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The D-Tale: Video Art from the Pearl River Delta | Episode I

  • Friday
    Nov 30, 2018
    6:00 pm–9:00 pm

Times Art Center Berlin, a new experimental space for contemporary art from China in Berlin, opens to the public on 30 November 2018.

Panel Discussion
Video in the Pearl River Delta: An Eye Opener
with Hou Hanru, David Elliott and Anselm Franke
6:00–7:00 pm

Performance 
Rehearsal of the Futures: Police Training Exercises (Part 1)
by Isaac CHONG Wai
Performers: Katherine Leung, Manuel Lindner, Imola Nagy, Nobutaka Shomura
7:30–9:00 pm

In its inaugural three-part exhibition, Times Art Center Berlin will present a vital component of the Chinese art world which remains lesser known to international audiences and is under-represented on the global art scene, namely the contemporary art production from the Pearl River Delta (PRD). A highly specific region of China with its distinct cultural characteristics and traditions, the PRD has been closely related to international influences and interwoven with popular culture from the beginning. Frequent exchanges between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, the impacts of Hong Kong’s popular culture, film, television and pop music concerning visual culture, coupled with a sensitivity for and references to international new media art, led to rapid experimentation in video art across the entire PRD.

In recent years, contemporary art created in China, by artists both from China and abroad, has become a major part of the global art scene. Now, the time has come to reflect this progression in Berlin. As an associated organisation of the renowned Guangdong Times Museum, in Guangzhou in southern China, Times Art Center Berlin was established with that mission in mind. It is the first time an independent Asia-based art museum has founded a parallel institution abroad. As a non-profit art institution, Times Art Center Berlin aims at facilitating cultural conversations between Asia and Europe through collaborations with artists, curators, intellectuals and institutions based in Berlin. The institution operates as an independent and autonomous organisation and will produce a series of exhibitions, research projects, commissions, screenings, discursive events, artist residencies and publications. As an experimental space and research-oriented platform, it hopes to add a voice from the Global Souths to Berlin’s vibrant artistic scenes. Its inaugural exhibition is part of the Operation PRD curatorial framework following the exhibition Big Tail Elephants. The exhibition presents 58 artists and features more than 80 artworks.