At the end of 2015, Liu Yujia traveled alone to an energy industry site in Karamay, Xinjiang. Over the course of nearly a month, she immersed herself in the spectacle of the Gobi and the yardangs in shooting Black Sea. Inspired by Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, this video constructs a demonic yet scenic narrative that is both created and destroyed through the presentation of modern changes taking place in the border areas and the toughness and fragility of these areas. The piece does not sing an elegy for a modern borderland; it intends to explore a new, latent energy for perception and action in a savage land enveloped by rationality.
Curator: Lu Mingjun
Lu Mingjun has a PhD in History from Sichuan University (2011). He is currently Associate Professor of Art History at Art College, Sichuan University. Lu’s research interests include history of modern and contemporary art. His thesis was found in Literature & Art Studies, Art Studies, 21st Century, Artforum,Leap, etc..His recent books include Writing and Narrating of Vision: The Vision of History and Theory (2013); Visual Cognition and Art History: Michel Foucault, Hubert Damisch, Jonathan Crary (2014); and On Meta-Painting: An Art Institution and Cognition of Universality (2015).Since 2015,he held the post of artistic director of Surplus Space. The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Greater China Research Grant 2015 Grantee. He received the 2016 Yishu Awards for Writing on Contemporary Chinese Art.He was ACC fellowship award reciplents from China.
Liu Yujia
Liu Yujia was born in Sichuan Province in 1981. She graduated from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in 2004 and got her Master’s Degree in London College of Communication, University of the Arts London in 2009. She currently lives and works in Beijing. Recent exhibitions include: Liu Yujia Solo Exhibition: Vertigo, Tang Contemporary Art Center, Beijing, 2016; Liu Yujia Solo Exhibition: The Third Man, Shanghai Gallery of Art, Shanghai, 2015; Why Not Ask Again? 11th Shanghai biennale，PSA，Shanghai , 2016；Resurrection-The Regeneration of Strongholds, Surplus Space, Wuhan, 2017；Rip It Up!- 2nd ChangJiang International Photography and Video Biennale, Chongqing Changjiang Museum of Contemporary Art, 2017；A Chemical Love Story，Tang Contemporary Art Beijing, Beijing, 2017；Leap Screen: “What you see is not what you see”, Photofairs San Francisco, 2017；Take me out, chi K11 Art Museum, Shanghai, 2016; The Image Expression In the Art Practice of New Generation, Xi’An Art Museum, Xi’An, 2016; Moving Image programme，OCT Contemporary Art Terminal，Shanghai, 2015; The System of Objects, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, 2015; The Film Sector, Art Basel HK, Hong Kong, 2015.
Inquire about this exhibition