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The D-Tale, Video Art from the Pearl River Delta

Dec 01, 2018–Apr 13, 2019

Co-curated by Hou Hanru & Xi Bei

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.

The D-Tale: Video Art from the Pearl River Delta, exhibition view, photography: graysc.de

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.

At the same time, video art of the PRD has also been integrated into the process of high-speed urbanisation. It utilises strategies of witnessing and intervention to open up spaces for criticism and alternatives while paying close attention to the “supra-political”, bottom-up social expressions generated in the realms of everyday life. From the perspective of visual culture, video art of the PRD reflects the culture of this region and individuals’ singular involvements in the globalisation.

Samson YOUNG, Muted Situation #5: Muted Chorus, 2016
video still, instruction score, video, 9’7″
courtesy of Edouard Malingue Gallery and the artist

CAO Fei, Cosplayers
2004, photograpy, video, 8′

CHEN Shaoxiong, Ink Media, 2013
Black-and-white video, sound, 3’45”
courtesy of My Luo Qingmin

HUANG Weikai, Disorder, 2008
video still, documentary film, 58′

Isaac CHONG Wai, Rehearsal of the Futures: Police Training Exercises, 2018
video still, performance and video, 15′ 11″
courtesy of the artist and M+

Ming WONG, Windows on the world (Part 1), 2014
video still, photography, single-channel video, 3’20”
courtesy of carlier / gebauer, Vitamin Creative Space and the artist

Simon DENNY, Real Mass Entrepreneurship, 2017, video still

WONG Ping, Jungle of Desire, 2015, video still, single-channel animation, 6’50”
courtesy of the artist and Edouard Malingue Gallery

By adopting the medium of moving images, artists from the Pearl River Delta are looking for freedom and forms of resistance against dominant ideology and powers, turning ordinary gestures into artistic strategies to construct diverse personal utopias. Their video practices represent the most ground-breaking and powerful visions of experimental art and culture in the PRD. As a result, the PRD has become a creative hub for international exchange and art activities, as well as a deviating model which inspires artists from other regions.

The development of the Guangdong Times Museum was informed by these singular cultural explorations and artistic expressions. As a parallel institution and the first international branch of an Asian art institution, namely, the Guangdong Times Museum, Times Art Center Berlin is pleased to present its inaugural exhibition The D-Tale, Video Art from the Pearl River Delta which introduces the shifting cultural landscape and visions of the region in an era of globalisation. The exhibition is part of the Operation PRD curatorial framework following the exhibition Big Tail Elephants at the Guangdong Times Museum in 2016.




Participating Artists


EPISODE I: URBAN EXPLOSION
December 1, 2018 – January 12, 2019
ART JONES, CAO Fei, CHAN Chui Hing Nose, CHEN Shaoxiong, CHEN Tong, CHOW Chun Fai, HO Tzu Nyen, HUANG Weikai, JIANG Zhi, LIANG Juhui, LIN Yilin, LIU Chuang, OU Ning, João Vasco PAIVA, Ellen PAU, SONG Ta, TANG Kwok Hin, TSANG Kin-Wah, Morgan WONG, WONG Ping, WONG Wing Sang

EPISODE II: TOWARDS AUTONOMY
January 18 – February 23, 2019
CHEN Shaoxiong, CHEN Tong, CHENG Chi Lai Howard, Isaac CHONG Wai, Simon DENNY, HUANG Xiaopeng, KWAN Sheung-Chi, Linda LAI, LEUNG Chi-Wo, LI Liao, LIN Yilin, LIU Chuang, Phoebe Ching Ying MAN, PAK Sheung-Chuen, Eric SIU, SONG Ta, TSANG Kin-Wah, YANG Yong, Samson YOUNG, Ming WONG, WONG Ping, ZHOU Tao

EPISODE III: THE POLITICS OF THE SELF
March 1 – April 13, 2019
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


Next Exhibition:

Kan Xuan: Racing Gravels

Apr 26–Jun 29, 2019