2018 – CEAC

NO SOUND NO TEXT

Mon, 10 Dec 2018 14:37:41 +0000

Opening

dec 12 2018

Duration

dec 1 / dec 12, 2018

Location

CEAC (Xiamen, China)

Artist

About Herman Verhagen

Herman Verhagen is a video-artist from Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
His work questions existence and often answers with disappearance.

For example: he recently built a porcelain installation in Itoshima, Japan and smashed it at the end. In Xiamen he will disappear during the exhibition, but that is because he already booked a flight.

He studied Audio-Visual Arts at the Amsterdam Gerrit Rietveld Academy (2003)and the École National Supérieur des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, France (2009).Since 2011, he also runs a pottery business (J.C. HERMAN Ceramics,www.jcherman.org), to finance his work as an artist.

In 2018 Herman Verhagen has been travelling throughout Asia (Japan, South-Korea and China) for half a year. His final station in this trip is Xiamen, where he has made two video works.

This is what he has to say about the exhibition ‘NO SOUND NO TEXT’:
« For a stranger, it is inevitable to see Asia as exotic. I cannot help looking for differences or similarities. It just never is ‘normal’. I am not Asian and always will take an outside perspective towards this continent. On the other hand I think that every human has the right to be anywhere on our planet. I said to myself aloud: ‘Asia is as much mine as it is for Asians’. I do not want to see myself as an eternal guest. The only time I do not feel a stranger, is when I see people -or people see me from the back. Then I can focus on the cool outfits, or am I seen as only a tall person.

Xiamenimation
This animation consists of four parts, showing living, working, shopping and leisure on Xiamen.
It captures progress from the back. It also shows the speed in which the city moves, to my stranger’s eye. And it shows my view on how modern life generates a generic look: from architecture to selfies. What is the difference between authentic and real?

Balconorama
This video installation is also about the observation of reality. It captures how an image is (re)constructed.
Again, real or not: my view is constructed in layers of preconceptions and positioning.The scenery is a simplified view from my balcony at the CEAC’s artist apartment, without disturbing elements, such as the balcony fence or palm trees that are in the way between me and the sea. Perspective creates a better image. In reality there is tons of stuff being transported every day. On ships that look like cities. And have that size. A feast for the eye, but not for the environment.

NO SOUND NO TEXT
The title of the exhibition is on one hand the dogma I gave myself while working here: don’t use sound or text, just image. But it also sums up my frustration in China: I cannot speak the language and I wished there was less noise.

Yours sincerely,
herman verhagen
Xiamen, november 2018

Gallery

PUSSY BOW

Sat, 10 Nov 2018 11:46:39 +0000

Opening

NOVEMBER 10th, 2018

Duration

10/11 – 24/11, 2018

Location

CEAC (Xiamen, China)

Artist

About Emily Hartley-Skudder

The country of China is extremely relevant to my art practice. Its culture and character seem very different from our own, yet it is where so many of the possessions we use to deﬁne ourselves are made. China is the source of so much; it is where many trends begin, its industry informing much of the consumerist culture throughout the West.

Ideas around the toy, the disposable plastic item, collection, reproduction and authenticity underpin my research. I obsessively collect, assemble, photograph and paint from found objects that are predominantly manufactured in China. Such objects convey a strong power of association – they exist as mass produced items, yet can simultaneously become precious and personal to the owner. How then would the value I place on these items change based on my location and perception of place? The Wellington Asia Residency Exchange at CEAC in Xiamen will provide the perfect opportunity for me to examine my own perspective on these plastic source objects from a different vantage point; the country of production. I believe my work simultaneously looks critically and celebratory upon plasticized, consumerist culture and it will be very signiﬁcant to learn from a Chinese perspective, to gain insight into their attitudes towards consumerism and authenticity which will in turn expose my own ingrained, Western viewpoint.

Gallery

TO SCROOOLLL PART 3

Wed, 10 Oct 2018 11:30:46 +0000

Opening

October 13th, 2018

Duration

October 13th / november 1st, 2018

Location

CEAC (Xiamen, China)

Artist

About Pedro Bakker

Inspired by the movie Lolita by Stanley Kubrick, Pedro drew Yun Ke in the drawing Tain’t What You Do. To create a layered stage setting he has replaced the girl Lolita by a young female, Chinese dancer. This cross-disciplinary working method gives multiple layers: the dancing girl in the background on the drawings, the dancing girl unrolling the handscroll and the dancing girl acting in the space.His first drawing Foot Woo is a macho drawing of him and with his performance he will dance hip hop with the music of the Geto Boys to strengthen this macho viewpoint and to oppose the gangster of love with the vulnerable feminist 米兔子position in mainland China. The title Chess Qizi棋子is the name of the schoolgirl in his third drawing. A case of sexual harassment of a young student by her teacher willbe the third part of the performance.棋子could be a metaphor for not only the girl in the third play, but all the females trapped in indecent relationships. And the teacher, who is he? Is the figure of the teacher Pedro himself?

Gallery

IT’S A CHILD’S PLAY

Fri, 10 Aug 2018 11:48:00 +0000

Opening

August 25, 2018

Duration

August 25 until september 15, 2018

Location

CEAC (Xiamen, China)

Artist

About Yveline Etienne

The artwork exhibited this time is entitled “It’s a child’s play”. In this artistic project created for her residency at CEAC in Xiamen, the artist explores the dimension of the game in photography and the chemigram through her own experiments and research. This naturally led her to consider the place of the child and the games that are offered to her in the urban world and in particular in Xiamen as a field of photographic investigation.

With her two techniques, one digital, the other analogue, the artist explores, experiments, plays, either in her laboratory apartment for chemigrams, or on Xiamen beach, a privileged playground for children night for her photographs. The photographs she proposes here question the visual perception and its relation to the imaginary, the fantasy, sometimes almost to the hallucination. Thus for her photographs, the artist plays with the light and the effects of blur related to the movements of the characters. The bodies, the clothes are multiplied and become transparent. The game of lights, the children’s game, the night, everything becomes becomes dream, magic … It weaves there perhaps already the memories that the children will have of their childhood when they will be adults. Sometimes the absence of light locks the children in the night and the spectator gives an ear to their whispers or secrets.

The artist also chose for her experiments the chemigram technique, invented in 1956 by Pierre Cordier, a Belgian artist. The chemigram combines the physics of painting (varnish, wax, oil) and the chemistry of photography (photosensitive emulsion, developer, fixer); without camera, without enlarger and in full light. The chemigram can be considered as an analog photographic technique. The chemigram can be random or controlled. The chemigram artist is confronted with different forms of chance, but she can also control it, and more importantly, program it.

Just as the chemigram lies at the crossroads of photography and painting, it appeared to the artist through her readings on Chinese art and culture that she is also at the crossroads of Europe and of China by its technique, its design. She can thus be experienced, experienced in her ability to create a common language, a game on the language, with the language. This is why the artist presents her chemigrams in the form of the square and in particular the grid of 9 squares of Chinese writing.

She thus makes this work a work at the crossroads of European and Chinese cultures. As the sinogram develops a story, a narration in this imaginary geometric space, the chemigram proposes in this space a world of dreams and imagination. Thus the general intention of this project is to cross these two aspects: the artist lets the child awaken in her through experimentation and the creation of chemigrams, technique that places it at the crossroads of Asia and from Europe, and join the children on their playground, the beach, to photograph them in their own expression. While questioning the support itself in its relationship to the game and the norm through these two techniques (the chemigram and photography). Art explores the possibilities of a common expression through dreams and games.

Thanks:
In France: Marie-Louise Bréhant, Serg Gicquel / In Belgium: Mark De Fraeye, Patricia Verburg, Pierre Cordier
To museums: Museum of Photography Charleroi, FOMU in Antwerp /
In China: May Lee, Ineke Gudmundsson and Wei Na from CEAC (Xiamen)

Gallery

Rolling Snowball 11, Djupivogur, 2018

root — Sat, 14 Jul 2018 08:34:39 +0000

Opening

July 14 at 3 PM, 2018

Duration

July 14 till August 19, 2018

Location

Bræðslan, Víkurland 6, 765 Djúpivogur, Iceland

Artist

Djúpivogur has been an active trade location in Iceland for over 400 years. Foreign merchants, who were, among others, German and Danish, brought not only foreign products but also exotic cultural influences that contributed to the shaping of local flavors and cultural life, which today is dynamic and diverse.

To promote diversity further, Djúpavogshreppur became a member of the Cittaslow movement which consists of small local organizations in 27 countries around the world. Cittaslow’s goal is to enhance people’s quality of life and satisfaction by offering resistance to globalization, uniformity and compulsive speed in cities and towns of modern times and instead honor the uniqueness of each municipality. To achieve this goal Cittaslow municipalities concentrate on the protection of natural and cultural heritage, environmental beautification and quality, promotion of local cuisine, hospitality, courtesy and maintaining friendly relationships.

It is in this spirit that Djúpavogshreppur became involved in the project ´Rolling Snowball-5, Djúpivogur’ in cooperation with the CEAC since 2014. Many people might wonder why such an extensive art exhibition is being installed in a small fishing village in Iceland. But giving it a closer look it should be no surprise. Djúpivogur has a long history and its inhabitants have for ages celebrated cultural influences that often came from faraway places with traders, fishermen and others who came to the village for a short or long stay. Writers and other artists have for the past several years sought inspiration for their work from the environment and the people in Djúpivogur and I hope that will continue.

The willingness of the municipality of Djúpivogur is clear. We will continue to strengthen and contribute to the rich cultural life and welcome all who want to be a part in that journey. By doing so we advance the quality of life of those who live here and at the same time encourage others to visit us.

Gauti Jóhanesson
Mayor of Municipality of Djúpivogur, Iceland

The exhibition will be opened by Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson, the President of Iceland and the First Lady Eliza Reid. The musician Lay Low will perform for the guests as well. Many of the participating artists will attend the opening.

Participating artists
anna líndal, árni guðmundsson, arnoud noordegraaf, áslaug thorlacius,
bill aitchison, björn roth, erling klingenberg, fahrettin orenli,
gerald van der kaap, hrafnkell sigurðsson, irina birger, kan xuan,
magnús pálsson, nie li, oey tjeng sit, peer veneman,
persijn broersen & margit lukacs, ráðhildur ingadóttir, ragnhildur jóhanns, ronny delrue,
svava björnsdóttir, the hafnia foundation, þór vigfússon, wei na, yang ah ham, yang zhiqian,
zhang zhenxue.

Gallery

ROLLING SNOWBALL 11

Tue, 10 Jul 2018 11:40:14 +0000

Opening

juli 14th, 2018

Duration

14/07 – 19/08, 2018

Location

Djupivogur, Iceland, Europe

Welcome to the 11th edition of the Chinese European Art Center’s beloved Rolling Snowball international contemporary art exhibition, also the 5th here in Djúpivogur, Iceland, which we proudly and gratefully present in partnership with the municipality of Djúpivogur for the 5th consecutive year. As many of you know, it is in CEAC’s nearly 20 years of tradition not to set a thematic curatorial frame to the Rolling Snowball exhibitions other than the event itself. And this year is no exception. Again, in organizing this event, we strive to preserve a degree of spontaneity and informality, which we hold dear and with a touch of nostalgia in today’s increasingly commodified world of art. The eclectic selection of this exhibition features the works of many artists who have completed fruitful residencies with CEAC atits base on the tropical island of Xiamen in South China. Some have participated in previous Rolling Snowball exhibitions in very different contexts. Among these works by contemporary artists, one will also find the creations of their precursors from the recent past, who are no longer with us but whose work’s may continue to inspire, surprise and fascinate us. What’s more, thanks to CEAC’s long-time friend and partner, the Hafnia Foundation, we also enjoy the rare opportunity to explore the imagery of China’s 70s and 80s through the Foundation’s extensive collection of original propaganda posters, known as one of the largest of its kind in the world.
With such a vast range of images, objects and performances on offer, it is our wish for this occasion to be one in which each and every piece of work by this diverse collection of artists may be viewed in its own right. That is to say, we wish that the viewer may encounter the work with a minimal intervention on our part and come to their own conclusions about the individual artworks and relations between them as a whole. Ultimately, isn’t creativity essentially the act of “connecting the dots” in one’s own unique and original ways?
Here in Djúpivogur, Iceland, we again gather on this legendary land blessed with its unique blend of civilization and awe-inspiring nature, away from the madding crowds, to be in the company of friends old and new and to share with one another stories, experiences and ideas from places that, while perhaps far away, are still close to the heart.
Finally, it is our hope that the glorious literary tradition of this land of seafarers and travellers will inspire us, visitors and residents alike, to continue to travel and to use art -auniversal language we all speak – to tell stories both of our individual lives and our shared humanity.

The Lasting Future of Imagined Communities

root — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 07:09:49 +0000

Opening

July 28, 2018

Duration

July 28 till August 18, 2018

Location

CEAC, Xiamen, China

Artist

About Jin Jing & Liu Yuanyuan

The Lasting Future

Succeeding artist Jin Jing’s in-depth query and exploration of the city space she lives in, The Lasting Future stretches further to the reflections on the “world” she is situated. Since this question can hardly be answered accurately, the artist changes her questions into limited visual segments with a combination of photographs, videos and installations so as to present a status. This status is inconspicuous, invisible and undetectable in a city space dominated by human beings: the artwork creates a world both similar to and different from our real world. The subtle and unbelievable changes in the details of this “world” defamiliarize this “world” macroscopically, creating a distance with the reality.

In the visual segments included in this exhibition, the videos present brief movements of low intensity while the photos are objective demonstrations of the common elements in some artificial landscape. From the perspective of the little details, the moving objects under control and the lifeless mechanical objects, the artist reflects the relationship between human activities and venues and presents the audience with a group of images which are disturbing, indescribable and bright. They offer a channel to obtain the information yet prove nothing. Through the invisible and non-visual objects they imply, the “world” is kept beyond them yet can hardly be talked about casually. The artist appears behind the images as a questioner. She does not need to explain it and the audience doesn’t need to understand it thoroughly. However, something is emerging around it without doubt.

“Whatever we see could be otherwise. Whatever we describe could be otherwise. God does not show himself inside the world.”
— Ludwig Wittgenstein

Imagined Communities

The artwork exhibited this time is entitled Imagined Communities. Succeeding artist Liu Yuanyuan’s recent research outcome in the field of pure consciousness, this series carry out a performativity question on “language” and expand the possibility of morphology by questioning the constructive order of human imagination, especially from the relation between language and thinking. In artist’s opinion, language is not only a purly analytical and normative object, but also a medium being built by an ideological subjectivity. The “language” is imagined Communities, which make fiction into history.

In this exhibition, the artist presents the time variables of non-linear language with photographs and the meaningless movement of thinking by showing variable number sequence of nonlinear language with videos.The artist intents built up the “bottle language system”, so as to further portray the “bottle universe”: a reality conjured by the consciousness of existence.Getting rid of the reference of the construct order based on human imagination, the artist develops a non-linear language. Each non-linear language represents not only a single concept of signans, but also a series of designatum of referring events .The artwork exhibited this time is entitled Imagined Communities. Succeeding artist Liu Yuanyuan’s recent research outcome in the field of pure consciousness, this series carry out a performativity question on “language” and expand the possibility of morphology by questioning the constructive order of human imagination, especially from the relation between language and thinking. In artist’s opinion, language is not only a purly analytical and normative object, but also a medium being built by an ideological subjectivity. The “language” is imagined Communities, which make fiction into history.

In this exhibition, the artist presents the time variables of non-linear language with photographs and the meaningless movement of thinking by showing variable number sequence of nonlinear language with videos.The artist intents built up the “bottle language system”, so as to further portray the “bottle universe”: a reality conjured by the consciousness of existence.Getting rid of the reference of the construct order based on human imagination, the artist develops a non-linear language. Each non-linear language represents not only a single concept of signans, but also a series of designatum of referring events .

This is the artist’s straight-forward declaration about the visionary reality she lives in, which completely clears away its relation with the real world.“That world is made up by me, though it does not mean that is doesn’t real exist.”
——Liu Yuanyuan

Gallery

ARE YOU RICH

Sun, 10 Jun 2018 08:29:33 +0000

Opening

Saturday June 23 at 5 PM

Duration

June 23 till July 21, 2018

Location

CEAC (Xiamen, China)

Artist

Wei Na

ARE YOU RICH?
One question, many answers

People see many strangers during the day.
Very quickly they judge them, make estimation.
Is this guy in front of me mad?
What ugly shoes that woman is wearing.
I should never put a ring like that through my nose.
Why is this man looking so arrogant?
There is nothing wrong with these quick judgments of people’s appearance – the image they project.
It is a matter of survival.
However, I would like to hunt the moment from the outside to the inside. What is the connection between your inner world and the way you look like from the outside?
What is a unique personal character and what is not?
To approach people in an open way by photograph and dialogue.
The first impression is changed and the complete strangers, the everybody, suddenly turns into somebody.
Everyone is unique.

– Wei Na 2018

In her work, Wei Na is occupied with a research of people in their daily life. She focuses on the psychological aspects of her subjects. The result is always a conflict with the conventional attitudes and judgments of the society of the person in question.

Her recent project “Are you rich?” and the previous project “Tell me what love is” show the reality of contemporary Chinese society, where love and richness are on the edge of a changing revolution, through her own experiences and investigation, and discover some beautiful, interesting and wise ideas from all that.

Gallery

REVENGE OF THE FISH

Wed, 06 Jun 2018 15:42:35 +0000

Opening

June 6 2018

Duration

june 2 till june 12, 2018

Location

CEAC (Xiamen, China)

Artist

About Tanja Smit

How do you read the world? Tanja Smit makes drawings, paintings, photos and artist’s books, which sometimes undergo translations into banners, videos and (music) performance. They question, each in their own way, the changing relationship between the human mind and its body and surroundings; in particular our role towards other animals, plants, and towards that what supposes to make us human: language.

Paper is the main carrier of her work, blank as well as printed, like newspapers, magazines and books, in which she discovers, reveals and alters, meanings and structures. These so called textworks highlight structures of language, as well as the disappearing role of books and printed text from our society.

The drawings, paintings and photos are direct, layered, open and process-based; shaping and thinking are inseparable. She is fascinated with language and stories, but also by music, structures and randomness. There is this human tendency to project meaning on everything we recognize, ignoring all that we don’t. You can view her works as visual reports of what happens when you follow the opposite path: when you project meaning upon the random and withdraw meaning from- or alter the meaning of the known: read the image and see the text.

The use of the bamboo brush with ink and water colour, as well as the prevailing of meaning over realism, has attracted Tanja Smit since long to Chinese thought and art. The combination of image and language in the Chinese characters is another great field of interest. The three months of the residency in CEAC, Xiamen has been her first opportunity to work in China. She took classical Chinese painting and calligraphy lessons, started to draw on Chinese books and newspapers and roamed the city with her camera. This exhibition offers already some works ‘made in Xiamen’. They are accompanied by a fine choice of pieces from The Netherlands.

The title of the exposition is a little joke. Though some fishes might appear in her recent drawings and paintings – not in the least due to their abundant presence in Xiamen’s markets and restaurants – basically it shows a mental image provoked by three small words.

Made possible by:Stroom Den Haag

Gallery

TODAY TOMORROW AND FOREVER

Sun, 06 May 2018 11:52:26 +0000

Opening

May 12, 2018

Duration

May 11 till may 26, 2018

Location

CEAC (Xiamen, China)

Artist

About Tara Fallaux

Photographer and director Tara Fallaux studied Film and Photography at various art schools in The Netherlands and the US. Once graduating from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Tara kicked off her career as a portrait and documentary photographer in New York. For the past 15-years, Tara has worked as a freelance photographer combining personal photography and film projects with commercial work. During these years, she has directed various documentary films including ‘Over the Rainbow’ and ‘Louis the Ferriswheel Kid’. Her most recent documentary ‘Love Letters’, a film about the nearly vanished medium of the handwritten love letter, had its international premiere at IDFA 2017 as the only NL representative in the competition.For Tara, photography and film provide a platform from which to explore her curiosity regarding everyday encounters. Interested and driven by people’s vitality and fate, a big focus point for her work is to investigate the way in which we perceive and shape the world around us. This open and human-centered approach is the common ground between Tara’s personal projects and commissioned work. Whether she is photographing and filming on assignment or for her personal portfolio, her drive is to tell stories that inspire and challenges people.

Today Tomorrow and Forever is a photo and video installation consisting of two videos and a photo-series.

About the video One night WeChat (’10 minutes): Growing up in a complete internet device driven society where social rating is a fact of life Tara asked several young people what their hopes and dreams are on WeChat. Where the obvious pressure lies in seemingly having to be perfect and presenting only the best version of yourself. Consequently even a greater longing for being able to express oneself without being judged may exist. In a busy street with random people passing by the WeChat messages she received are shown to illustrate their inner thoughts. A portrait of a warm busy summer city life during one evening and night. In this nIght we are all one.

In another video called The Letter (‘5 minutes) we hear a young woman reading aloud a love letter explaining a dream she wants to talk about with her lover. This letter is an example of how the new open minded Chinese female millennials are transforming. Where getting married at an early age is mostly not a question but a factuality the younger generation is starting to question how the traditional Chinese lifestyle still fits their way of life and love.

Tara also shows a series of photographs presenting a utopia of buildings and city parks. Photographs of promising model buildings and parks are alternated with real parks and views from yet to be inhabited apartments. On first eyes sight it’s not clear which image is real and which is a model. The world as a lush clean promising dream. The photo-series are a metaphor for what is presented in the two videos that are part of the same project; dreaming of possible lives and shaping and modeling the world around us.

“I want to inspire people to share intimate thoughts with each other, be less superficial and less afraid of what other people think of you”

Made possible by the generous support of the ‘Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst’ and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Beijing. A very special thanks to: Writer and performer in ‘The Letter’: Wang Ji. (Rocy), Assistant and translator: Lova Yu, Retoucher photography The Letter: Patrick de bas@DOG postproduction, Assistant and location scout: Marc Boon, Equipment and color grading: Mike @ Candela co. LTD Xiamen