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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.

At the beginning of the new year, Mao Space has been moved to its new home – a meandering lane of West Jianguo Road, Shanghai, and is now presenting its debut group exhibition: « Scenic Line Of An Alley. »

As a signature of Shanghai’s urban culture, alleys bear the profound and unique spiritual memory of this metropolitan. Compared with the vertical vision that keeps stretching upward, lanes symbolize the locality and depth of the city. Different from the physical space, the zoetrope that often sat at the entrance of a lane is now only occasionally recalled as a distant memory. In a limited space, the fragments of reality are presented in a strange way and revived into a scenic line. The once novelty also implies a shift of perspective, reminding us to think about how to bring commonality into the bellows of consciousness, and inspire enlightening artistic expressions.

The five (groups of) artists featured in this exhibition: LIU Yi, GUO Xi, LIU Guoqiang, WU Junyong, HAO Jingfang & WANG Lingjie, now serve as a new zoetrope. In unique languages, they express the retention and conversion of memory and Dasein, and how to incorporate the reality they experience and understand into a new narration system. In particular, all works at the exhibition are created in honor of the on-site space – some are selected from the personal collection of Ms. MAO Wencai over the past years, while some are site-specific creations completed by artists based on their previous works and the new environment. This double dialogue with space and with their own creations across different periods allows artists to shed light on a special scenic line in the courtyard at the end of an alley.

About Mao Space :

Since its establishment in 2014, Mao Space has been exploring the possibility of dialogue between contemporary art and Shanghai urban culture. Now its relocation to a downtown alley means that Mao Space is closer to « Shanghai » in another sense. How to more deeply tap into the cultural resources in the urban context, how to inspire the combination of such resources with contemporary art, and how to intervene in urban public spaces with contemporary art… these are the topics Mao Space is determined to probe into in the future.

The show « A Room that Releases Spores » is opening this Friday. This is my second time being a curator. It feels so great to be suported by all the artists! Location is at THE SHOUTER, 62 West Fuxing rd., Shanghai.

The mixed media exhibition A Room that Releases Spores is closely tied to nature and body. This exhibition brings together artists and labels 214, Doreen Chan, Liu Yi, Hao Jingfang & Wang Lingjie, Wang Xu, Xiao Xing, wei, E. T. and WV Sorcerer Productions, with works including painting, photography, sculpture, video, text, and music. These artworks will “occupy” the exhibition hall that once functioned as a private living room, and together, as spiritual and corporeal extensions, they fictionally depict an absent host of the space.

In an increasingly mechanized present world with pervasive cognitive divide, this exhibition attempts to discuss how to form new connections through the thread of spores. Compared to seeds, the growing stages of spores are much more primitive and independent, and therefore make them more persistent. This draws the analogy to the living state of many artists. A Room that Releases Spores doesn’t focus on any specific image of the world, rather it pays attention to the individual experiences of the artists, and the natural resonances among the works, the viewers, and this historical building, The Cloister, when they are situated in the same space.

The life of spores is a magical journey. From tiny particles clung to the surface of plants or fungi, they experience multiple transformations before eventually becoming complete and complex organisms. The same underlies the works in this exhibition. One leap, one rolling down, one eruption and one mutation, these works depict the human individuals situated within the vast social landscape. And precisely in these slight moments of happenings, the spores of consciousness are gradually collecting, and forming various new, tiny, yet continuously thriving paths. Lingering in midair, they gather every person who steps into this room.

Avec l’avènement de l’ère numérique, les dossiers de voyage, de consommation et de vie des plateformes sociales des gens sont stockés sous forme de codes dans une énorme base de données, et l’existence de chacun semble être traçable.

Coexistant dans le champ de vision mais en dehors des données, beaucoup de choses existent mais laissent rarement des traces. Cette exposition invite la participation de quatre artistes qui, par leurs propres méthodes de création, capturent ces angles morts de la vision et présentent leur « existence » sous une forme artistique.

Si l’œuvre d’art est le porteur de la mémoire, et l’architecture, comme l’une des traces laissées par la civilisation humaine, est un symbole important qui porte la mémoire de la ville, alors la restauration et l’entretien des bâtiments anciens par les générations futures est une création artistique sans fin.

L’exposition « Exist – Trace » est honorée de se tenir dans un bâtiment ancien aussi restauré, et discute de « l’existence » et des « traces » autour de trois parties : la nature, l’architecture et les groupes sociaux.

Commissaire : Yao Yao

The 2019 National Art Museum Young Curator Support Plan of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism selected project

City of art: The previous and present of Kincheng Bank. (1930-2020)

Time: October 23 —- November 22 2020

Location: Wuhan Art Museum

Exhibition hall: 1、2、3

Sponsor: Wuhan Art Museum

Support:  Tianjin Museum of Finance

Wuhan Municipal Archives

Wuhan Children’s Library

Wuhan City of Design Promotion Center

Producer: Chen Yongjin

Academic support:Yan Changyuan

Curator: Jing Fei

Art director: Gao Xiaolin

Exhibition director: Song Wenxiang

Exhibiton coordinator: Zhang Wenbo

Curator assistant: Liu Shuchang

Graphic design: Dai Kai  Chen Wenxian  Langding design

Space design: Cheng Jun Tan Jianqiao Wan Lei

Collection support: Wang Jia  Lin Guohui

Education Promotion: Lan Tian  Li Chen

Academic activities: Geng Shuang  Yang Qianqian

Media publicity: Li Xia  Yan Yutong

Exhibition organizing committee (arrange by stroke of surname):

Liu Yu  Liu Yongqian  LIu Xiong  Song Wenxiang   Zhang Wenbo  Chen Yongjing

Gao Xiaolin  Peng Yuhu  Fan Feng