Evidence through Art

With the political and economic ideologies introduced into the arena, there will be more flexibility to push and pull (collide) the concepts within the 2000 Shanghai Biennale.

But before moving forward by taking steps back, there was a little incident during the writing of the last two post that I felt was important.  Some family friends whom are more advanced in years and whom are recent immigrants from China visited while I was working on the outline.  When they saw (through the pictures) my topic of discourse, they were very uncomfortable until I put the materials away.  But later on I got the chance to casually interview them a little on their experiences and thoughts on immigration in relations to globalization.  I feel it is important to keep in mind the human scale affect when exploring and condensing countries (and the whole world) down to one word terms and ideas.

"Bank of Sand" or "Sand of Bank" by Huang Yongping (probably not the original 2000 work)

For the 2000 Shanghai Biennale, only about 10 works were specifically made for the biennale due to political and economic restraints (Barrett).  The "Bank of Sand" by Huang Yongping is one of them consisting of a giant "sandcastle" of the former British colonial architecture that served as the British Hong Kong Bank, the Shanghai Bank, and later the Communist Municipal People's Government building and free-market Pudong (area within Shanghai) Development Bank (Miller).  The artist would sprinkle water on the work during the opening and the sculpture would gradually dry and crumple to the floor as the biennale progresses.  The work ties in beautifully the language of building from previous posts on the duo Shanghai Art Museum and the temporal nature of currency.  It touches upon the political nature and influences of China, the economic supremacy, and the fleeting nature of it all within a more poetic (and more playful) depiction which is critical in a censored exhibition.

"Traveling 12 Nautical Miles - Float Stone Adrift on The Open Sea" by Zhan Wang

"Traveling 12 Nautical Miles-Float Stone Adrift on The Open Sea" by Zhan Wang can be a good representation of the 2000 Shanghai Biennale theme of cross waters and openness but it can also be read as a cry for political freedom.  The work is presented through photographs, text, and video (also a first in the 3rd Biennale to be exhibited officially as art) on the concept that beyond 12 nautical miles of any national claim is international water; the sculpture is release to roam in that no-man's land (Barret).  If any ships fish it out, there is text in five different languages informing it as artwork and asking to be released back to drift.  

Both examples of art works from the 2000 Shanghai Biennale plays to the theme of "Shanghai Spirit" (in the first as it is an iconic building) and openness to internationalism.  But both has an air of contradicting attitude towards the political politeness and censorship that was evolved in the biennale - though it is done through the poetics and not directly in the viewers face.  These underlining political tight-rope walking by artists speak volumes on the echoing effects of the Cultural Revolution while the inclusion of these works exposes the relaxation of the State's control over cultural production and political voices in its eagerness for international acceptance, for economic stability.