Attitude - Jiang Zhi solo exhibition


Artist: Jiang Zhi
Curator: Bao Dong
Exhibition dates: 2009.09.08—— 2009.11.08
Opening: 2009.09.07, 18:00-20:00
Osage Gallery - 93 Duolun Road
上海虹口区多伦路93号 （靠近多伦现代美术馆）
T:(86) 21 5671 3605

Google map：http://ditu.google.cn/maps?hl=zh-CN&tab=wl

Taking the concept of ‘attitude’ as a point of departure, Jiang Zhi explores how ‘attitude’ is not simply a conscious behaviour, nor merely an expression of a point of view, but a form of social rhetoric. Every form of ‘attitude’ is a node in the complex web of meaning-making. In this respect, ‘attitude’ is like a form of writing—through speech, gestures, actions, expressions, masquerades, and performances—where in its omnipresence, the protagonist and his subject is created, and the relationship between the self and other, or identity, is constructed. Thus, ‘attitude’ as rhetoric is inextricably linked to words, a ring in the chain of meanings, and forms a part of language usage. As a result, ‘attitude’ is no longer understood as a conscious decision of an individual, but as a performance of rhetoric.

This exhibition is an investigation into, and a rewriting of, the phenomenon behind rhetorical expressions. It consists of a long discussion that accompanies a series of new works by Jiang. The discussion examines different theoretical perspectives about ‘attitude’, and in so doing, creates a reservoir of meanings. This is juxtaposed against Jiang’s re-interpretation of the concept of the rhetoric. Jiang extracts fragments of the social rhetorical as found in real life situations and reconstructs them, and in the process, breaks the chain of meanings. Stripped of its language-signifier, ‘attitude’ reveals its own significance, bringing forth the criticality that lies at the heart of the deconstruction.
In 0.7% Salt, Jiang reduces the signification of women’s tears to a mere physical composite, challenging our habitual reference to its social signification. In this video, celebrity Gillian Cheung performs the delicate emotional transition from gently smiling to breaking down in tears. The work demands viewers to forsake our presuppositions; while at the same time heightens our sense of appreciation for the pure visual aesthetics of an emotional transition. Maiden, All Too Maiden! is a photographic installation consisting 100 photographs of female models each presenting an expression of coyness. ‘Coy’ is an adjective commonly used on women and is deemed a feminine characteristic. The act of performing coyness brings forth an unnaturalness that questions its attribution in everyday usage. In contrast, what happens when a performative act loses it performativity? Does it then become natural? Tremble presents the conditions for such estrangement, proposing a tensity between the ‘real’ and ‘performed’.

A series of videos presenting persons in different postures trembling...

Video of the famous Hong Kong star, Gillian Chung.
This video refers to a few incidents that the actrice encountered. She was one secretly taken in pictures as she was changing clothes. The pictures were diffused deeply hurting Gillian who cried as journalists made her interview. Two years ago, pictures of her with another actor making love were diffused on internet as well. However she didn't cried as she did before, at the surprise of the journalists. She said that the fact of not crying didn't mean she wasn't hurt...