[Shanghai] Art I - Shanghai Biennale 2006

[petronia]

I spent the past two evenings uploading photos I took of the contemporary art biennale at the Shanghai Art Museum. moderntime, I wish I'd found out about it earlier so we could have gone together - I was there mid-morning on a Wednesday and the joint was filled with indie boys and girls. XD The people-watching was nearly as good as the art itself. I liked many of the pieces; the overall tone of the exhibit was playful, sometimes cutesy, with minor foci on traditional arts and crafts as well as futurism. Not much that was dark or troubling. Well, the theme was "Hyper Design", so.

Photos are on Flickr with accompanying notes:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petronia/tags/shanghaibiennale/


Vertigo, by Wang Luyan


Ding Yi. Winner of the Emo Indie Kid Choice Award. Four "spaciotemporal" mailboxes for spiritual postcards: past, present, future, and deposits (for sending objects as represented by their descriptions).


Most of the letters are, of course, "to my 14 year old self"; "to my grandfather who died six months ago"; "to the girl in class I have a crush on, in four years' time when hopefully she will have noticed my existence and we will be married", etc.

They say, How are you? and, I love you.


The rest are to characters in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Apparently, if you give Chinese people the opportunity to send a letter to any recipient irrespective of time and space, a sizeable number will write to characters in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

"Dear Zhuge Liang: You are both smart and valiant. In fact you're too smart for your own good. If you were still alive now, you'd have an aneurysm at how you're portrayed on TV."

I should make the LJ version of this. XD Like, IP logging off, anonymous commenting on, write a letter to anyone you like, stranger or familiar, past present or future! COMMENT SPAM GO

Comments

[tochira.livejournal.com]

!!! Julian Opie! :D

Thanks for sharing the photos. That looks like a really entertaining show.

[(Anonymous)]

Dear woman in front of me in the check-in line at the airport in exactly 36 hours: please watch that coffee you are juggling as you shuffle your papers and attempt to hang onto your luggage at the same time. I know we're all in the hurry, and I'm sure you have the utmost necessity in reaching your destination as much as I, but should I by some horrific twist of fate miss my flight because I couldn't miss my morning Calculus class or, worse, have hot coffee poured over me, I can't be held responsible for my actions.

[smurfmatic.livejournal.com]

Oh man, what sort of mail would I write to my past/future self!

Saw your pics earlier on Flickr; just want to say that they're really nice, and blessed be the relaxed rules on photographing museum art. XD

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Oops, I haven't actually turned off IP logging! XD; Going to do it now.

[worldserpent.livejournal.com]

"Dear Zhu Geliang: You are both smart and valiant. In fact you're too smart for your own good. If you were still alive now, you'd have an aneurysm at how you're portrayed on TV."

Oh, are they specifically referring to that one back in the eighties? >_< And that's not even getting into comics. XDDDD

[z107m.livejournal.com]

Very cool! Do you mind if I steal the last 3 to show to my class? It would make a fun comparison with Kaprow's Words.

My sister's been getting into TVB historical Dramas lately and driving me batty with her enthusiasm for anytime time anyone makes a reference to Zhuge Liang. Must wonder how Tony Leung will do stepping into the role for the next movie...

[psycho-witch-04.livejournal.com]

Wow I loved the picures you took. The art was beautiful.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Sure, go ahead and grab. :)

We'll find out soon enough. I'm just going to wait and see what everyone else thinks. XD

[(Anonymous)]

This is a comment from a passing stranger, not a meme reply - just wanted to point out that 'Zhuge' is actually Zhuge Liang's surname. :)

[petronia.livejournal.com]

(You won't see this, but) Haha, you're right, I knew there was something wrong about the way I wrote that out. ^^; Fixing now.