ONE MAN AT A LONELY ISLAND -existing at the moment in reality, dreams, the past and the future

This exhibition is the fourth continuation of the « One Man on a Deserted Island » series, which invites different curators and artists to interpret the concept of « deserted island » from different perspectives each time.

« One Man on a Deserted Island » originated from the long-term writing project of independent curator Mr. Li Zhenhua. It began with a residency at the Jinxi Contemporary Art Center in October 2018, which was related to a friend and solitude at Jinxi. The theme of « Deserted Island » then naturally sprouted like a seed, resulting in a series of joint exhibitions with young artists.

In December 2018, Li Zhenhua and artist Dong Shi began their first collaboration under the title « Diary of a Deserted Island » in the exhibition « The Daily Life of a Space » curated by Cui Shaohan of Van Art Space in Hangzhou. Later, in March 2019, at T-Gallery Pioneer Art Space in Xiamen, Mr. Li Zhenhua opened the first official exhibition of the Deserted Island series, « If you find a deserted island, you should not be alone ». Then, in May 2019, at Diskurs Berlin Art Space in Berlin, Li Zhenhua and Dong Shi held a two-person exhibition titled « One Man on a Deserted Island ». The following year, in June 2020, the exhibition was held at Langfeng Art Space in Shanghai, with the universe as the main theme, titled « May the deserted island be a clear morning tomorrow after the moon sets ». It can be said that every year, the Deserted Island Exhibition is constantly trying to explore different themes and taking root in different places, and more and more audiences have witnessed the growth of Deserted Island.

We hope to make a new interpretation of the concept of deserted island in each exhibition, to enrich the meaning and readability of deserted island. In fact, the deserted island itself has countless possibilities waiting to be discovered. It can be a lonely planet in the vast universe, a border between life and death, a loneliest and soft place deep inside people’s hearts, and an unreachable but longing shore in our dreams.

In this exhibition, we invite ten artists to exhibit from the perspective of time and dreams. Each one of them will make a work about time and dreams, and they will be scattered in the flagship store of Yishan Pinnacle and the café and bar, so that the audience can find them themselves or meet them as they wish. We hope that « Deserted Island » will bring each audience a different kind of beautiful memory.