2011 – CEAC

Bú Kè Qi (don’t mention it)

root — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 15:04:40 +0000

Opening

Saturday December 3 at 4pm, 2011

Duration

December 3 till 24, 2011

Location

CEAC, Xiamen, China

Artist

About Rob Ruimers

Bú Kè Qi (don’t mention it) is the nonchalant title of this installation. This title however, has a lot to tell. When I sense Xiamen I feel the lightness and energy of an upcoming nation, of a rising sun, the citizens and their dreams. Like a dress dancing on the laundry lines in the numerous alleys of Xiamen, playing with the wind, enjoying the sun. I tried to visualize this feeling by hanging transparent shapes on laundry lines near the ceiling of the CEAC as a kind of empty wishing balloons. The balloons cannot rise by themselves yet but need to get content by dreams and fantasies of the visitors.

A wish or a dream is not meant to become reality in my believe. Especially if dreams are realized for the sake of materialism the balloon can explode like a soap bubble and “a great nothing” could appear. Still it is interesting to have dreams and fantasies. They almost seem to be a luxury in-between the speed of our stressed existence.

During my countless walks in the streets of Xiamen I met all kind of situations and impressions which associated me for example with tenderness, fascination, joy, hope and reality. I visualized these and many more different emotions in a series of photos from the city. By displaying them on the ground it makes our visitors the vertical rising connection between reality and dreams.

You are invited to fill the balloons with your dreams and fantasies. Don’t mention your thoughts but enjoy your own private moment in silence…….

Gallery

Colour Spaces (月季花China Rose)

root — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 13:46:35 +0000

Opening

Saturday December 31 at 5 PM, 2011

Duration

December 31, 2011 to 12 January, 2012

Location

CEAC, Xiamen, China

Artist

About Halina Kliem

On December 31st 2011 at 4 pm The Chinese European Art Center opens the exhibition Colour Spaces (China Rose) by the German artist Halina Kliem. Halina has been, and still is, staying on the CEAC Artist in Residence program where she made the works for this exhibition which consists out of projected slides installation.

Halina studied art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Hamburg and at the Carnegie Mellon University of Arts in Pittsburgh USA and at the University of the Arts in Berlin where she graduated with MFA in Visual Art Studies in 2007. Halina has exhibited her works in many countries in Europe and in the USA and South America but this is her first exhibition in China.
About her work she says: We can shape the equal negative space as a balance to positive space. This basic and often overlooked principle of design gives the eye “a place to rest” increasing the appeal of composition through subtle means. The term is also used by musicians to indicate silence within a piece. Usage of negative space will produce a silhouette of the subject. Most often, though, negative space is used as a neutral or contrasting background to draw attention to the main subject, which is then referred to, as the positive space.

The use of white space is a key element in my artistic composition for the Chinese European Art Center. Negative space may be most evident when the space around a subject, and not the subject itself, forms an interesting or artistically relevant shape. Such space is occasionally used to artistic effect as the “real” subject of an image. It is that portion of a page left unmarked.

The duration of this exhibition will till January 12, 2012 and it is our last exhibition of this year and the CEAC will be closed during the Spring Festival and will open at the beginning of February with a new exhibition which will be announced later.

We wish you a Happy New Year.

Gallery

What’s next to belief

root — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:57:38 +0000

Opening

Saturday November 12 at 4pm, 2011

Duration

November 12 till 25, 2011

Location

CEAC, Xiamen, China

Artist

Cao shumo

Zhong zheming

Zhong Zheming
As a developing country, China has been experiencing the process of destruction and reconstruction, which seep into politics, economics, culture and life. You can always find the Chinese character 拆 which means demolish on the wall of some old buildings in the street. Disregarding the meaning of the word, it’s akin to graffiti both in its media and forms, Despite this, it possesses a powerful force in the real world, which graffiti doesn’t have, and this implies certain action will occur. Yet this powerful force only works in the specific context. If the context is replaced by another one, it will be nothing but the graffiti exhibits by another media.

Cao shumo
I tend to discover inspiration from tiny or neglected things, I try to break that inflexible cognitive models. In this work, I use various soft materials, and make plates of different sizes by carving, burning and weaving. The changes caused by interaction between objects become very important. Soft and hard, fuzzy and clear, destruction and reconstruction, physics and fantasy, private and public, I attempt to seek for contradiction and connection from behaviors that seem to be random, and reconstruct a new way of communication and aesthetics by using personal and nonsensical narrative.

This exhibition was made possible with the support of the Pauwhoffonds / Overvoorde-Gordonstichting, the Van Bijlevelt Foundation.

Gallery

The One Minutes

root — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 15:16:55 +0000

Opening

Saturday 15 October at 18:30, 2011

Duration

15 October till 5 November, 2011

Location

CEAC, Xiamen, China

Artist

The One Minutes

The One Minutes (TOM) is a brand name for moving images that last exactly one minute. It fits well in our world of looking quickly, understanding immediately and it is a response to the influence of commercials, video clips and the increased affordability of camera’s, computers and access to Internet. The limited time frame forces the maker to think critically about what he/she would like to show us. The flexibility of the formula and the diversity of dissemination from the street to galleries, TV and festivals make it an attractive and accessible contemporary art form for a broad audience.

The One Minutes was initiated by Mr. Jos Houweling former director Sandberg Institute Amsterdam and launched in 1998 and by now it has developed into a global network with makers from 100 countries and an archive of 10000 video works that are shown (inter) nationally on many podia. Its core activity is the annual competition for the best One Minutes. Additionally The One Minutes realizes television programs, exhibitions, DVD-releases, lectures, workshops, internet TV and websites. The One Minutes foundation manages a wealth of images, facilities, contacts and experiences and would like to share this with third parties.

The One Minutes contribute to a rich and divers picture of the world. It provides conditions for creating new artworks and offers an international platform and a broad audience to artists around the world.

Art crossing all boundaries is a ‘bon mot’ that is only rarely true. There are waterproof walls between different cultural entities. Art of international meaning is defined and driven by the West and its welfare. The One Minutes is the only initiative in the Netherlands that does not exclude any region. The One Minutes challenges artists all over the world to participate. The One Minutes is truly democratic. The One Minutes has its own rules of the game creating a framework for absolute and exuberant freedom.
Tineke Reijnders, Dutch art critic.

The One Minutes foundation is a non profit organization. It is hosted by the Sandberg Institute, an international master studies for visual arts.

This project was made possible with the support of the Pauwhof Fund, the Van
Bijlevelt Foundation and the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Guangzhou.

Gallery

Mirage City

root — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 14:39:36 +0000

Opening

Saturday September 24 at 4pm, 2011

Duration

September 24 till October 8, 2011

Location

CEAC, Xiamen, China

Artist

About Meiya Lin

Age of Mirage_an architecture research

A mirage is a naturally occurring optical phenomenon in which light rays are bent to produce a displaced image of distant objects or the sky. In which Sir Thomas More, the earliest description of Utopia, explain a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean after the great sailing, an un-real land.

Since the end of the 20th century, the world has begun to show the trend of globalization.

Major cities started to develop under rapid speed in China (or in Asia). New ideas of environmental planning have been implemented to change urban landscape. Old streets have been gradually replaced by newly built roads; old houses have been dismantled to give space to skyscrapers. The impact of the changes was profound to me, a person who had lived overseas for years. I can no longer prove that my memories were not merely dreams. All the images residing in me looked different in reality.

Furthermore, the powerful images of the new cities caught my attention. It is stimulating to see the buildings that consisted of western, eastern, ancient and modern elements. The designs are reckless. It seems that the oriental and occidental ideas were shallowly mixed together without sophisticated plans. It could either be the propaganda behaves of the estate agent, or a crackpot though from a peasant after he got rich. However, these building seem to represent a certain level of aesthetic agreement that urban dwellers enjoy. As a sign of modernizing, this particular art form has been widely adapted and massively spread. Like a fierce beast, effectively devour other existent old architectures.

After I start photographing in different city of China about the new architecture. The idea of creating one virtual space was inspired. The image starts with post-industrial landscape, and eventually fill with a lot of new model of ‘ideal home’. In the research on people’s ideal homes, it appears that this specific phenomenon of modernization is related to time. Under the rapid speed of development, most people don’t have time to visualize even the near future, they live in the present tense. If they could own a house located in a community like Venice, and then walk ten minutes away to Beijing Hutong for shops and food. Then it won’t bother them whether it obeys the culture rules or whatsoever. It’s the simply emotional needs, right for the time and space. Simply as eat an apple with a piece of worm in it when you’re hungry.

All the buildings from this animated virtual space are based on the real existing buildings. No invention, but a recreation. It is an artificial environment where the buildings are merely shadow and mirrors at the same time. Like the Mirage, the city doesn’t exist, but anyhow it came from something, or somewhere real.

Gallery

I want to see love in your face

root — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 14:00:53 +0000

Opening

Saturday July 9 at 4pm, 2011

Duration

July 9 to July 29, 2011

Location

CEAC, Xiamen, China

Artist

About Helena Hansdóttir

On July 9th at 4 pm The Chinese European Art Center opens the exhibition: “I want to see love in your face “by the Icelandic artist Helena Hansdóttir.

Helena Hansdottir has been, and still is, staying on the CEAC Artist in Residence program where she made the works for this exhibition which consists out a photo installation, sculpture and a performance.

Helena studied art at the Icelandic University Art College where she graduated with a BA diploma and later she studied at the London based Art Academy Goldsmith where she graduated with MFA diploma.

In her work Helena concentrates on her individual view on phenomena which affect her personal life and which are at the same time woven into her own existence. This doesn’t at all mean that she is not interested in other people’s life.

Many of her other works involve other persons with their own minds and opinions which she uses as an ingredient in her own artwork. In her life attitude she is a modern feminist and this feminism is forming her way of thinking, also in her artwork, even though the evidence is not literarily to be found in the artwork itself. She is interested in folk cultures and all kinds of traditional appearances in these cultures. She gets her inspiration by the human nature.

One should not approach the works on this exhibition by looking for the meanings of the artworks. Much rather one should experience them in the same way as one listens to music and afterwards every one can, individually, find out what kind of meaning he or she has been experiencing.

At the opening Helena will do a new performance.

The duration of this exhibition is from July 9th – 29th.

The month of August the CEAC will be closed for summer holidays and will open again after the middle of September.

Gallery

The Life Space•The Stage Space

root — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:20:44 +0000

Opening

Saturday June 4 at 4pm, 2011

Duration

June 4 till June 18, 2011

Location

CEAC, Xiamen, China

Artist

About Jia Zhixing

Jia Zhixing has been studying at Xiamen University Art College for the past seven years and this exhibition is the final part of his study – the graduation exhibition. After this exhibition he is qualified as: Master of Fine Art.

“The Life Space•The Stage Space” is an exhibition of works by the Chinese artist Jia Zhixing who is making here his first one man show.

The CEAC did exhibit artworks made by artists from many different countries and ages. In the twelve years the CEAC has existed this is the only second time that there is a solo exhibition of a graduating art student.

The CEAC has been following the artistic development of Jia Zhixing with a great interest for a quite a long time and has often included his work in the CEAC exhibitions.

In the CEAC exhibition entitled Dialogue 2010 which was a part of the Dutch Cultural Presentation at the EXPO in Shanghai last year the work of Jia Zhixing did play an important role which for sure was very honorable for the young student.

The works in this exhibition are all made in the past two years and some of them have been shown before.

Jia’s starting point is always his personal and private space which is brought in contact with the external world through creating a visual and none verbal situation where he mixes living persons and flowers and domestic artifacts together in a humorous way. His staged photography shows us much more than half naked people surrounded by diverse artifacts. The photos are more like a new kind of reality which can be a metaphor for many new things and phenomena which can be of great value for our perception of life.

During this exhibition Jia Zhixing will make a performance which will be recorded on video and will be included to the show afterwards as a video installation.

Gallery

Andrew Burton

root — Sat, 28 May 2011 12:10:50 +0000

Opening

Saturday May 7 at 5 PM, 2019

Duration

May 7 till May 28, 2011

Location

CEAC, Xiamen, China

Artist

ANDREW BURTON

UK Sculptor Andrew Burton has worked in Xiamen to create a new exhibition of his work currently on view at the Chinese European Art Centre, 7 – 28 May.

Burton’s work is a response to the immediate material world around him. He uses objects that come readily to hand; found on the beach or bought in the local shops. These become starting points for sculptures that invite the audience to consider the poetic possibilities of everyday objects.

The largest work in the exhibition, ‘Tierra del Fuego’ (‘Land of Fire’) is constructed from thousands of brick pebbles. Each day as the tide retreats over Xiamen’s beaches thousands of tiny fragments of ceramic brick and tile are left washed up on the sand. Worn smooth by the waves, these man-made stones suggest the existence of an older city constructed not of glass, steel and concrete, but of brick and tile. Now consigned to the sea, its buildings are washed and pounded by the waves until its fabric is ground with the shells and stones on the ocean floor and becomes sand.

Tierra del Fuego was the name originally given to the remote and unknown land at the tip of South America, where passing sailors could see mysterious fires burning. In the sculpture, the inspiration has been both romantic legends of lost cities, but also the view over the sea from the artist’s balcony in Xiamen where chimney stacks on the mainland are visible. This fantastical creation is a reminder of the passing of time and the strangeness of ‘other places’.

As a foreigner visiting Xiamen for the first time, Burton is fascinated by the obsessive sweeping and mopping in the city. Everywhere brushes are for sale and mops are hung out to dry – sometimes in the strangest of places. To Burton these everyday objects have an unfamiliarity and beauty and can seem like works of art in themselves. In the ‘The Last Manchurian’ a collection of brooms, mops and cane are constructed into a work that both suggests a narrative and forms a contemporary ‘still life’.

Gallery

The Future Is Bright!?

root — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 14:11:41 +0000

Opening

Saturday April 9 at 5 PM, 2011

Duration

April 9 till April 30, 2011

Location

CEAC, Xiamen, China

Artist

Irina Birger

Irina Birger lived the first part of her life in Eastern Europe, where she was taught a traditional approach to art and this has had a strong impact on her further work’s development. Irina has since tried to combine this communist past, and that of the cultural influences of the other countries she has lived in, within the frame of Western contemporary art. This mixed background of Irina’s has always impacted on her work in an anthropological way and sometimes in her choice of medium. Today Irina works with animation, video, installation, performance and drawing.

As Irina often works in different countries she always attempts to embrace the genius Loci and reflect on her own connection to it. Being a habitual nomad, she is constantly searching for the link between her individual languages of expression to a culture she has become part of.

In her work Irina is trying to find out what are the most important aspects and elements of our personal and national belonging. This Irina does from her position as a female artist who is a part of the new nomadic generation. Irina therefore returns to these questions: ‘What forms our identity in contemporary society? How can our personality and background change our artistic practices and vise-versa?’ Pursuing these questions she often uses self-image as a central figure and/or autobiographical material as stereotypical examples.

For her solo show “The Future is Bright?!” she had a series of photographs taken of her posing with men from Xiamen. The men were invited to stand together with her in an improvised photo studio. Irina was curious to experiment with the situation changing the role of her “partners” from that of viewer to that of participant. The outcome is a collection of couple portraits featuring different types of Chinese men with Irina subtly adjusting to them. Along with “XiaMen”* and the animation loop “Analogia” (2003), Irina presents a series of minimalistic drawings. In contrast to the immediacy and outward nature of the “XiaMen” these drawings have a quiet and self-reflective character. These parallel responses to living and working in China depict Irina in social and private spheres. They connect and diverge at numerous points and leave the assertion open to question: The Future Is Bright!?

*”XiaMen”* is part of the “Men Collection”, an ongoing project Irina has been working on for many years in different countries.

More info at www.irinabirger.com

The exhibition was made possible with support by The Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture. www.fondsbkvb.nl

Gallery

The Customer Is Always Wrong

root — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 12:33:03 +0000

Opening

March 26 at 5 PM, 2011

Duration

March 26 till April 2, 2011

Location

CEAC, Xiamen, China

Artist

About Bill Aitchison

One of a kind British performance artist, traveller and all round professional eccentric Bill Aitchison, has been an artist in residence at CEAC for the last three months and has been making a new work titled ‘The Customer Is Always Wrong’. For this work Bill has been learning Chinese to understand how the British (i.e. Bill) can be perceived by the citizens of Xiamen. From this experience he will present a new performance and solo exhibition of imperfect translations, misunderstandings and insights into 21st Century identity confusions.

Preview Video: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjQ3NDcwNTA4.html

Blog: http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/704529

Bill Aitchison is a performance artist who has shown his solo performances and videos at theatres, festivals and galleries across Europe, Asia, The Middle East and America. He has spent extensive periods in New York’s downtown experimental theatre scene and the European performance circuit working as an artist, writer and performer, he has published critical and creative texts and has a PhD on performance art from the University of London. He has previously shown his performances in China in Beijing (OPEN Festival 798 Art Zone) and in Xiamen at CEAC.

Created at The Chinese European Art Centre (CEAC) Xiamen.

Supported by The British Council China and Arts Council England.