A Room of One's Own

ChART Contemporary collaborates with Chen Ke for Open House: A Room of One's Own-the fourth in a series of curatorial experiments reflecting our mission of bringing together art and people. Join us on March 28 from 2:00 – 6:00 p.m.
For location details visit: www.chartcontemporary.com on March 26, 2010

Open House: A Room of One’s Own is a site-specific installation conceptualized by Chen Ke and inspired by Virginia Woolf’s 1928 text- A Room of One’s Own. Woolf addresses the feminist movement through the assertion that a woman cannot write fiction without money and a room of her own. Using Woolf’s argument as a point of departure, Chen Ke invites us inside the psyche of a young woman who has relocated to Beijing in an ambitious attempt to succeed economically and socially. While Woolf might argue that this imaginary young woman has the tools for success, we are faced with an internal conflict as we try to resolve the overwhelming sense of boredom, loneliness and frustration that permeates throughout the tiny room leaving us vulnerable and longing for more. On one hand we are voyeurs observing the private world of a woman who has technically achieved freedom by securing her own space. On the other hand we cannot avoid the underlying sense of fragility and uncertainty, which echoes the reality for a generation of young Chinese dreamers trying to make it in the big city. Open House: A Room of One’s Own is an installation created from tailor made clothing, all based on the artist’s measurements, and household objects.

Ms. Chen was born in Tongjiang County in 1978. After receiving an MFA in painting from the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, she relocated to Beijing in 2005 to pursue her career as a painter. Her practice deals primarily with personal experience, memory and identity. Often called “cute”, her seemingly upbeat and colorful paintings exude feelings of loneliness and longing, which reveal the reality for a generation of Chinese people born into the one-child family structure. She continually experiments with new materials and painting techniques to create multi-layered canvases, powerful installations and photographs.

Open House embodies ChART Contemporary’s mission of bringing together art and people through curatorial initiatives that educate, stimulate and support the production of new works by emerging artists. Open House is inspired by marketing tools used by local real estate developers to sell property based on showrooms that are designed to reflect the living standards desired in China today. The Open House series evolved from the American marketing concept where doors are opened to the public for an afternoon and potential buyers, renters and lookers are invited to visit a property. Open House presents a new project by an emerging artist for one afternoon in a space that is for rent, sale, or slated for demolition.

ChART Contemporary is a Beijing-based curatorial lab created by Megan and KC Vienna Connolly. We are on the ground working as a conduit between the East and West to provide a fresh outlook on contemporary art and architecture in China and around the world. Our services include customized art experiences, collection management, education programs, and curatorial initiatives. We are cultural producers who are committed to creating an open platform for artistic expression, exchange, and production through research, education and curatorial integrity.