Wang Gongxin-Wang Gongxin-Wang Gongxin
WANG GONGXIN 王功新
Wang Gongxin was born in Beijing in 1960 and graduated in 1982 from the Beijing Normal University. He lived in New York for a few years and went back to Beijing where he and his wife, the artist Lin Tianmiao, live since. As one of the pioneers of new media art in China he mainly realizes videos and installations representing various aspects of Chinese culture and society, as well as interface between China and the West.
Wang Gongxin and his wife, Lin Tianmiao
WANG GONGXIN BIOGRAPHY
1960 Born in Beijing, China
1982 Obtained Bachelor of Art from Capital Normal University, China
1987 Visiting Scholar, Suny at Cortland and Albany, NY, U.S.A
2003-Now Guest Professor at Central Academy of Fine Art Exhibitions
2007 All about Laughter - humor in contemporary art, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
2007 The Real Thing - Contemporary Art from China, Tate Liverpool, UK
2007 “Art in Motion”, Long March Space, Beijing, China
2006 Fiction@Love / Forever Young Land, MoCA, Shanghai, China
2006 The Moscow Photo Biennale 2006, Moscow, Russia
2006 Projected Realities: Video Art from East Asia, Asia Society and Museum, New York, U.S.A
2006 Humanistic Shan-Shui: an Exhibition of Contemporary Sculpture Art, Huizhou, China
2006 European Media Art Festival, Osnabrueck, Germany
2005 Rapt: Austral-Asia Zero Five, Sherman Galleries, Sydney, Australia
2005 “ElectroScape”, Zendai Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China
2005 “Between Past and Future”, Victoria and Albert Museum, UK
2005 “The New Works of Wang Gongxin & Lin Tianmiao”, Courtyard Gallery Annex, Beijing, China
2005 “About Beauty”, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
2005 “Soul”, Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Bruges, Belgium
2004 “All under Heaven”, Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
2004 “Le Moine et le Demon”, Museum of Art Contemporary Lyon, France
2004 2004 WWVF. Post cs, Amsterdam, Holland
2004 “Between Past and Future”, ICP and Museum of Asia Society, New York, USA
2004 “Visual Performance”, Walsh Gallery, Chicago, USA
2004 “Dialogues…” Gu Dexin, Wang Gongxin and Zhang Peili at Shanghai Gallery of Art, Shanghai, China
2004 “Officina Asia”, Gallery d’Arte Moderna, Bologna, Italy
2004 “Concrete Horizons”, Adam Art Gallery, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
2003 “Cyber Asia-media Art In The Near Future”, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan
2003 Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial 2003, Japan
2003 ARLES Photograph festival 2003, Arles, France
2003 “Everyday” Contemporary art from China, Japan, Korea, Thailand Kunstforeningen, Copenhagen, Denmark
2003 “New Zone” Chinese Art, Zacheta National Art Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
2002 “Metropolitan Iconographies” 25th Sao Paulo Biennial, Sao Paulo, Brazil
2002 The Project ”Welcome to The LOFT in Beijing”, “PAUSE” 4th GwangJu Biennial, Korea
2002 “Sorry for the inconvenience”, Bangkok University Art Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand
2002 “Wang GongXin from Beijing” SOLO Exhibition, Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, Australia
2002 Shanghai Biennial - 2002, Shanghai Art Museum, China
2002 GuangZhou Triennial - 2002, Guangzhou Art Museum, China
2002 Taipei Biennial - 2002, Taipei Art Museum, Tai Wan
2002 “Under construction”, Opera City Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2002 “Synthetic Reality”, East Modern Art Centre, Beijing, China
2002 “Moist” MAAP-2002 in Beijing, The Art Museum of China Millennium Monument, China
2002 “ChinArt”, Museum Kuppersmuhle, Duisburg, Germany
2002 “Beijing Afloat” Beijing -Tokyo Art Project, Beijing, China
2001 MAAP.2001.Festival, IMA, Brisbane, Australia
2001 “Non-Linear Narrative”, The Gallery of China Academy of Fine Art, Hangzhou, China
2001 “My Sun”, Art Space, Sydney, Australia
2001 “Dream”, Atlantis Gallery, London, UK
2001 “Living in This Time” Hamburger Bahnhof of National Museum, Berlin, Germany
2001 “Translated Acts”, Haus Der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; Germany and Queens Museum of Art, New York, USA
2001 “Re: Duchamp, Traveling Exhibition”, 2001 Venice Biennial, Venice, Italy
2001 “Made in Asia?”, The Duke University Museum of Art, USA
2001 “The Edge” EARLLU Gallery, Lasalle-SIA College of the Arts, Singapore
2001 “The New Works of Wang Gongxin & Lin Tianmiao”, Loft New Media Art Space, Beijing, China
2000 “Documentation of Chinese Avant-Garde Art in 90s”, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan
2000 “At the New Century” 1979-1999 China Contemporary Arts Works, Chengdu Contemporary Art Museum, China
2000 “The Home?” Contemporary Art Project, Shanghai, China
2000 18th WWVF. (World Wide Video Festival) 2000, Amsterdan
2000 MAAP (Multimedia Art Asia Pacific) 2000 Festival. Power House, Brisbane, Australia
2000 “China & Hong Kong video festival”, Museum of Site, Hong Kong
1999 “Revolutionary Capitals”, The ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts), London, UK
1999 “The second yearlong contemporary sculpture exhibition” He XiangNing Art Museum, Shenzhen, China.
1999 “Fast>>Forward” New Chinese Video Art”, The Contemporary Art Museum of Macao, Macao
1999 “Inside out” New China’ s Arts, SFMOMA, San Francisco, U.S.A
1999 “The Circle Video”, The Art Centre of HKU of ST, Hong Kong
1998 “Inside out” New China's Arts, P.S.1 Institute of Contemporary Arts, New York, U.S.A
1998 “Life”, Wan Fung Art Gallery, Beijing, China
1998 “Trace of existence”, Art Now Studio, Beijing, China
1997 “Exhibition of W2-Z2”, Central Academy of Fine Arts Gallery, Beijing, China
1997 “Crack in The Continent”, The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan.
1997 “Myth Powder NO.1” SOLO Show, Cifa Gallery, Beijing, China
1996 “Phoema and Image video art”, China National Academy of Fine Art Gallery, Hangzhou, China
1996 “The Balance”, IFA Gallery, Bonn, Germany
1996 “Art as Gift”, The Bronx Museum of Arts, New York, U.S.A
1996 “The Box”, Fotouhi Cramer Gallery, SoHo, New York, U.S.A
1996 “Open Your Mouth, Close Your Eyes” Beijing-Berlin, The Art Museum of Capital Normal University, Beijing, China
1995 “BIAO” SOLO Show, Halle 10. Ludwingsburg, Germany
1995 “Digging a Hale in Beijing” SOLO Show, NO.12 House of Arts, Beijing, China
1995 “Contemporary Art from China”, Santa Monica Art Centre, Barcelona, Spain (APERTO)
1995 “Artist in The Market Place”, The Bronx Museum Of Arts, New York, U.S.A
1995 “Pier Show III”, The Red Hook, Brooklyn, N.Y, U.S.A
1995 “The Balance”, The Institute of External Affaire Art Centre, Stuttgert, Gemany
1994 “6 Artists Show”, ST. John's University Art Museum, New York, U.S.A
1993 “The Small Works”, 80 Washington Square East Gallery, New York, U.S.A
1992 “Group Show”, ST. John's University Art Museum, New York, U.S.A
1991 “The Art from China”, The Exhibition Place, SOHO, New York, U.S.A
1988 “Graduate Show”, Cortland Collage Gallery, New York, U.S.A
1985 “International Youth Arts”, The National Museum of Arts, Beijing, China
1984 “Beijing Arts Exhibition”, The National Museum of Arts, Beijing, China
Wang Gongxin was born in Beijing in 1960 and graduated in 1982 from the Beijing Normal University. He lived in New York for a few years and went back to Beijing where he and his wife, the artist Lin Tianmiao, live since. As one of the pioneers of new media art in China he mainly realizes videos and installations representing various aspects of Chinese culture and society, as well as interface between China and the West.
Wang Gongxin and his wife, Lin Tianmiao
WANG GONGXIN BIOGRAPHY
1960 Born in Beijing, China
1982 Obtained Bachelor of Art from Capital Normal University, China
1987 Visiting Scholar, Suny at Cortland and Albany, NY, U.S.A
2003-Now Guest Professor at Central Academy of Fine Art Exhibitions
2007 All about Laughter - humor in contemporary art, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
2007 The Real Thing - Contemporary Art from China, Tate Liverpool, UK
2007 “Art in Motion”, Long March Space, Beijing, China
2006 Fiction@Love / Forever Young Land, MoCA, Shanghai, China
2006 The Moscow Photo Biennale 2006, Moscow, Russia
2006 Projected Realities: Video Art from East Asia, Asia Society and Museum, New York, U.S.A
2006 Humanistic Shan-Shui: an Exhibition of Contemporary Sculpture Art, Huizhou, China
2006 European Media Art Festival, Osnabrueck, Germany
2005 Rapt: Austral-Asia Zero Five, Sherman Galleries, Sydney, Australia
2005 “ElectroScape”, Zendai Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China
2005 “Between Past and Future”, Victoria and Albert Museum, UK
2005 “The New Works of Wang Gongxin & Lin Tianmiao”, Courtyard Gallery Annex, Beijing, China
2005 “About Beauty”, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
2005 “Soul”, Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Bruges, Belgium
2004 “All under Heaven”, Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
2004 “Le Moine et le Demon”, Museum of Art Contemporary Lyon, France
2004 2004 WWVF. Post cs, Amsterdam, Holland
2004 “Between Past and Future”, ICP and Museum of Asia Society, New York, USA
2004 “Visual Performance”, Walsh Gallery, Chicago, USA
2004 “Dialogues…” Gu Dexin, Wang Gongxin and Zhang Peili at Shanghai Gallery of Art, Shanghai, China
2004 “Officina Asia”, Gallery d’Arte Moderna, Bologna, Italy
2004 “Concrete Horizons”, Adam Art Gallery, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
2003 “Cyber Asia-media Art In The Near Future”, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan
2003 Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial 2003, Japan
2003 ARLES Photograph festival 2003, Arles, France
2003 “Everyday” Contemporary art from China, Japan, Korea, Thailand Kunstforeningen, Copenhagen, Denmark
2003 “New Zone” Chinese Art, Zacheta National Art Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
2002 “Metropolitan Iconographies” 25th Sao Paulo Biennial, Sao Paulo, Brazil
2002 The Project ”Welcome to The LOFT in Beijing”, “PAUSE” 4th GwangJu Biennial, Korea
2002 “Sorry for the inconvenience”, Bangkok University Art Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand
2002 “Wang GongXin from Beijing” SOLO Exhibition, Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, Australia
2002 Shanghai Biennial - 2002, Shanghai Art Museum, China
2002 GuangZhou Triennial - 2002, Guangzhou Art Museum, China
2002 Taipei Biennial - 2002, Taipei Art Museum, Tai Wan
2002 “Under construction”, Opera City Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2002 “Synthetic Reality”, East Modern Art Centre, Beijing, China
2002 “Moist” MAAP-2002 in Beijing, The Art Museum of China Millennium Monument, China
2002 “ChinArt”, Museum Kuppersmuhle, Duisburg, Germany
2002 “Beijing Afloat” Beijing -Tokyo Art Project, Beijing, China
2001 MAAP.2001.Festival, IMA, Brisbane, Australia
2001 “Non-Linear Narrative”, The Gallery of China Academy of Fine Art, Hangzhou, China
2001 “My Sun”, Art Space, Sydney, Australia
2001 “Dream”, Atlantis Gallery, London, UK
2001 “Living in This Time” Hamburger Bahnhof of National Museum, Berlin, Germany
2001 “Translated Acts”, Haus Der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; Germany and Queens Museum of Art, New York, USA
2001 “Re: Duchamp, Traveling Exhibition”, 2001 Venice Biennial, Venice, Italy
2001 “Made in Asia?”, The Duke University Museum of Art, USA
2001 “The Edge” EARLLU Gallery, Lasalle-SIA College of the Arts, Singapore
2001 “The New Works of Wang Gongxin & Lin Tianmiao”, Loft New Media Art Space, Beijing, China
2000 “Documentation of Chinese Avant-Garde Art in 90s”, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan
2000 “At the New Century” 1979-1999 China Contemporary Arts Works, Chengdu Contemporary Art Museum, China
2000 “The Home?” Contemporary Art Project, Shanghai, China
2000 18th WWVF. (World Wide Video Festival) 2000, Amsterdan
2000 MAAP (Multimedia Art Asia Pacific) 2000 Festival. Power House, Brisbane, Australia
2000 “China & Hong Kong video festival”, Museum of Site, Hong Kong
1999 “Revolutionary Capitals”, The ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts), London, UK
1999 “The second yearlong contemporary sculpture exhibition” He XiangNing Art Museum, Shenzhen, China.
1999 “Fast>>Forward” New Chinese Video Art”, The Contemporary Art Museum of Macao, Macao
1999 “Inside out” New China’ s Arts, SFMOMA, San Francisco, U.S.A
1999 “The Circle Video”, The Art Centre of HKU of ST, Hong Kong
1998 “Inside out” New China's Arts, P.S.1 Institute of Contemporary Arts, New York, U.S.A
1998 “Life”, Wan Fung Art Gallery, Beijing, China
1998 “Trace of existence”, Art Now Studio, Beijing, China
1997 “Exhibition of W2-Z2”, Central Academy of Fine Arts Gallery, Beijing, China
1997 “Crack in The Continent”, The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan.
1997 “Myth Powder NO.1” SOLO Show, Cifa Gallery, Beijing, China
1996 “Phoema and Image video art”, China National Academy of Fine Art Gallery, Hangzhou, China
1996 “The Balance”, IFA Gallery, Bonn, Germany
1996 “Art as Gift”, The Bronx Museum of Arts, New York, U.S.A
1996 “The Box”, Fotouhi Cramer Gallery, SoHo, New York, U.S.A
1996 “Open Your Mouth, Close Your Eyes” Beijing-Berlin, The Art Museum of Capital Normal University, Beijing, China
1995 “BIAO” SOLO Show, Halle 10. Ludwingsburg, Germany
1995 “Digging a Hale in Beijing” SOLO Show, NO.12 House of Arts, Beijing, China
1995 “Contemporary Art from China”, Santa Monica Art Centre, Barcelona, Spain (APERTO)
1995 “Artist in The Market Place”, The Bronx Museum Of Arts, New York, U.S.A
1995 “Pier Show III”, The Red Hook, Brooklyn, N.Y, U.S.A
1995 “The Balance”, The Institute of External Affaire Art Centre, Stuttgert, Gemany
1994 “6 Artists Show”, ST. John's University Art Museum, New York, U.S.A
1993 “The Small Works”, 80 Washington Square East Gallery, New York, U.S.A
1992 “Group Show”, ST. John's University Art Museum, New York, U.S.A
1991 “The Art from China”, The Exhibition Place, SOHO, New York, U.S.A
1988 “Graduate Show”, Cortland Collage Gallery, New York, U.S.A
1985 “International Youth Arts”, The National Museum of Arts, Beijing, China
1984 “Beijing Arts Exhibition”, The National Museum of Arts, Beijing, China
The sky of Brooklyn
“The Sky of Brooklyn: Digging a Hole in Beijing” (1995) is one of the first site-specific installations realized in China. A well of three meters deep was dug in the artist’s house and a monitor featuring the sky of Brooklyn placed at its bottom, referring to both children’s idea that China could be reached by digging a hole through the ground in the USA, and to the Chinese expression “to look at the world from a well”.
The Old Bench, 1996
Wood, television monitor. Approx. 21 x 39 in. (55 x 100 cm).
Wood, television monitor. Approx. 21 x 39 in. (55 x 100 cm).
Karaoke, video, 2000
\
\
My sun, video, 2001
Baby Talk
Installation, 1996
His work, "Baby Talk" projected the faces of people talking to a baby onto a translucent screen produced by a cribful of milk. Though without hearing their words, it was clear that these six people were the two parents and four grandparents that focus all of their energies on one child because of the one-child policy. The only sound came from the drain, located at the mouths of the people that recycled the milk back in and out of the crib. Even though you can never see the baby, the subject of the piece, the recycled speech forms a portrait of the child in formation.
Installation, 1996
His work, "Baby Talk" projected the faces of people talking to a baby onto a translucent screen produced by a cribful of milk. Though without hearing their words, it was clear that these six people were the two parents and four grandparents that focus all of their energies on one child because of the one-child policy. The only sound came from the drain, located at the mouths of the people that recycled the milk back in and out of the crib. Even though you can never see the baby, the subject of the piece, the recycled speech forms a portrait of the child in formation.
Look... at her, photograph, 1999
by Wang Gongxin and Lin Tianmiao
by Wang Gongxin and Lin Tianmiao
The fly, video, 2001
Video presents a blurry image of a man struggling with a tiny, buzzing fly.
Video presents a blurry image of a man struggling with a tiny, buzzing fly.
Here or there, installation, video, photograph, 2002
Wang Gongxin and Lin Tianmiao
In this work, both artists featured contemporary figures wandering in a modern world: a representation of urban life’s essence. These characters are presented in various places as sacred gardens or industrial buildings’ ruins which are juxtaposed one next to the other… a common landscape in China.
"Wang Gongxin and Lin Tianmiao: Here? Or There?" publication edited by He Hao with essays by Britta Erickson and Pi Li:
"Here? or there?" is the lucky culmination of many factors, a happy illustration of structural changes in the development of contemporary art in China after 2000. Wang Gongxin and Lin Tianmiao's cooperation evolved from a common interest in the body and in landscape: Lin Tianmiao's complex patchworks of body parts and other apparatuses turned out to be a perfect match for Wang Gongxin's video work, which brings the bodies and apparatuses alive, makes them appear on the street, in a wasteland, and in the changing, disappearing urban landscape. Here (or Here or There) the body and landscape share a context and virtuosic representation.
Wang Gongxin and Lin Tianmiao
In this work, both artists featured contemporary figures wandering in a modern world: a representation of urban life’s essence. These characters are presented in various places as sacred gardens or industrial buildings’ ruins which are juxtaposed one next to the other… a common landscape in China.
"Wang Gongxin and Lin Tianmiao: Here? Or There?" publication edited by He Hao with essays by Britta Erickson and Pi Li:
"Here? or there?" is the lucky culmination of many factors, a happy illustration of structural changes in the development of contemporary art in China after 2000. Wang Gongxin and Lin Tianmiao's cooperation evolved from a common interest in the body and in landscape: Lin Tianmiao's complex patchworks of body parts and other apparatuses turned out to be a perfect match for Wang Gongxin's video work, which brings the bodies and apparatuses alive, makes them appear on the street, in a wasteland, and in the changing, disappearing urban landscape. Here (or Here or There) the body and landscape share a context and virtuosic representation.
Red Gate, video, 2002
In his allegorical Red Gate, 2002, Wang Gongxin, from Beijing, projects images of four sets of red doors on four screens, forming a rectangle around the viewer. The layout evokes the sihe yuan, the four-walled compound surrounding a central courtyard that until recently was typical for Chinese residences, first for wealthier families, then, after the revolution, for collective living. Sequentially, the doors open, revealing couples dancing, soldiers practicing marching, and glimpses of back-alley life, then shut again; the viewer, too, has to "dance" in a circle in order to take in the unfolding action.
In his allegorical Red Gate, 2002, Wang Gongxin, from Beijing, projects images of four sets of red doors on four screens, forming a rectangle around the viewer. The layout evokes the sihe yuan, the four-walled compound surrounding a central courtyard that until recently was typical for Chinese residences, first for wealthier families, then, after the revolution, for collective living. Sequentially, the doors open, revealing couples dancing, soldiers practicing marching, and glimpses of back-alley life, then shut again; the viewer, too, has to "dance" in a circle in order to take in the unfolding action.
Always welcome, video, 2003
Sunset, series of photographs, 2004
[b]
Mountain story, video, 2001
Mountain story, video, 2001
Our sky is falling in!, video, 2007
Our Sky is Falling In! is powerful in its simple narrative and staged scenario, in which an everyday family scene is unexpectedly disrupted as the ceiling begins to collapse upon them. Whilst a distinctly personal take on the vulnerability of contemporary existence, it is also an obvious and ominous reference to the continued helplessness of the individual against the global forces of progress and modernisation that are progressively shaping the social and economic realities of the New China.
(From Tate Modern website)
