07 Sep 2009

Bourgeoisified Proletariat in Shanghai

A contemporary art exhibition gathering works by more than 40 Chinese artists and art organizations to be held for the first time in Songjiang (Shanghai).

Since 1997, a curatorial team composed of ten artists has organized numerous art exhibitions in China and abroad. In September 2009, they will present Bourgeoisified Proletariat, a large-scale independent show featuring major works by more than 40 Chinese artists and art organizations. Featured in the exhibition will be new productions embracing media including installation, video, film, sculpture, performance, painting, photography, and site-specific projects. The title 'Bourgeoisied Proletariat' is inspired by a letter Engels sent to Marx in 1858, and the exhibition seeks to interrogate directly the ways in which lived political and economic conditions have affected the works of these specific artists during the past decade.

Through this event, the curatorial team hopes that these artists and organizations, widely considered among the most important of their generation in China, will gain more attention. In this moment of financial crisis, visitors will have the opportunity to examine what serious artists in China are currently focusing on as well as the overall changes in the contemporary art system in China.

As participating artists, the music bands Top Floor Circus and The King of… will give a ninety-minute concert on the evening of the opening.

Exhibition space
This exhibition will be presented in over 5000 square meters spread between Space 1 and Space 3 of the newly opened Shanghai Songjiang Creative Studio. The Songjiang Creative Studio is a new multi-function complex of 40000 square meters dedicated to the promotion of art and composed of exhibition spaces, artists' studios, cafés, an educational center and even an ancient house imported from Suzhou.

Catalogue
Bourgeosified Proletariat will be accompanied by a full catalogue, published by Office for Discourse Engineering and revolving around the forty participants' responses to an eleven-question survey about contemporary art practice in China

Details:
Bourgeoisified Proletariat

Curators: Yang Zhenzhong, MadeIn, Liu Jianhua, Shi Yong, Shi Qing, Jin Feng, Jin Feng, Huang Kui, Alexander Brandt, Colin Chinnery

Artists: Wang Xingwei, Hu Jieming, Zhu Yu, Yang Fudong, Kan Xuan, Geng Jianyi, Liang Yue, Zhang Peili, Zhang Qing, Tang Maohong, Zhang Ding, Li PInghu, Zhou XIaohu, Alexander Brandt, Xiang Liqing, Zhou Tiehai, Wu Shanzhuan, Zhang Hui, Wang Jianwei, He An. Liu Wei, Chu Yun, Liao Guohe, Shao Yi. Yu Ji, Xiao Xiong, Chen Xiaoyun, Yang Zhenzhong, Shi Yong/Seth Joseph Augstine, Jin Feng, Ji Feng, Shi Qing, Huang Kui, Liang Wei, Hu Xiangqian, Polit-Sheer-Form, Borges Libreria, ShanghArt Gallery, Top Floor Circus/The King of, Small productions, MadeIn, Yangjiang Group

Bourgeoisified Proletariat would like to thank:
Shanghai Songjiang Creative Studio, ShanghArt gallery, Art-Ba-Ba Contemporary Art Community, Hipic, Hangzhou JNBY Ltd. Art Center and Office for Discourse Engineering for their support.
Media support: ArtSpy website