Group exhibitions celebrating contemporary art scenes from abroad are a common occurrence in Shanghai. However, as one of the city’s most acclaimed institutions, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal does something different with their latest exhibition, bringing together five British artists to respond to the curatorial idea of The Distant Unknown.
Curator Jiang Jiehong admits that the original idea was to pair British and Chinese artists to have works in separate halls, “as if to build a dialogue between the Western and Eastern spheres.”
While the idea was later abandoned for a variety of reasons, Jiang had already collected a handful of outstanding works, including pieces by Turner Prize-nominated artists Isaac Julien and Cornelia Parker.
Currently the head of research at Birmingham School of Art, as well as the Director of the Centre of Chinese Visual Arts at Birmingham City University, Jiang’s curatorial skills have been lauded thanks to past exhibitions like the 4th Guangzhou Triennial.
He explains that all the collected work corresponds with the conceptual idea that Jiang had developed with the museum’s Executive Director, Zhang Peili, to expose the human vulnerability that comes with distance – physical or psychological.
“We tend to assume that modern hi-tech devices can feed us everything we know and take us anywhere in the world,” Jiang explains. “But when exposed to a foreign culture, we instantly lose the connection and find ourselves estranged.”
With six pieces, The Distant Unknown explores the concept of distance while showcasing the latest trends in British contemporary art across a range of mediums from photography (Cornelia Parker) to sound (Susan Philipsz).
Renowned installation artist and filmmaker Isaac Julien’s five-screen installation, 'Stones Against Diamonds (Ice Cave)' dominates the center of Exhibition Hall A. It’s almost impossible to walk away as its recurring images of glacial, almost alien landscapes have a hypnotic effect.
Carefully placed next to Julien’s work is Katie Peterson’s 'Candle (from Earth into a Black Hole)'. This fascinating piece is designed to manipulate the viewer’s senses of sight and smell through a candle that consists of 23 layers that are burned down after 12 hours – each emitting a unique scent that refers to planets and objects in the solar system.
Exhibition Hall B is taken over by Ben Rivers’ 'There is a Happy Land Further Away.' The 20-minute film features footage of recorded landscapes on the remote South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu prior to its attack by a deadly cyclone last year.
The quiet solitude of the exhibition hall, the footage of an exotic land and the nervous dabbing voice emitted by the headphones create a beautiful yet sad picture that defines the idea of distance from every angle.
Until August 28 (Tues-Sun), 10am-6pm, free entry. OCT Contemporary Art Terminal.
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