Times Art Center Berlin is pleased to announce the opening of Episode III: The Politics of the Self of the inaugural three-part exhibition The D-Tale: Video Art from the Pearl River Delta co-curated by Hou Hanru and Xi Bei.
Participating Artists:
ALLORA & CALZADILLA, CAO Fei, CHEN Shaoxiong, CHOI Sai-Ho, FANG Lu, May FUNG, HO Sin Tung, KWAN Sheung-Chi, LI Xiaofei, Natalie LO Lai Lai, Anson MAK Hoi Shan, MAP OFFICE, QIN Jin, SHI Qing, Koki TANAKA, Jalal TOUFIC & Graziella Rizkallah TOUFIC, WONG Wai Yin, XU Tan, ZHU Jianlin
Video art in the region of the Pearl River Delta (PRD) emerged as early as the mid-1980s. Collectives such as Videotage in Hong Kong and Southern Artists Salon in Guangzhou were pioneers and galvanizing creative forces in the field. This movement was carried forward, in the 90s, by the rise of certain collectives and individuals, including the Big Tail Elephants Working Group, the Borges Bookstore, U-theque, JIANG Zhi and CAO Fei.
A highly specific part 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. The art communities in the region have continuously developed their own aesthetics, merging individual independence, freedom, cultural hybridity, humour and irony with avant-garde experiments in open, diverse, fluid and natural manners.
