Tag Archives: China

Xu Bing’s Phoenixes at St. John the Divine

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On the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Chinese artist Xu Bing has installed a soaring pair of phoenixes at St. John the Divine. The cathedral of St. John the Divine is a marvelous place to visit in itself, which I only realized when I visited  of 90- and 100-foot mythical birds last week. This impressive temporary exhibition certainly makes a visit timely. The diffuse light of the stained glass and high nave form an awesome atmosphere in which the multi-colored phoenixes melt into the soft light.
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Phoenix (2008-2010) was originally commissioned for an office building atrium in Beijing, but the project and rationale changed as the artist was inspired by the poor working conditions at the construction site to use discarded materials to create the birds. Rather than reflecting rebirth as is thought in the West or luck, power, and everlasting life in China, these phoenixes speak more directly to the social cost of rapid building in China. Looking more closely, one sees how Xu carefully formed the birds out of pipe, fans, wiring, and such to create sculptures of both aesthetic and social resonance.
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More information available on the Cathedral’s website.

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Internet Censorship and Gangnam Style

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First, there was Gangnam Style by PSY, a Pop song celebrating/lampooning a wealthy South Korean lifestyle. It is absurd, catchy, and quickly became an international sensation. Then Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei did a parody of this already ridiculous video. Except when he mimics the dancing of the original video, he occasionally adds handcuffs.

Anish Kapoor, bringing in other art world influentials, felt compelled to make another Gangnam Style parody in support of Ai Weiwei. Museums, galleries, and others such as MoMA and Sepertine Gallery have all joined in contributing a video clip as a gesture of support for the artist who has notoriously battled with Chinese authorities over making and showing his art. And it is awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcjFzmWLEdQ 

Hopefully it will be spread the message of the need for human rights and freedom of expression in China. (And not just China, as you can see in the video, the wall also has a Pussy Riot tag among others.) Internet censorship is one of the issues that Ai Weiwei combats, managing to effectively skirt “the Great Firewall.” Check out Ai Weiwei’s Youtube channel for more insight into a complex and radically different world, such as this video.

However, it isn’t as simple as pointing a finger at China.

The Google Blog just released the most recent transparency report with statistics showing governmental requests for user data and how the number has steadily risen. Russia, formerly quite open, has begun to take measures limiting internet freedom in the manner of China, according to this Economist article. And the New York Times published a fascinating opinion piece last week about how it is not only active government censorship impacts people’s access to the internet, but also supposedly liberal corporations who now dominate our experience of the internet, like Google, through the conservatively geared algorithms they use to direct search engine traffic. This invisible and pervasive force also shapes our experience of the web, and thus our culture.

Terracotta Warriors

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Terracotta Warriors: Defenders of China’s First Emperor opens today at Discovery Times Square. A collection of terracotta sculptures was buried with Qin Shi Huang, Emperor of China in 210–209 BC, and found again in 1974 when a farmer chanced upon the first of what archaeologists estimate are 8,000 warriors and other figures. Its’s a small exhibit, tiny in comparison to the actual, only partially excavated site in China, but it might be your only chance to see these incredibly preserved terracotta warriors stateside.