2. BORDER DISPUTES.
How do we decide which country owns a piece of disputed land?
• Anesia> WAR!
• Taeron> Rock, paper, Scissors.
• Cailan> Negotiation, treaties
• Michael> we put our name on it. (or put a flag on it)
• Jess> POWER and INTIMIDATION.
• .
• .
• .
3. BORDER DISPUTES.
How do we decide which country owns a piece of disputed land?
• Chess: KILL PEOPLE. SURVIVOR GETS THE LAND
• Raian: They fight amongst each other and decide who gets it.
• JJ: One method…is to build a wall.
• Alex: Make a treaty and purchase it.
• KT: Deceive them by posing as an opportunity or friend. Take advantage of
people’s weaknesses! THE STRONG WINS.
• .
• .
5. Tsang Kin-Wah
In The End Is The Word combines found
video footage, animated texts, and
ambient sound to create an immersive
media environment. The work begins
with images of rocks, battleships, and
waves near the “Diaoyu” Islands (known
as the “Senkaku” Islands in Japan), and
archipelago northeast of Taiwan claimed
by both China and Japan.
These representational images soon
begin to morph into abstractions and
synchronized projected videos create a
visual effect in which animated coiling
strips of text pour out of the main screen
and spread across the gallery.
Lives and works in
Hong Kong
In the End Is the Word
2016
Video installation with
sound
6. Tsang Kin-Wah
Echoing the work’s title, this optic
phenomenon symbolically points to the
construction of history: when the
physical experience of an event ends and
memory fades, narratives are all that
remain to create, disseminate, and
contest the past. Rather than simply
disappear, the texts accumulate into a
crescendo of almost blindingly bright
light…and a few seconds later, the video
begins again.
Tsang Kin-Wah likens this repetitive
cycle to samsara, a Sanskrit term
denoting perpetual wandering in the sea
of life’s suffering.
(Born 1976) Lives and
works in Hong Kong
In the End Is the Word
2016
Video installation with
sound
8. Tsang Kin-Wah
(Born 1976) Lives and
works in Hong Kong
Tsang Kin-Wah is a Chinese contemporary artist,
known for his paintings and multimedia
installations created out of the visual manipulation
of text and language with distinctive cultural and
religious references.
Born in Guangdong in 1976, Tsang Kin-Wah
graduated from the Department of Fine Arts of
the Chinese University of
Hong Kong, a major cradle
where new generations of
artists are nurtured to push
Hong Kong Art onto the
international art map.
Subsequently in 2002, he
moved to London and studied
Book Art at the Camberwell
College of Arts, in which
[sic] period significantly
shaped him as an artist.
9. Tsang Kin-Wah
(Born 1976) Lives and
works in Hong Kong
Tsang made his career by creating art which
blends foul language with beautiful and pleasing
floral patterns, which are swirling and running
throughout the space, creating different layers of
interpretation. Tsang’s works are in public and
private collections, and he has exhibited locally
and globally.
10. Tsang Kin-Wah
Le Petite Mort
2011-2015
La Petite Mort_No.14
Acrylic, emulsion paint and
ink on canvas
60 x 90 cm,
La Petite Mort_No.5
Acrylic, emulsion paint and
ink on canvas
60 x 90 cm, 2011 - 2015
An expression that’s
been in use since at least
1880, literally meaning
‘the little death’ but it
refers to a brief loss or
weakening of
consciousness.
Contemporary use of this
phrase has sensual
suggestions as well.
11. In 2009, Tsang Kin-wah started off still ongoing spiritual and philosophical
series the Seven Seals by projecting texts onto the walls and floor inside a white
box. Immersed in an overwhelming storm of provocative texts, varying feelings
swell up within each viewer, the animated texts increase its speed as the
ambient sound reminiscent of cries and pain intensifies, congesting the entire
room, on a continual loop.
The First Seal - It Would Be Better If You Have
Never Been Born ...
Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 2009
Digital video & sound installation, 6 min 41
sec.
5.13 x 5.13 m
12. Taken from the Book of Revelation from the Bible, the Seven Seals series refers to the
seven symbolic seals that secure a scroll in the vision of St. John the Apostle. When a
seal is broken, a judgment is passed, and when all seven seals have been opened the
Christ will return. According to the Book, the judgment comes in the form of
apocalypse — warfare, terrorism, and natural disasters. Here, Tsang shares his
sentiment towards Nietzsche and expands his interests in the notion of human morality
and the external world. This is an urgent issue to the artist as a global citizen – to search
for meaning in a difficult time.
The First Seal - It Would Be Better If You Have
Never Been Born ...
Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 2009
Digital video & sound installation, 6 min 41
sec.
5.13 x 5.13 m
13. Tsang Kin-Wah
The Seven Seals
2009-
The Sixth Seal - HE Is Something That Should Be
Overcome. You Are Something That Should Be
Overcome.
Guangzhou, 2014
Digital video & sound installation, 6 min 36 sec.
The Fourth Seal - HE Is To No Purpose
And HE Wants To Die For The Second
Time
Nagoya, Japan 2010
Digital video & sound installation, 6
min 25 sec.
14. Tsang Kin-Wah
Video!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F5Y3kkS
EEk
Describe this artist, what stands out? Does his demeanor match his aesthetic?
• Erin: Other artists we’ve seen don’t talk about religion….more politics. But
he thinks a lot about spirituality and death.
• Anna: His main topics are spirituality, death, & Nietzsche
• KT: He takes a lot of local ideas and adds them to his work (flower pieces)
But there’s also a certain memory or idea that influences his work.
• Chess: He seems extremely reserved. He seems very “in control”
• Gio: Hmm, but his clothing seemed quite bland, so we’re assuming
that his demeanor is BLAND. But his artwork is NOT. Some of his
work MAY be juxtaposing religion/spirituality with truth/reality.
• Anna: he’s not picking sides, he’s putting all the sides out there to
the viewer to evaluate.
• Chess: He said how his teachers in Catholic school were parroting
this spirituality, without believing in it.
• Alex: For someone who seems so reserved, his work is an explosion of ideas
and feelings. His work is so much more dynamic than other artists we’ve seen
so far.
15. Tsang Kin-Wah
Video!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F5Y3kkS
EEk
Describe this artist, what stands out? Does his demeanor match his aesthetic?
• Sean: His whole spirituality vibe. In the end it comes down to spirituality.
• Kristen: He seems soft spoken, not quiet but his work touches on more hard
hitting topics.
• Michael: He’s inspired by these life and death issues.
• Tash: Like “the infinite nothing” with this vast empty landscape.
Also, I said that.
• Jess: The Christian school upbringing had an impact on him, and he had to
make up his own ideas about spirituality, since the ones being taught to him
were not genuine.
• Andia: I’m confused by whether or not he is religious. He uses a lot from
the Bible but he changes it in his work.
• Tae: When it comes to religion, it’s all up to interpretation, like
philosophy (Nietzsche)
• .Angel: His art has powerful undertones. Like the floral patterns and foul
language juxtaposition.
• Michelle: He creeps me out a little bit with the dark undertones.
16. Tsang Kin-
Wah
In addition to his immersive video installation
in the Tower 5 Gallery at the Guggenheim,
Tsang Kin-Wah created a site-specific text
installation that extends into the museum’s
passageways: including stairwells and
elevators.
These texts coil and spread throughout the
space, forming a graphic representation of how
a storyline might develop and grow over time.
No(thing / Fact) Outside
2016
vinyl
17. The texts come from a wide range of
sources, from religion to critical theory. In
particular, Tsang referenced many 19th and
20th century writings by authors such as
Jacques Derrida, Friedrich Nietzsche,
Jean-Paul Sartre, and Emil Cioran. He
interpreted, rewrote, and combined the
various texts into new philosophical and
poetic narratives. Visitors are encouraged
to read segments of the work in multiple
locations, similar to collecting clues and
piece together different storylines. The
sprawling installation also leads visitors to
different parts of the exhibition and invites
connections with the other works on
display, fusing with and expanding on
other artists’ tales in unexpected ways.
No(thing / Fact) Outside
2016
vinyl
Tsang Kin-Wah
18. Tsang Kin-Wah
Final Thoughts?
• Natalia: His work is really overwhelming, all the text,
all the words, and I’m not really sure what I’m supposed
to look at. It’s hard to focus on one part, but it’s very
immersive.
• KT: For every art piece there’s hidden messages, and
that’s literally happening here! Like with the flowers
and curse words, there’s a lot that’s open for
interpretation even though the message is directly
spelled out in front of you.
• Gio: We often forget about the power of text and
language and he reminds us of the power that words
have.
• Anna: I like how he questions the viewer’s beliefs and
provides new perspectives on the world, like in In the
End is the Word.
• JJ: I like how he takes what people consider bad and
makes it beautiful.
19. Tsang Kin-Wah
Final Thoughts?
• Rachel-no-table: I like that he uses a lot of different
authors and philosophers that give him new ideas.
Like when he uses things like flowers and gives them
different meanings with then curse words.
• Jess: He uses these “soft” ideas or images but fills
them with such harshness. I enjoy the outlook he has
on religion and spirituality in a non-traditional way.
• Michelle: I like the fact that he uses his experiences
from his youth because ….
• Cailan: It’s cool because it shows he really cares about
what happens in the past, and wants to show it to new
audiences.
• Angel: It also shows a deeper connection towards his
art. There’s contradiction in his pieces
• Kristen: It makes his piece more valid, it’s not just a
recent thought, he’s clearly considered this for a long
time.
21. “Tea in China embodies the concept
of breaking away from the old and
ushering in the new. The more
accessible and convenient it is, the
easier to create a relaxed environment
that guides and facilitates creativity.
Tea selection is crucial. Because the
right tea helps channel and balance
our inner qi.”
Yangjiang Group
阳江组
22. Yangjiang Group is an artistic group founded in 2002.
They currently live and work in Yangjiang, Guangdong
Province, China. Their work spans across multiple
genres, from performance/action to calligraphy, to
radical architecture, and more.
Yangjiang Group
阳江组
Sun Qinglin (1974,
Yangjiang, China).
Zheng Guogu (1970,
Yangjiang, China)
Chen Zaiyan (1971,
Yangchun, China)
23. Yangjiang Group
阳江组
Yangjiang Group is famous for subverting ancient
calligraphy and bringing everyday pleasures, like food and
drink, into their mixed-media art.
For TOOT, they have created an interactive tea garden for the
circular gallery overlooking Central Park, with a blood
pressure station for visitors to measure the calming effect the
installation has on their senses.
24. Unwritten Rules Cannot Be Broken
2016
Plants, pond, wooden bridge, wooden tables and
stools, teaware and accessories, and tea gathering
performance; blood pressure monitor and record
chart; acrylic latex paint; and acrylic on foam
Yangjiang Group
阳江组
25. Unwritten Rules Cannot Be Broken
2016
Plants, pond, wooden bridge, wooden tables and
stools, teaware and accessories, and tea gathering
performance; blood pressure monitor and record
chart; acrylic latex paint; and acrylic on foam
Yangjiang Group
阳江组
26. Unwritten Rules Cannot Be Broken
2016
Plants, pond, wooden bridge, wooden tables and
stools, teaware and accessories, and tea gathering
performance; blood pressure monitor and record
chart; acrylic latex paint; and acrylic on foam
Yangjiang Group
阳江组
27. Unwritten Rules Cannot Be Broken
2016
Plants, pond, wooden bridge, wooden tables and
stools, teaware and accessories, and tea gathering
performance; blood pressure monitor and record
chart; acrylic latex paint; and acrylic on foam
Yangjiang Group
阳江组
28. Unwritten Rules Cannot Be Broken
2016
Plants, pond, wooden bridge, wooden tables and
stools, teaware and accessories, and tea gathering
performance; blood pressure monitor and record
chart; acrylic latex paint; and acrylic on foam
Yangjiang Group
阳江组
29. Unwritten Rules Cannot Be Broken
2016
Plants, pond, wooden bridge, wooden tables and
stools, teaware and accessories, and tea gathering
performance; blood pressure monitor and record
chart; acrylic latex paint; and acrylic on foam
Yangjiang Group
阳江组
Erin: I don’t get how tea is art.
Chess: NAH SON, NAH…The experience is
the art.
KT: The first thing I thought of was “reading”
tea leaves, but you normally don’t see artists
doing things like this…drinking tea ALL
DAY. It adds another level to this piece.
30. Unwritten Rules Cannot Be Broken
2016
Plants, pond, wooden bridge, wooden tables and
stools, teaware and accessories, and tea gathering
performance; blood pressure monitor and record
chart; acrylic latex paint; and acrylic on foam
Yangjiang Group
阳江组
Michael: It looks like the tea saved their
marriage.
Steph: I like it but I don’t like tea. The space
is nice though. I’m more of a coffee person.
Sean: I wonder if they would support using
drugs while making art.
Lina: It’s very unusual, because most artists
here make sculptures or videos…but they’re
really expressing their culture and sharing it
with others.
Tash: The calligraphy really breaks up
standards for beauty and perfection.
Camila: I really like how the purpose of this
piece is to sit down and relax.
32. Describe the collaboration of these
artists with each other and their
audience.
Yangjiang Group
阳江组
• Chess: If it can’t be read is it really written?
• Gio: I think they compliment each other.
Their process seems very fun for them.
• Alex: They’re like the uncles who have fun.
Getting’ fat and drunk. But in a good way.
• Gio: They like the reaction and relaxation
that they get from smelling and drinking tea.
• JJ: At one point I wasn’t really sure what
they were doing. He looks like he’s just
falling and playing it off like he meant to do
it.
• KT: In the video they talk a lot about one’s
Qi and how to find balance in your life, and
how tea can help balance you out. Some of
their work seems to waste food, but in that
process they seem to make more art? It’s like
art can put you in a different mind set, like
drinking??
33. Describe the collaboration of these
artists with each other and their
audience.
Yangjiang Group
阳江组
• Tash: I like how they do their work,
they’re very carefree and chill. They
drink tea (and alcohol) and then they
make work. It’s like LIFE. We sleep and
eat and wake up. But they also make art.
• Kristen: It’s like they’ve known each
other for a very long time. And their
process seems very casual.
• Wing: The music that was playing
alongside the calligraphy reminded me
of Chinese New Year. And he was moving
the rhythm of it.
• Angel: They mentioned
• .
34. Yangjiang Group
阳江组
One person who has worked with the Yangjiang
Group is Reuben Keehan, curator of
contemporary Asian art at the Queensland Art
Gallery in Australia. In 2015 he said,“The
hegemony of the Beijing/Shanghai domination
of the art world is really starting to break
down. Different parts of China are starting to
evolve. It’s still very, very fresh but it’s a good
time for Yangjiang Group. The art world has
come to them.”
“We’re quite familiar now with the slightly
older generation of Chinese artists who were
around in the 1980s and ’90s,” he said,
“people like Ai Weiwei, Cai Guo-Qiang, Zhang
Huan. They’re people who went through the
Cultural Revolution and directly experienced
the events of the late 1980s.”
The members of Yangjiang Group, born mid-
way through the Cultural Revolution in the
early 1970s, experienced the full brunt of
China’s consumer-culture boom of the 1990s.
Cai Guo-Qiang
Sky Ladder
Ai Weiwei
(Janel’s guy!)
Sunflower seeds
Zhang Huan
Family Tree
35. Jess: It’s like they’re living a double life. Because
what they were originally known for is so
different from where they’re at now.
Angel: With all the artists we’ve seen in this
exhibit, the meaning here is SO DIFFERENT.
Like in Unwritten Rules Cannot be Broken, I
wouldn’t go so deep into it.
Camila: Adding on, I think most people would
see this as an experience without knowing the
purpose (intention) behind it.
Jess: They’re kind of bashing an pre-established
art form. They’re totally demolishing it and
flipping it over it’s head. And calling it art…again.
Tash: maybe their message is overshadowed by
the “fun” of the piece.
Final Thoughts for Yangjiang Group 阳江组?
36. Alex: Their work feels more “global” and less
about simply China’s politics.
Chess: These artists seem to focus more on
emotions than on specific cultural things. While
they use their own culture, they’re also expressing
emotions that belong to everyone.
Khiri: I LIKE THE WORK! And what they
stand for. They seem to appeal to things that we
don’t normally consider….like relaxation, daily
stresses, euphoria and alcohol, etc.
Arielle: I agree, our daily lives are really chaotic.
Nobody ever sits down to smell the tea and feel
the relaxation that it can give you.
Anna: When I get home I normally make tea…sip
it…and then I do work.
Janel: I like to TURN UP on Fri-Sun. That’s my
relax time. I’m dying for Friday.
Final Thoughts for Yangjiang Group 阳江组?
38. Zhou
Tao
Zhou Tao was born in 1976 in
Changsha, Hunan Province in
China and now resides in
Guangzhou, China.
His work has been shown in
several exhibitions, in China,
America, Norway, Luxembourg,
Italy, and Hong Kong.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=6c5GbG82qq8&t=13s
39. Zhou
Tao
Time in New york
2009
Single channel video 16’55”
https://vimeo.com/zhoutao
I wanted to do a new project about how
to deal with my New York life. I bought
ten balls of thread and [using] my body,
I created a visual motif of my daily
movement. The thread followed me
throughout my apartment and I would
use small tacks to tack the string onto
the walls wherever I would take a
moment. I recalled my every action. I
did it for twenty days in October.….
40. Zhou
Tao
Time in New york
2009
Single channel video 16’55”
https://vimeo.com/zhoutao
41. Zhou
Tao
Time in New york
2009
Single channel video 16’55”
https://vimeo.com/zhoutao
42. Zhou
Tao
Time in New york
2009
Single channel video 16’55”
https://vimeo.com/zhoutao
43. Zhou
Tao
Time in New york
2009
Single channel video 16’55”
https://vimeo.com/zhoutao
44. Zhou
Tao
Time in New york
2009
Single channel video 16’55”
https://vimeo.com/zhoutao
45. Zhou
Tao
Time in New york
2009
Single channel video 16’55”
https://vimeo.com/zhoutao
KT: I think about how one’s past
can come back to haunt him. It
was simple in the beginning but
now it’s this giant mess, like a
spider web where everything has
been placed with reason.
Erin: I would get so frustrated
with myself if I did this!
Khiri: I am so clumsy. I wouldn’t
last a day without tripping.
Chess: I adore this. It’s great.
JJ:
.
.
.
46. Zhou
Tao
Time in New york
2009
Single channel video 16’55”
https://vimeo.com/zhoutao
Michael: I could never live like
that. I get the name though, It’s like
if we could retrace our steps back in
time, we could see where we’ve
been.
Angel: it would give me anxiety
Tash: I would probably cut up the
strings.
Rachel: You can see where you’ve
been.
Camila: His work shows that we all
have routines!
Tash: You don’t realize your own
habits!
47. Zhou
Tao
https://vimeo.com/zhoutao
I made another work in New York. It’s a piece about how to walk and how to deal with reality
while walking. I think there is a gap between reality and imagination. New York and Guangzhou
are like films, different films. I make work about these locational films.
It’s funny, when walking in New York, you sometimes forget that your feet are moving below you;
all of a sudden your thoughts are taking you to another place, and there you are, you’re not in
New York anymore but you’re elsewhere, enjoying the ‘elsewhere’, forgetting that your feet are
moving you forward, and that’s just the way things are. Your subconscious takes over and spaces
keep changing. Sometimes experiences are changing when in reality nothing is really happening
to you. There are times when I’m walking and I don’t react when someone hits me on the elbow;
it’s as though I’m not there. Maybe they realize we’ve bumped into one another, but at the time it
won’t even occur to me. Then there are other times when I’m hyper-aware of my surroundings,
but they are also lifted and pulled out of reality. Maybe it’s the air, the place, the city, my walking
pace…I don’t know. Once in the park, I decided to sit down next to a man and mimic his actions,
not to joke around or hurt him, but because I thought his movements seemed so natural and I
wanted to experience his natural resting states. I was his audience and his performer. When I
performed his actions, I felt hollow because I couldn’t live up to his realness; I felt superficial.
Then there were other people who came by to take photographs, which made it quite fun. I didn’t
think about whether it was a good or bad idea; I just did it. In Guangzhou, I think I am too
familiar with everything around me so when nothing is going on, it feels like nothing is going on.
The experience is less energizing.
50. Zhou
Tao • Chess: Capturing the fleeting, what’s lost and what
remains in this ever-changing world. He tries to
capture the essence of the change, but in doing so
makes it permanent.
• KT: He’s a collector of feelings, giving inanimate
objects background stories. A subtle change in the
lens (of a camera) can show a big change in
perspective.
• -floating chair!!
• Khiri: Capturing the essence of subtle change. He
sees connections between Sci-Fi and reality.
• Gio: He does not intend to restore objective reality.
He kind of projects his perspective on the reality of
things.
• Jess: He jumps from idea to idea very quickly. It’s
hard to follow.
• .
• .
What are the big ideas that this artist is
pursuing in his work?
51. Zhou
Tao • Sean: He doesn’t see the difference between Sci-Fi
and reality.
• Cailan: My visual approach isn’t one that intends to
restore objective reality. This goes back to what we
were talking about with the gap between reality and
imagination. His work is meant to keep us in our
imagination.
• Steph: A person who stumbles along…”It’s like his
art as a collection of feelings….these collections of
little moments that matter to him. Se challenges me
to see mundane things in a new way.
• Camila: “People reveal themselves in a perpetual
cycle.” For me this means you can see what a
person’s been through by their routine(s).
• Jess: His quotes are simple and memorable
• Rachel (with table): He has no strict storyline or
plotline and focuses on the natural and physical
environments.
What are the big ideas that this artist is
pursuing in his work?
52. Zhou Tao
Lives and works in
Guangzhou
This work’s chinese title references a military term that uses
the throat’s location on the body as a metaphor for a
strategically important position or passage.
For Land of the Throat, Zhou Tao
Land of the Throat
2016
Two channel color HD video
53. Zhou Tao
Lives and works in
Guangzhou
This work’s chinese title references a military term that uses
the throat’s location on the body as a metaphor for a
strategically important position or passage.
For Land of the Throat, Zhou Tao
Land of the Throat
2016
Two channel color HD video
54. Zhou Tao
Lives and works
in Guangzhou
This work’s Chinese title references a military term that uses the throat’s
location on the body as a metaphor for a strategically important position or
passage. For Land of the Throat, Zhou Tao considered construction sites as
such critical places in his investigation of the rapid urbanization of southern
china’s Pearl River Delta. This Region’s Changing topography compelled Zhou
to examine other terrain, both real and imagined, and even the surfaces of other
planets in order to propose a recent history of humanity, the materials we
produce, and the landscapes we inhabit.
Land of the Throat
2016
Two channel color
HD video
55. Zhou Tao
Lives and works
in Guangzhou
Filmed at dusk, the work features eerie details that paradoxically would be
hidden by bright sunlight, like construction waste mounds that evoke a body’s
veins, muscles, and skin. Zhou juxtaposed such imagery with scenes that seem
unrelated—including a mooing calf chained to an industrial washing machine
and a rescue team in Shenzhen searching for landslide survivors in 2015—thus
blurring the distinctions between fact and fiction as well as natural and
manmade.
Land of the Throat
2016
Two channel color
HD video
57. Final Thoughts on
Zhou Tao
• Anna: His work confuses me.
• Kozak: you’re welcome!
• Alex: From the time i was little i used to
really dislike people that speak as if they’re
telling a story. Zhou Tao is that person. But i
like his artwork.
• KT: For his work, I like to have a story
behind it…even if there’s multiple
stories..but he seems to bounce around a lot
and it’s hard to know his true intention.
• Erin: His work is kinda confusing. My head
hurts seeing that video! I’m going from one
place to another!!
• .
58. Final Thoughts on
Zhou Tao
• Angel: I’m kinda still not like sure what his
intentions are.
• Michelle: in the video, he says he’s a
collector of feelings, and the things he says
are profound, but I’m missing the connection
with the art he makes.
• Tash: I guess the idea he’s trying to give out
is related to objectivity and being aware of
your surroundings. The way he portrays your
work is tough to get.
• Tae: He talks about walking without
realizing what he’s doing. I guess this is how
he makes his work too?
• Cailan: This talks about things that we can
relate to, like reality and objectivity.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/25/arts/international/yangjiang-group-opens-mass-group-incident-in-sydney.html
Words, names, and phrases connected to his cultural heritage are written on his face!
https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/34814
https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/34814
Asia Art Archive of America: http://www.aaa-a.org/programs/interview-with-zhou-tao/
Asia Art Archive of America: http://www.aaa-a.org/programs/interview-with-zhou-tao/