Stockholm, September 17 – December 21 2008




A Meeting with Chinese Contemporary Art

Bonniers Konsthall's main exhibition of the autumn is Sprout from White Nights – A Meeting with Chinese Contemporary Art. The exhibition presents 17 young Chinese artists at the interface of thousand-year old traditions and new technology. In order to open up a dialogue and an exchange, Bonniers Konsthall has invited the Chinese curator Zhang Wei to present her perspective on contemporary Chinese art. In collaboration with Bonniers Konsthall she has produced an exhibition that provides us with an insight into today's China, not only through the works by the participating artists, but also through workshops, lectures, conversations, film screenings, design and a publication.

From the beginning of the 1990s, China's dynamically expanding art scene has continued to attract large audiences and received much international acclaim. In addition, art has become a symbol of the emerging new China. The exhibition at Bonniers Konsthall reflects a China in transition, spanning depictions of the old, traditional society and the new culture that emerges parallel to the technological development and the economic growth.

Sprout from White Nights includes Yang Fudong's cinematic narrative from the Chinese countryside, and the Yangjiang Groups' large, artificial indoor garden. Just as in a traditional Chinese garden, the greenery houses waterfalls, bridges, sculptures and calligraphy. The exhibition also presents Liu Wei's paintings of Beijing's growing cityscape and Chu Yun's dark room with old electronic devices, whose small lamps shine like stars in the night sky. Another participant is Cao Fei, whose work is based on popular and youth culture. In the exhibition she will show, among other things, a work in the virtual world Second Life. Another important part of the exhibition is a workshop in which the artist Xu Tan extends an invitation to a discussion on today's China from different perspectives.

The artists participating in Sprout from White Nights were born in the 1970s and live and work mainly in the large industrial and economically expanding cities on China's east coast: Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. Many of them are well-known on the international art scene and have exhibited at, among other places, the biennials in Venice, Istanbul and Lyon.

Zhang Wei is a curator working in Ghuangzhou and Beijing. She is the artistic co-director (with Hu Fang) of the much-acclaimed Vitamin Creative Space in Guangzhou in south east China. Zhang Wei and Hu Fang's Vitamin C has played an important role in introducing Chinese art around the world. Through their collaborations with artists and institutions, they have found new ways of working. Hu Fang is also the contributing co-editor of the publication that forms part of the exhibition Sprout from White Nights.

Participating artists:
Cao Fei, Chu Yun, Hipic Group (Xu Zhen, Yang Zhenzhong, Huang Kui), Hu Xiaoyuan, Kan Xuan, Lee Kit, Liu Wei, Xu Tan, Yan Jun, Yang Fudong, Yangjiang Group (Zheng Guogu, Chen Zaiyan, Sun Qinglin), Zhang Da, Zheng Guogu

Curator: Zhang Wei

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Bonniers Konsthall
Torsgatan 19,
SE-113 90 Stockholm
+46 8 736 42 48
info@bonnierskonsthall.se

www.bonnierskonsthall.se