art world at FOTOFEST1996.
Two subsequent generations of photographers continue to develop independent approaches to documentary work. LU Nan’s interest in the ethics of social interaction, led him to photograph the institutionalization of the mentally ill and underground Catholic communities in China. LI Lang’s early poetic work with the Yi People in central-western China has led to his current work exploring the human imprint on China’s landscape.
Conceptual and staged work - New Photo, 1994 - 1998
In 1996, two Beijing artists, RongRong and LIU Zheng founded the influential New Photo magazine, an independent, underground publication that circulated in Beijing’s art circles. The magazine signaled a burgeoning Chinese interest in photography as a medium of contemporary art, and marked an important turning point in the development of contemporary photography in China. FOTOFEST2008 presents this new exhibition for the first time outside of China, with 15 artists published in New Photo magazine. The exhibit, curated by ZHANG Li and WU Hung, is organized by Three Shadows Photography Art Centre in Beijing. The New Photo exhibit features ZHUANG Hui, LIU Zheng, GAO Bo, GUAN Ce, JIN Yongquan, QUI Zhijie, AN Hong, RongRong, WANG Xu, ZHAO Liang, JIANG Zhi, ZHENG Guogu, SAN Mao, and HONG Lei.
Conceptual and staged work - Current Perspectives, 1998 - 2008
Individual shows of 10 current, multi-disciplinary Chinese artists address issues of identity, memory, spirituality, gender, urbanism, and the complex relationships between the present and the past in contemporary China. Designed as a series of one-person exhibitions, these shows feature BAI Yiluo, CANG Xin, CHENG Lingyang, XING Danwen, LIU Lijie, SUN Guojuan, WANG Chuan, WU Gaozhong, YAO Lu, and ZENG Han.
An Hong, Water Buddha, Courtesy of the artist and Three Shadows Photography Centre, Beijing
Special Exhibitions - China
FotoFest, Houston Center for Photography and the Asia Society will debut Mined in China, a new project by China scholar Dr. Orville Schell, director of Asia Society’s Institute for U.S.-China Relations, and acclaimed U.S. documentary photographer Susan Meiselas. In collaboration with Rice University Media Center, FotoFest is presenting the work of the young Chinese artist, LIU Ren. In satellite spaces FotoFest is showing the work of ZHUANG Xueben and WU Jialin in The Woodlands, north of Houston. ZHUANG Xueben’s images are also being shown in the windows of Macy’s Department Store on Main Street in Downtown Houston.
posted by Photography Collection at
8:51 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home