Life and Death: Art and the Body in Contemporary China

Life and Death: Art and the Body in Contemporary China

Life and Death: Art and the Body in Contemporary China

Silvia Fok

Intellect Bristol, UK / Chicago, USA

First published in the UK in 2013 by

Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK

First published in the USA in 2013 by

Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA

Copyright © 2013 Silvia Fok

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Cover designer: Holly Rose

Copy-editor: MPS Technologies

Production manager: Melanie Marshall

Typesetting: John Teehan

ISBN 978-1-84150-626-5/EISBN 978-1-84150-764-4

Printed and bound by Hobbs the Printers Ltd, UK

Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Preface

Chapter 1: Life, Death and the Body in Art in the PRC

The production and reception of contemporary Chinese art

The artist’s body as a revolutionary tool in contemporary Chinese art: Somatic perception and criticism

Life, death and the body in art

Tactile materiality of corpse in art

Tactile materiality of skull in art

Overview of the book

Notes

Chapter 2: The Role of the Body in Representing Death in Art: Simulation of Death versus Dying in the Name of Art versus Photography Documenting Dying and Death

Simulation of death

– Wei Guangqing, Suicide Project, 1988

– Lanzhou Art Army, Funeral/Burial, 1993

– The SHS Group, Big Glass, Paradise in a Dream, 1993

– Huang Yan, Lying on the Rail, Suicide/Murder News, 1996

– Zhu Gang, Obituary, 1999

– Zhou Bin, A Traffic Accident Scene, 1999

– Xing Danwen, Urban Fiction, 2004–present

Dying in the name of art

– Qi Li, Ice Burial, 1992

– Zhang Shengquan (Da Zhang), Dying on 1 January 2000

Photography documenting dying and death

– Wang Youshen, Before and After Grandmother Passed Away, 1989–1995

– Song Yongping, My Parents, 1999–2001

Conclusion

Notes

Chapter 3: Animal Body in Art

Human body interacting with animal body

– Zhang Peili, Document of Hygiene No. 3, 1991

– Dai Guangyu, Incontinence, 2005

– Wang Jin, To Marry a Mule, 1995

– Wang Chuyu, Pigeon Dinner, 1999

– Zhang Shengquan, To Cross/To Carry a Goat, 1996

– Sun Yuan and Xiao Yu, Herdsman, 1998

– Xu Zhen, But I Don’t Need Anything (I’m Not Asking for Anything), 1999

– Wu Gaozhong, Birthday on 28 May, 2000

– Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, A Safe Island, 2003

Animal bodies interacting among one another

– Xu Bing, A Case Study of Cultural Transference, 1994

– Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, Dogs Cannot Touch Each Other: Controversy Model, 2003

Display of living and dead animal body

– Xiao Yu, Ruan, 1999

– Yang Maoyuan, Inflated Horse, 2001

– Xu Bing, Wild Zebra, 2002

Conclusion

Notes

Chapter 4: Corporeal Materials in Art

Human body interacting with body parts

– Zhu Yu, Basics of Total Knowledge No. 4, 1998–1999

– Zhu Yu, Skin Graft, 2000

Human body interacting with corpses

– Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, Body Link, 2000

– Zhu Yu, Eating People, 2000

– Zhu Yu, Sacrifice: Feed a Dog with His Child, 2002

Human ashes as material in art

– Dai Guangyu, Be Lost, 1999

– Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, One or All, 2004

– Xu Bing, Where Does the Dust Collect?, 2004

Human blood as material in art

– Yang Zhichao, Macau, 2005

Human hair as material in art

– Leung Mee Ping, Memorise the Future, 1998–2002

– Gu Wenda, United Nations – China Monument: The Great Wall of People, 2004

– He Chengyao, The Possibility of Hair, 2006

Human body as material in art

– Yang Zhichao and Ai Weiwei, Hide, 2002

– Yang Zhichao, Revelation No. 1: Earth, 2004

– He Yunchang, A Rib/Night Light, 2008–2009

Conclusion

Notes

Chapter 5: Transformative Roles of the Body in Art

The role of the human body from manipulating representation to presentation of ideas

The role of the animal body from object of representation to subject of art or art materials

The role of corporeal materials from subject of representation to art materials

Life, death and the body represented through technology in contemporary Chinese art

– Song Dong, Touching My Father (Parts 1–3), 1997, 2002–2011, 2011

– Song Dong, Listening to My Family Talking about How I was Born, 2001

– Song Dong, Father and Son with My Daughter, 1998–2010

– Song Dong, Chinese Medicine Healing Story, 2004–2011

Conclusion: The significance of the body in contemporary Chinese art as a whole

Notes

List of Illustrations

1.1. Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, Reading for Three Female Corpses , 1997, performance, Courtesy of the artist.

1.2. Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, Reading for Male and Female Corpses , 1998, performance, Courtesy of the artist.

1.3. Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, The Dinner with Cancer II , 1994, installation, Courtesy of the artist.

1.4. Zhang Yang, Getting Home , 2007, film still, Courtesy of Filmko Films Distribution (HK) Limited.

1.5. Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, The Class , 2005, in the Conversations with Death on Life’s First Street series, video, Courtesy of the artist.

1.6. Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, Death Seminar 4 , 2005, in the Conversations with Death on Life’s First Street series, video, Courtesy of the artist.

1.7. Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, Death Seminar 6 , 2005, in the Conversations with Death on Life’s First Street series, video, Courtesy of the artist video.

1.8. Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, Stars Arrives on Time , 2005, in the Conversations with Death on Life’s First Street series, video, Courtesy of the artist.

1.9. Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, Conversations with Death on Life’s First Street , 2005, video installation, Courtesy of the artist.

1.10. Anothermountainman (Stanley Wong), Impermanence , 2009, installation, Charming Experience, Hong Kong Museum of Art, February–April 2009, Courtesy of the artist.

1.11. Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, I am Living , 2002, video, 25 min., installation at 8 th Istanbul Biennial, 20 September – 16 November 2003, Courtesy of the artist.

1.12. Damien Hirst, For the Love of God, 2007, Platinum, diamonds and human teeth, 6 3/4 x 5 x 7 1/2 in. (17.1 x 12.7 x 19.1 cm), Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd, Courtesy White Cube / © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS 2012.

1.13. Damien Hirst, The Fear of Death (Full Skull), 2007, Resin and flies, Unique multiple 18 of 30, 7 1/16 x 5 3/8 x 8 1/16 in. (18 x 13.6 x 20.5 cm) Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd, Courtesy White Cube / © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS 2012.

2.1. Wei Guangqing, Suicide Project , 1988, performance, Wuhan, Courtesy of the artist.

2.2. Wei Guangqing, Suicide Project , February 1989, installation and performance, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, Courtesy of the artist.

2.3. Zhang Peili and Geng Jianyi, Wrapping Series I: King and Queen , 1987, performance, Courtesy of the artists.

2.4. Lanzhou Art Army, Funeral/Burial , December 1992 – January 1993, performance, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, Courtesy of Yang Zhichao.

2.5. Neo-History Group, Sterilisation , 1992, performance, Guangzhou, and Wuhan, Courtesy of the artists.

2.6. The SHS Group, Big Glass, Paradise in a Dream , 22 October 1993, performance, Huangshi Cultural Palace, Hubei Province, Courtesy of the artists.

2.7. The Gao Brothers, Sense of Space , 2000, performance photograph, Courtesy of the artists.

2.8. Huang Yan, Lying on the Rail, Suicide / Murder News , 14 March 1996, mail art, Jinan, Shandong Province, Courtesy of the artist.

2.9. Zhu Gang, Obituary , December 1999, installation, Chengdu, Courtesy of the artist.

2.10. Zhou Bin, A Traffic Accident Scene , 1999, performance photograph, Chengdu, Courtesy of the artist.

2.11. Xing Danwen, Urban Fiction, Image 0 , 2004, 170 x 241.8 cm, Courtesy of the artist.

2.12. Yasumasa Morimura, A Requiem: MISHIMA, 1970.11.25 – 2006.4.6, Type C-print, 150 x 120cm, 2006, Courtesy of the artist and Yoshiko Isshiki Office, Tokyo.

2.13. Fu Baoshi, Qu Yuan , 1953, ink and colour on paper, 61.6 x 88.3 cm, family collection, Courtesy of the artist’s family.

2.14. Wang Youshen, Before and After Grandmother Passed Away , 1989–1995, photography, Courtesy of the artist.

2.15. Bill Viola, Nantes Triptych , 1992, Video/sound installation, 4.6 x 9.7 x 16.8 m, Three channels of color front and rear video projection, in triptych form; central panel of scrim material mounted in front of an empty enclosed room, adjoining wing panels of rear screen material; amplified stereo sound; two channels of amplified mono sound, Courtesy of Bill Viola Studio.

2.16. Song Yongping, My Parents , 1999–2001, photography, Courtesy of the artist.

3.1. Zhang Peili, Document of Hygiene No. 3 , 1991, performance, Hangzhou, Courtesy of the artist.

3.2. Yang Zhenzhong, 922 Rice Corns, 2000, video, 8 min, Courtesy of the artist.

3.3. Yang Zhenzhong, Happy Family , 1995, photography, Courtesy of the artist.

3.4. Dai Guangyu , Incontinence, 2005, performance, Tokyo Art Project Gallery, 798 Art District, Images taken by the author, Courtesy of the artist.

3.5. Wang Jin, To Marry a Mule , 28 July 1995, performance, Guangying Village, Chaoyang District, Beijing, Courtesy of the artist.

3.6. Wang Jin, Quick Stir Frying RMB , 1995, performance, Jianxi Hotel, Xicheng District, Beijing, Courtesy of the artist.

3.7. Wang Jin, Ice 96, Central China , 1996, performance, Henan, Courtesy of the artist.

3.8. Wang Chuyu, Pigeon Dinner , 11 April 1999, performance, Mangfeng Bar, Beijing, Courtesy of the artist.

3.9. Sun Yuan and Xiao Yu, Herdsman , 1998, installation and performance, the Mausoleum of Ming Emperors, Beijing, Courtesy of the artists.

3.10. Xu Zhen, But I Don’t Need Anything (I’m Not Asking for Anything), 1999, performance, Shanghai, about 1 hour, record by video, Projector, DVD, Colour, Stereo, Courtesy of the artist.

3.11. Cang Xin, Bath , 28 August 2000, performance, Huairou, Beijing, First Open Art Platform, Courtesy of the artist.

3.12. Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, A Safe Island , July 2003, installation and performance, Nanjing, Courtesy of the artists.

3.13. Xu Bing, A Case Study of Cultural Transference , 1994, performance, Hanmo Art Gallery, Beijing, Courtesy of the artist.

3.14. Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, Dogs Cannot Touch Each Other: Controversy Model, September 2003, installation and performance, Beijing, Courtesy of the artists.

3.15. Xiao Yu, Ruan , 1999, installation, Courtesy of the artist.

3.16. Yang Maoyuan, Inflated Horse, 2001, installation, Courtesy of the artist.

3.17. Xu Bing, Wild Zebra, 2002, The First Guangzhou Triennial, Courtesy of the artist.

4.1. Zhu Yu, Basics of Total Knowledge No. 4 , 1998–1999, performance, Beijing and Shanghai, Courtesy of the artist.

4.2. Huang Yan, Flesh Landscape 2, 2000, photography, Courtesy of the artist.

4.3. Zhu Yu, Skin Graft , 2000, performance, Infatuated with Injury Exhibition, Courtesy of the artist.

4.4. Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, Body Link , 2000, performance, Infatuated with Injury Exhibition, Courtesy of the artists.

4.5. Zhu Yu, Eating People , 14 October 2000, performance, Beijing, Courtesy of the artist.

4.6. Zhu Yu, Eating People , 2004, sculpture, Courtesy of the artist.

4.7. Zhu Yu, Sacrifice: Feed a Dog with his Child , 29 April 2002, performance, Beijing, Courtesy of the artist.

4.8. Dai Guangyu, Be Lost , April–May 1999, performance, Chengdu, Nanjing, and Shanghai, Courtesy of the artist.

4.9. Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, One or All , 2004, installation, Courtesy of the artists.

4.10. Xu Bing, Where Does the Dust Collect? , 2004, installation, Courtesy of the artist.

4.11. Yang Zhichao, Macau , 2005, performance, Beijing, Courtesy of the artist.

4.12. Leung Mee Ping, Memorise the Future, 1998–2002, installation, Courtesy of the artist.

4.13a. Gu Wenda, United Nations – The Great Wall of People , 2000, site-specific installation with 1500 solid human hair bricks and hair curtains made of one ton of Chinese hair, commissioned by Millennium Art Museum, China, the Millennium Art Museum, and Albright Knox Gallery, Buffalo, U.S.A, Courtesy of the artist and the Millennium Art Museum.

4.13b. Installation view of Wenda Gu’s United Nations – China Monument: The Great Wall of People , 2004, featured in The Wall: Reshaping Contemporary Chinese Art, on view at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY from 21 October 2005 – 29 January 2006. Photograph by Tom Loo, Courtesy of the artist and Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY.

4.14. He Chengyao, The Possibility of Hair , 2006, performance, Chinese Arts Centre, Manchester, United Kingdom, Image taken by the author, Courtesy of the artist.

4.15. Yang Zhichao and Ai Weiwei, Hide , 2002, performance, Beijing, Courtesy of the artists.

4.16. Yang Zhichao, Revelation No. 1: Earth , 14 July 2004, performance, Jianwai Soho, Beijing, Courtesy of the artist.

4.17. He Yunchang, A Rib / Night Light , 2008–9, performance, Courtesy of the artist.

5.1. Wang Keping, Idol , 1979, birch wood, h. 57cm, Courtesy of Wang Keping and 10 Chancery Lane Gallery.

5.2a. Zhang Peili, Uncertain Pleasure , 1996, video installation with 12 monitors and 4 channels, Installation View at Basel, 1996, Courtesy of the artist.

5.2b. Zhang Peili, Uncertain Pleasure , 1996, video installation with 12 monitors and 4 channels, Installation View at Geneva, 1996, Courtesy of the artist.

5.2c. Zhang Peili, Uncertain Pleasure , 1996, video installation with 12 monitors and 4 channels, details, Courtesy of the artist.

5.3. Xu Zhen, Shout , 1999, video, Projector, DVD, Colour, Stereo, 4 minutes, Courtesy of the artist.

5.4. Wang Wei, Three Worlds , 2001, installation and performance, Courtesy of the artist.

5.5. Zhang Huan, Cowskin Buddha Face No. 12 , 2010, 270 x 201 x 47 cm, Courtesy of the artist.

5.6. Zhang Hongnian, To Stimulate Deep Thought , 1979, oil on canvas, Courtesy of the artist.

5.7. Huang Yan, Chinese Shan-shui Tattoo 1, 1999, photography, Courtesy of the artist.

5.8. Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, Civilisation Pillar , 2001, sculpture, human oil, Courtesy of the artists.

5.9. Song Dong, Touching My Father (Parts 1 – 3) , 1997, 2002–2011, 2011, installation, Courtesy of the artist.

5.10. Song Dong, Listening to My Family Talking about How I was Born , 2001, installation, Courtesy of the artist.

5.11. Song Dong, Father and Son with My Daughter , 1998–2010, installation, Courtesy of the artist.

5.12. Song Dong, Chinese Medicine Healing Story , 2004–2011, installation, Courtesy of the artist.

Acknowledgements

This publication is an expansion of a chapter of my Ph.D. thesis titled Performance Art and the Body in Contemporary China completed at the University of Hong Kong in 2008. I must begin by thanking in particular Professor David Clarke, who supervised this research project, illuminating my writing. In the preparation of this publication, I have been benefited from the valuable advice of Dr Paris Lau, who is a colleague of mine at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

I would like to express my special thanks to Melanie and the team at Intellect Books for their tremendous support of different sorts in the realisation of this book.

Without the support of the artists, this publication would not be made possible. I would like to thank them all for permitting me to publish the images of their works. They are: Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, Stanley Wong, Damien Hirst, Wei Guangqing, Chishe (Zhang Peili and Geng Jianyi), Lanzhou Art Army (Cheng Li and Yang Zhichao), Neo-History Group (Ren Jian), The SHS Group (Hua Jiming), The Gao Brothers (Gao Zhen and Gao Qiang), Huang Yan, Zhu Gang, Zhou Bin, Xing Danwen, Yasumasa Morimura, Fu Ershi, Wang Youshen, Bill Viola, Song Yongping, Yang Zhenzhong, Dai Guangyu, Wang Jin, Wang Chuyu, Xiao Yu, Sun Yuan and PengYu, Xu Zhen, Cang Xin, Xu Bing, Yang Maoyuan, Zhu Yu, Yang Zhichao, Ai Weiwei, Leung Mee Ping, Gu Wenda, He Chengyao, He Yunchang, Wang Keping, Wang Wei, Zhang Huan, Zhang Hongnian, Song Dong. I would also like to thank Filmko Films Distribution (HK) Limited for allowing me to publish an image of a film still of Getting Home.

Last but not least, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the unstinting support of my friends in different fellowships.

Preface

The question of life and death has long been the focus of world literature and comparative philosophy. Life and death are two faces of the same coin. They coexist but are also mutually exclusive. There is life and there is death. If there is no life, there is no death. Existence is Janus-faced. It is a condition of humanity to live and die. The beginning brings joy to the world but the end is always tragic. It is therefore heroic to toss the coin of existence and make a wilful choice between the two. William Shakespeare has reformulated the existential issue in binary terms. One either lives or dies. When Hamlet asked in his self-reflective soliloquy: To be or not to be, that is the question, it became a question of choice before the tragic end of life. Though the difficult situation imposed itself upon the inexperienced Prince of Denmark, the tragic hero always had a choice and it is such a choice which made him heroic and human at the same time.

In the Chinese culture, the question of life and death is associated with the Confucian virtues of filial piety, civility, righteousness and benevolence. In his sick bed, Zengzi checked the integrity of his hands and legs, as anxious as diving in deep waters and treading on thin ice. Harming the physical body was considered disrespectful to the parents. Xunzi defined civility as meticulous care given to life from the beginning till death in the end. If both the beginning and the end are virtuous, the way of humanity is consummate. Mencius postulated the exclusive choice between the wish for life and that for righteousness. For the sake of righteousness, life should be sacrificed. Confucius advocated not to harm benevolence for the sake of life, but to kill the body for the fulfillment of benevolence. In the Chinese culture, the ethical concerns for virtue precede the issue of life and death.

Against such literary and philosophical backgrounds of China and the West, Silvia Fok’s book Life and Death: Art and the Body in Contemporary China summarises efforts of an emergent generation of artists who brought forth new perspectives to the old issues of life and death. It foregrounds various experimental attempts in contemporary China, which refused to search for the heroic and the virtuous but moved back to pay closer attention to the physical and the corporeal. The artistic works highlight the bodies in existence where old issues are confronted and new questions are raised. What is the relationship between the artists, the material world and art? Is it true that the artists in certain creative processes transform the world of materials into the world of art? Does life belong to the artistic world of eternity while death belongs to the existential world of decadence? What if the artists cease to be the representing subjects but themselves become the objects of representation? What if the creative process does not transform the external world of objects but partakes of the self-transformations of the artists? What if life is real and corporeal while death is simulated and ritualistic? In this book, the readers and the artists are connected in terms of the physical body through which the binary oppositions of life and death are deconstructed and reconstituted.

– Paris Chi-chuen Lau

HK Polytechnic University

Chapter 1

Life, Death and the Body in Art in the PRC

The production and reception of contemporary Chinese art

The first unofficial Stars Exhibition (Xingxing meizhan) held in the garden outside the National Art Museum of China in September 1979, with the unexpected demonstration on National Day of 1979 drawing much local and international media attention, marks the beginning of contemporary art in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Their pursuit of autonomy of art and freedom of expression is not yet realised under the Chinese Communist Party regime.¹ Nevertheless, contemporary Chinese art, both in the PRC and abroad, has caught much western attention in the past two decades.² A number of large-scale contemporary Chinese art exhibitions have been organised in different places outside the PRC.³ Chinese curators and overseas galleries have collaborated in mounting art exhibitions and introducing the works of Chinese artists. At the same time, a lot of small-scale experimental art exhibitions have been made possible in the PRC despite being frequently intervened in and closed down by the authorities.⁴ All public events, including cultural and art-related conferences, performances and tours involving foreigners must seek approval from the Ministry of Culture. If they find it subversive, they would close it down.⁵ Different forms of exhibitions, whether they are held in the artist’s apartment or studio, in the gallery or outdoors, have emerged in the PRC. Some Chinese artists were invited to take part in the 45th Venice Art Biennale in 1993.⁶ It was a starting point for them to be subsumed and included in the western art world even though they were still inexperienced at exhibiting internationally at that time. The 48th Venice Art Biennale" (1999) allocated different exhibition pavilions for Chinese artists. For instance, in the Aperto section, there were 19 Chinese artists, including Cai Guoqiang, Chen Zhen and Wang Du who have been living abroad, mostly in the United States and in France; Zhang Huan who commutes between New York and Beijing; and others who are based in the PRC.⁷ Taiwanese artists also showed their