2022 marks the 23rd anniversary of the Chinese European Art Center (CEAC) taking root in Xiamen, and also the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the Netherlands. At this significant moment, the Chinese European Art Center, Xiamen Powerlong Art Centerand the Consulate General of the Netherlands in Guangzhou jointly present Rolling Snowball 14 — a Sino-Dutch Contemporary Visual Art Exhibition with the theme of “Ni Hao?” This exhibition will showcase 36 artists from the Netherlands and China who have strong ties with two countries. They have participated in various ways in the practices organized by CEAC in the past few years, including the artist-in-residence program in Xiamen, the solo exhibitions and the traveling exhibitions of the Rolling Snowballseries. The efforts of CEAC throughout the 20 years have contributed to the artistic practice and cultural exchanges between China and the Netherlands, allowing artists to gain rich experience in the exchanges and further develop their own work, and mean while stimulating active dialogues between the two countries in terms of ideas, information, art and artists. Through the this exhibition at Xiamen Powerlong Art Center, we want to share and discuss with the public the past and future exchanges and cooperation between the two countries. Besides, the exhibition is also an important cultural event launched by the Consulate General of the Netherlands in Guangzhou to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Netherlands and China and the Dutch Days Program.<\/p>\n

“Ni Hao?” is a polite opening remark for a general meeting. After nearly two years of (international) travel bans and social distancing policy, the artist residency program, which is CEAC\u2019s cornerstone, has been forced to suspend. Taking this exhibition at the Xiamen Powerlong Art Center as a new starting point, we would like to send a long-awaited greeting to all of you, includingthe old friends of CEAC. Is everyone good under the current new social order?<\/p>\n

In this exhibition, “Ni Hao?” is not a courtesy. Embodying rich emotions,it will invite the audience to join the narrative to form an interactive and subjective extension of the situation. The essential thing is not the polite reply of “I’m fine, thank you”, but the conversation with old friends and new friends alike, who sit in a circle with \u201cpurposeless purposiveness\u201d and are eager to know each other’s current situation after saying hello. As the speaker and questioner, we CEAC looks forward to receiving the audience’s answers from the
\nbottom of their heart. The exhibition aims to remove the subject’s state analysis
\nof existing issues by getting rid of the original question frame. It is more of
\nvarious connections extending “Ni Hao?” to individuals, groups, related events,
\nand relational research implying the orientation for the current experience, or
\na question\/rhetorical question in the present tense.<\/p>\n

“Ni Hao?” presents the audience with a visual narrative consisting of five chapters.
\nThe exhibition site is related and interactive with the artworks and the chapters.
\nThroughout the narrative, the “person” becomes the subject of the greeting. With
\n“Man and Poetry” as the first chapter, the audience pays attention to the poetic
\nnature that flows between man and others, and furthermore to the wider world.
\nWe are driven by distant similarity and ask “How are you?” This greeting can either
\nbe an impromptu melody, or the liveliness when passing others. No matter it is as
\nbig as the universe or as small as a roadside stone, it can be equally colorful or dull.<\/p>\n

In the second chapter “Artificial and Natural”, we wander around the material basis
\nthat has been recreated. Artificial intervention is already an important part of the
\nnatural landscape that we see; while the photographed wilderness is also selectively
\nedited, presenting an artificial virtual world for the human spirit to roam, with a
\ntendency of being regulated by AI. In this sense, our living space is already a blend
\nof artificial and natural.<\/p>\n

To further explore this altered nature, we are about to delve into the third chapter,
\nnamely “Individual and Group,” where groups are regarded as composite and independent
\nbeings that perceive the world around them. Medium, book and texture are the nature
\nfaced by the individual and the trace left by the group.<\/p>\n

When the group respond to “How are you?”, the questioner not only gains the information
\nfrom the group, but also sees his or her own shadow between the lines of the response.
\nAs the boisterousness fades away, the audience will enter the fourth chapter “Inner Channel”.
\nWalking through the dark paths, they will see humorous or heavyimages of self and others,
\nas if in front ofmultiple mirrors, through whichtheywitness the joys and sorrows of “I”
\nwithout any emotional changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cA few moresteps, and we suddenly became enlightened,\u201d wrote one ancient Chinese essay.
\nThere is more than one way out in our heart, and what we see from each exit will be the
\nfifth chapter “Me and the World”. There is a realmess, the unspeakable, the vicissitudes
\nof life, the small household affairs and the fragile, which are diverse, calm, lively,
\nchaotic and orderly. And all of these constitute the “world” that “I” face.<\/p>\n

Ineke Gudmundsson
\nMay Lee
\nQianfu Ye
\nChinese European Art Center<\/p>\n

Participating Artists:
\nAlbert van der Weide\uff5cArnoud Noordegraaf
\nCathelijn van Goor\uff5cChen Rongxin \u9648\u8363\u946b
\nDanielle Lemaire\uff5cDoina Kraal\uff5cHester Oerlemans
\nHuang Shizun \u9ec4\u4ed5\u5c0a\uff5cJaring Lokhorst\uff5cJens Pfeifer
\nJia Zhixing \u8d3e\u5fd7\u5174\uff5cJin Jing \u91d1\u6676\uff5cKan Xuan \u961a\u8431
\nKatrin Korfmann\uff5cLin Meiya \u6797\u7f8e\u96c5
\nLiu Yuanyuan \u5218\u5706\u5706\uff5cLova Yu \u4f59\u7acb\u5c27&Tycho Hupperets
\nMarike Schuurman\uff5cMarjan Laaper\uff5cMica Pan \u6f58\u8fea
\nNick Renshaw\uff5cPan Feifei \u6f58\u83f2\u83f2\uff5cPeer Veneman
\nPersijn Broersen&Margit Luk\u00e1cs\uff5cOey Tjeng Sit \u9ec4\u6e05\u77f3
\nSarah Mei Herman\uff5cScarlett Hooft Graafland
\nSigurdur Gudmundsson\uff5cTanja Smit\uff5cTemo Dou \u7aa6\u7b11\u96e8
\nVoebe de Gruyter\uff5cWei Na \u7ef4\u5a1c\uff5cWu Yanbing \u5434\u598d\u51b0
\nYang Jian \u6768\u5065\uff5cYang Zhiqian \u9633\u82b7\u5029\uff5cYe Qianfu \u53f6\u5029\u752b<\/p>\n