THINK.. THANK.. TALK: Five Chinese Photographers Invited to the Madrid International Photography Festival

An exhibition of artwork by the five Chinese photographers (Gao Shiqiang, Dong Wensheng, Han Lei, Jiang Zhi, Jin Shi) invited to the 2nd Madrid International Photography Festival 2010, held in the Spanish capital and the center of culture, art and industry, was opened to the public in Beijing. The artwork was exhibited in the Iberia Center for Contemporary Art (http://www.iberiart.org) fromJune 25 to July 27, 2010.

The interior and exterior of the Iberia Center for Contemporary Art, in Chaoyang District, Beijing, China

The Iberia Center for Contemporary Art, the first art center established in China by the International Art & Culture Foundation of Spain, has multiple functions including exposition, research, education, and the collection of the contemporary art. The center has a large collection of visual media, conceptual photography, modern photography and documentaries.

With its media library, the center is one of the most important organizations for contemporary photography and videos in China. The five Chinese photographers, all born around the 1970s, represent a newly emerging group bringing a new wave of contemporary art. For them, visual media and installation art constitute the important language of art. They ceaselessly raise questions in areas of humanities including history, society, tradition and culture with diverse methods of communication, and pursue their search to enlighten people through this language. Gao Shiqiang was born in 1971, and is currently teaching in the Department of Synthetic Art at the China Academy of Art. In February 1995, he founded a sculpture group with two other friends and started creating experimental pieces of art. In 1996, the group participated to the "1st China Video Art Fair" with the video installation "Seen & Unseen Life". After finishing his Master's education in Shanghai in 2003, Gao Shiqiang returned to his alma mater to become a teacher. Although he works independently, he is seen to have started the contemporary art movement the "Hangzhou Visual Media Movement" with several other artists. His creations further developed into his second phase; "video sculpture".

It was during this period that he created a massive quantity of experimental short films. Gao Shiqiang's work from 2007 to the present, which mainly consists of films, constitute what is often referred to as his third or "flourishing" phase. He recently participated in Shanghai Biennale (China), Guangzhou Triennale (China), Gwangju Biennale (Korea) and China Art Guangzhou Triennale (China), and has been gaining interest ever since. Gao Shiqiang is one of few "academic" artists in the newly emerging Chinese contemporary creative arts. His art, which includes installations, photography and experimental films, raise questions in a grandiose reflection of the history and culture of China.

Gao Shiqing
Total Eclipse-1, Photography, 110×137cm, 2010

Gao Shiqing
Total Eclipse-11, Photography, 110×165cm, 2010

Born in 1970 in Jiangsu, Dong Wensheng graduated from the Department of Industrial Arts at Changzhou Teachers College Of Technology in 1991. In 1999, he participated in the "China Contemporary Photography (Italy, Milano)" exhibition, and in 2001, he was invited to the "September Festival" (Nice, France).

His exhibitions include "Living in Interesting Times: A Decade of New Chinese Photography (Israel, Open Photo Gallery)" in 2005, "The 13th: Chinese Video Now (U.S., New-York P.S.1 Modern Art Center)" in 2006, and works in other significant international art organizations such as the Vienna Gallery and the Museum of Fine Arts of Valencia. All Dong Wensheng's artwork demonstrates his close relationship with Changzhou, a small town, south of the Yangtze River in China, where he currently lives.

His main creations consist of photography, installations and experimental films each expressed through elements of traditional culture of China such as gardens, rocks, tattoos, and skulls. From his initial work, the back garden series and the still-life series to the most recent series of artwork, the primary element of which is a human skull, he focuses on an established scenery and exposes the mysterious, surrealistic and unworldly feelings hidden within, raising questions and reflections concerning more abstract, philosophical conceptions such as time, existence, and emptiness. Han Lei was born in Kaifeng, Henan, China, in 1967. He studied at the Central Academy of Craft and Design in Beijing.

Currently working in Beijing, Han Lei has held personal exhibition tours which included cities such as Shanghai (China), Berlin (Germany), and Helsinki (Finland), and has participated in numerous international photography fairs, in the U.S., France, Germany, Italy, and Denmark among others. In 1998, he was awarded the Mother Jones International Fund for Documentary Photography Award (U.S.) for "Rail & Men", and in 2007, he was invited to the "China Modern Arts Fair" organized by Gwangju Art Museum (Korea).

As an artist, Han Lei stands to his principle: "One can never trust the apparent truth". His artwork maintains the "truth" of the actual scenery, but at the same time incorporates his personal sentiments. The intervention of personal and subjective feelings invariably creates an unusual, extreme instability to the actual scenery in the photograph. Even his portrait photography conveys an expression far distant from the "truth". He selects a person with a clearly identifiable social standing, then positions them in an atypical surrounding. The truth that we perceive through the person is obscured and twisted by conflicting judgments and definitions, which forms the constituents of the "illusion of truth".

Dong Wensheng
The Convert No.1, Photography, 122×101cm, 2009

Dong Wensheng
The Convert No.2, Photography, 122×101cm, 2009

Dong Wensheng
The Convert No.4, Photography, 122×101cm, 2009

Dong Wensheng
The Convert No.5, Photography, 122×101cm, 2009

Jiang Zhi
Yang Jia's Landscape No.01, C-Print, 167×100×6cm, 2008
Photo: Yang Jia
Selected and Produced by Jiang Zhi

Jiang Zhi
Yang Jia's Landscape No.02, C-Print, 60×60×3.5cm, 2008
Photo: Yang Jia
Selected and Produced by Jiang Zhi

Jin Shi
Run Fast No.02, Photography, 30×30cm, 2009

Jin Shi
Small Business Karoake No3, Photography, 90×120cm

Jin Shi
Playground No.2, Photography, 75×100cm, 2007

The work of Han Lei can be divided into three phases. The first phase includes photographs emphasizing relative objectivity, dating back to his early career. These are "observational" photographs where his personal opinion and sentiment are least apparent. The second phase consists of photographs that maintain the "truth" of the scenery, but have an emphasis on his subjective conscience.

The third phase comprises photographs in which Han Lei's artistic conscience, developed throughout his life and experience, is more deeply involved. These include portraits of "fictional" subjects, created with various props. The artwork in this exhibition belongs to this last phase of photography. Han Lei's photography shows a development from the initial, technical phase to the conceptual phase where the artist's sentiment and reflection are more visible in his work.

Jiang Zhi was born in 1971 in Hunan. He graduated from the China Academy of Fine Art in 1995, and is currently working in Beijing. In addition to photography, he also works with short films and documentaries. In 2000, he was awarded the "Chinese Contemporary Art Award (CCAA)", and in 2003, he received an award for his short film "KongLong" at the IFVA Short Film & Video Festival in Hong Kong. Jiang Zhi was invited to the Gwangju Biennale (Korea) and the Guangzhou Triennale (China) in 2002, and also participated in the Venice Biennale in 2003. He has recently been receiving a lot of attention in numerous Biennials, film festivals and exhibitions, in various countries including Switzerland, the Netherlands and the U.S.

Jiang Zhi's artwork series "YangJia's Landscape" included in this exhibition are not pieces he created himself, but consist of photographs he downloaded from Yang Jia's blog which detail his controversial actions. In 2008 in Shanghai, China, a young man on a bicycle was stopped and questioned by a police officer for no apparent reason. Instead of complying with the officer's request, the young man refused and responded with insults and abusive language. Later, he requested that the police department present a written apology, and grew upset as the police apparently ignored his request. Determined to propagate the incident nationwide, the young man proceeded to the kill six police officers. Yang Jia was later arrested and sentenced to death. When Jiang Zhi learned about the incident, he decided, as an artist, to look at Yang Jia through his art and act as a journalist reporting on contemporary Chinese society. Through his "Yang Jia's Landscape" series, Jiang Zhi conveys the intricacy and subtlety that exists between the artist, journalist and spectator.

Born in 1976 in Henan, Jin Shi graduated from the Department of Sculpture at the Academy of Art, and is currently working in Hangzhou. In 2009, his artwork "Unreal Reality" was awarded the Festival Saab Award in the PhotoEspaña Festival, the world's biggest photography festival which takes place in Spain.
Through his numerous installations and photography including "Half Life", "Petty, Life" and "Small Business Karaoke" series, Jin Shi shows the multifaceted aspects of the life of the lower class in China that he himself sees, and conveys the humorous sentiment hidden within their mundane world.

The five artists participating in the festival, all of whom were born in the 1970s, share a common background. In the continuously changing Chinese society, they each express the different worlds they see through their own arts and communication methods, installations, photography, videos, sculptures, and others. As they raise questions in the diverse social, cultural and historical aspects of China, we, as spectators, are charmed and fascinated by their ceaseless efforts. Ta