Prelude: Talks and Performances

Sun 26.3.

15-16 h Talks with Artists

Host: Carol Lu, curator and art critic, Beijing

16-17 h Visual Economy: Curating in the Chinese Context

Panel discussion with Hou Hanru, curator and critic (curator for China Kunst Heute, Hamburger Bahnhof 2001, among other events) / Manray Hsu, curator and critic (curator for Taipei Biennal 2000 among other events) / Wu Hung, Christopher Phillips (exhibition curators)

Host: Shaheen Merali, House of World Cultures

17-19 h Performance Red!

Performances by Li Wei, Yang Zhichao, Cai Yuan and JJ Xi

19-20 h Performing China

Panel discussion with performance artists Li Wei, Yang Zhichao, Cai Yuan and JJ Xi as well as critic and curator Shu Yang, Beijing

Performance Red!

Yang Zhichao, China Red

Cai Yuan and JJ Xi: Dou-pi-gai: struggle criticise reform

Li Wei, Mirrors

‘Yang Zhichao, whose performances always take up social issues, is known for his extreme actions. He had the number of his passport branded on his body, tufts of grass planted on his back, and objects implanted surgically in his leg and stomach. In his China Red performance, he takes a little blood from his finger, mixes it with red ink, and uses it to draw on a silk ribbon.’ (Shu Yang)

Cai Yuan und JJ Xi use the popular figure of the Monkey King as a potent emblem of political and cultural consumption. Their performance questions the role of culture in relation to political power and the way in which culture is subsumed and manipulated by ideological structures. Both Chinese classical culture and modern politics are invoked by the Monkey King as a cultural legend who is present throughout the centuries. In the violence of the Cultural Revolution the Monkey King was used as a political tool by Mao Zedong. Here the monkey rebel figure plays up and invites the audience to ridicule and make fun of him at his own expense, so that they become willing participants in his state of abjection at the same time as enjoying the effect.

Li Wei carries a mirror with an area of 100 square centimetres. In the middle, there is a hole through which he sticks his head. Thus clad, he wanders through the rooms of the House of World Cultures and speaks to the visitors through the mirror. Li Wei: ‘In my performance, my head feels as if it were floating in the air. It exists without any roots; its life is not dependent on anything but itself.’

Website Li Wei: www.liweiart.com