Xijing Men Collaborative
February 1, 2013 through April 2, 2013
KCAI Block Artspace
In Winter 2013, the Spencer Museum of Art and H&R Block Artspace at the Kansas City Art Institute will collaborate on the inaugural North American exhibition by the internationally renowned group Xijing Men Collaborative, which consists of Tsuyoshi Ozawa (Japan), Chen Shaoxiong (China), and Gimhongsok (Korea). As part of this exhibition, the three members of the collaborative will arrive in Kansas City on January 22 for a 10-day residency to create and install a new work.
The term Xijing is the Chinese pronunciation for “western capital” (saikyo in Japanese and suhkyung in Korean) and is intended to embody an imagined political entity in East Asia. Since forming in 2006, the Xijing Collaborative has created video installations that draw on absurd situations, satire, sarcasm, and humorous content to explore politically charged aspects of nationalism, identity, miscommunication, and – most recently – immigration as it operates specifically in East Asia and expansively around the world.
The exhibition will also survey past video work by the Xijing Men, including video and installation works culled from four of the five chapters the artists envisioned for the body of work they would produce together when they originally decided to collaborate: (1) Do You Know Xijing? (2) This is Xijing (3) Welcome to Xijing (4) I Love Xijing.
The exhibition will be installed at the H&R Block Artspace, on view from February 1 through April 2, 2013. In conjunction with the exhibition, the artists will present a talk as part of the KCAI Current Perspectives Lecture Series. An accompanying performance taking the guise of a conference is tentatively planned onsite at the Spencer Museum of Art in Lawrence. A full-color exhibition catalogue featuring essays and interviews detailing new and past work will also be published as part of the exhibition.
Curators:
Raechell Smith
H&R Block Artspace, Kansas City Art Institute
Director
Kris Imants Ercums
Curator of Global Contemporary and Asian Art, Spencer Museum of Art
The Xijing Men Collaborative comprises artists OZAWA Tsuyoshi, CHEN Shaoxiong, and GIMhongsok. The group’s work has been featured at the First Aichi Triennial (2010), the 10th Lyon Biennale (2010), the 4th Fukuoka Asian Triennial (2009), the Tate Liverpool (2009), Art Sonje Center (2008), Platform Seoul (2008), and most recently at the 9th Gwanju Biennale Roundtable (2012), among other places.
Ozawa Tsuyoshi was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1965. After graduating from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1989, he completed his postgraduate studies in mural painting at the same university in 1991. Based on dialogue, interaction, and communication rather than isolated studio practice, Ozawa’s art draws on the dynamics of everyday life and human interactions. Large-scale projects include the Museum of Soy Sauce Art (1999–2000), a humorous take on Japanese art history, and numerous international exhibitions such as the solo show Answer With Yes and No! at the Mori Art Museum (2004), the Asia Pacific Triennial in Brisbane, Australia (2006), and Another Landscape at the Mori Art Museum (2008).
Chen Shaoxiong was born in Shantou, Guangdong province, China, in 1965. He graduated from the Print Department at the Guangzhou Fine Art Academy in 1984. In 1990, together with Lin Yilin and Liang Juhui, he formed the “urban guerrilla” collective known as Big Tail Elephant. A provocateur of the Chinese art world, Chen employs video and installation to investigate the shifting societal landscape of contemporary China. His international exhibitions include the Venice Biennale (2003), Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China (2004), the Hong Kong and Shenzhen Bi-city Biennale (2008), and Orient Without Borders at the Espace Louis Vuitton, Paris (2008). Most recently, he completed a residency and exhibition at the Spencer Museum of Art in March 2012.
Gimhongsok was born in 1964 in Seoul, Korea, where he teaches at Sangmyung University. He received his BFA in 1987 from Seoul National University and went on to study at Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Braunschweig (Germany) and at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in 1996. Using primarily installation, Gimhongsok’s art blurs perceptions of belief and subjectivity. He has exhibited internationally at the 10th Istanbul Biennial (2007), 6th Gwangju Biennale (2006), and the Korean Pavilion of the Venice Biennale (2005), with his most recent group exhibition being Your Bright Future: 12 Contemporary Artists from Korea, organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Houston Museum of Fine Arts (2009).