The exhibition "Dormant Landscape", hosted by Yuan Art Museum, produced by NAC Culture Development Co., Ltd., and curated by Mr. Wang Che, officially opened at Yuan Art Museum at 3:00 p.m. on March 19, 2022.
As the first exhibition of Yuan Art Museum in 2022, the exhibition is co-presented by independent curator Wang Che, artist Tong Wenmin from Chongqing, and artist Yang Xinguang who was born in Hunan and now lives and works in Beijing.
The exhibition "Dormant Landscape" (Photo provided to iChongqing)
At the opening ceremony, Ms. Xue Wei, Director of Yuan Art Museum, said in her speech that she has always wanted to see an exhibition that conveys the characteristics of Chongqing held in the Yuan Art Museum. In this exhibition, artists Tong Wenmin and Yang Xinguang have combined the soil, plants, ruins, and industrial relics of Chongqing in the form of art. It is hoped that this exhibition with inherent energy can help viewers find their inner value.
Artist Tong Wenmin (Photo provided to iChongqing)
Curator Wang Che said that this is his first time curating an exhibition in Chongqing. He thanked the team of Yuan Art Museum and the two artists for their support. He noted that the two artists have created and collected art elements locally based on the exhibition theme, hoping to attract more attention and thoughts of viewers to the natural space and abandoned buildings in the city.
Artist Yang Xinguang expressed his gratitude to the museum team and staff involved. He mentioned that he spent 20 days in Chongqing for resident creation, and finally completed a large-scale space work called "Leisure Courtyard", hoping that viewers can appreciate and feel this work in a tranquil space.
Artist Yang Xinguang (Photo provided to iChongqing)
The exhibition runs until May 22, 2022. During the exhibition, Yuan Art Museum will work with its partners like Chongqing plant studio "Botany in the Town" and HF DANCE art exchange platform to carry out concurrent activities related to the exhibition theme. Your attention and participation will be highly appreciated.
The exhibition theme "Dormant Landscape" comes from the curator's impression of Chongqing's "nature" and "city". Under this theme, he calls for attention to the deteriorated natural environment and plant space, abandoned buildings, and desolate landfills in the modernization and development of industrial civilization.
The work "Leisure Courtyard" (Photo provided to iChongqing)
Under the theme of dormant landscape, this exhibition responds equally to abandoned spaces in nature, in the city, and in our minds, arousing viewers' environmental awareness and facilitating a virtuous circle of environmental protection and city development.
This exhibition cannot be simply defined as a joint solo exhibition or a double solo exhibition. It is a dialogue between a local artist and a non-local artist about Chongqing.
The work "Leisure Courtyard" (Photo provided to iChongqing)
Tong Wenmin's works adopt the forms of performance art, video & installation art, involving nine of her most representative works since 2013, including "Crawling", "Lawn" and "Reflection-Pine Forest". Her works are displayed on the first floor of Yuan Art Museum, covering a total area of more than 600 square meters.
The work "Chongqing Weeds" (Photo provided to iChongqing)
On the second floor of the museum, what comes into sight is the large-scale space work "Leisure Courtyard" created by Yang Xinguang in Chongqing for nearly a month after materials collection and research. Covering an area of nearly 800 square meters, the work integrates the forms and ideas of Yang's recent works -- On the Soil, Bad Earth, and Plant Monument. It reveals the subtle but ubiquitous integration and symbiosis between Chongqing's plants and the city as the artist perceives it.
The plant materials used in this work are all collected locally by the artist, museum staff, and volunteers, hoping to bring a feeling of intimacy and familiarity to viewers. However, the artist has deliberately erased the details of these plants that can be captured and identified and has created a fantastic and gorgeous scene by matching these plants to industrial materials. As a whole, the work "Leisure Courtyard" carries on Yang's style of non-routine and non-priority on experience. Viewing this work from a new and fresh angle can arouse the inner connection between the work and the viewer.