How It Flows On, APSMUSEUM (video)
The Yangpu Riverside Passage is a 2019 work architect Liu Yichun and carries the industrial history of the Yangpu Riverside and gazes at the day and night along the Huangpu River. Aranya’s Seashore Library, designed by architect Dong Gong, stands on the coast of the Bo Sea and appears like a weathered rock with a pristine appearance. At the beginning of the forum, Professor Zhi Wenjun (Professor of the College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University; the Editor-in-chief of the TIME + ARCHITECTURE) discussed that the Seashore Library was an architectural work that combine different artistic forms, such as exhibitions, poetry, music, and others to show the provides the public with a rich spiritual space.
The exhibition idea "How It Flows On" was conceived along the Huangpu River, but in different time and space, it has generated different meanings and interpretations. In the view of artist Qiu Anxiong, the ancient saying of "How It Flows On", even though lamenting the passage of water and time, could be interpreted with a positive attitude. It can be annotated by the The Book of Changes: "Heaven moves in vigor, and the gentleman keeps striving for self-improvement", which describes the constant change of everything in the world. Aranya faces the Bo Sea, and on its opposite side is the ancient State of Lu, which was where the Confucius came up with the ancient saying more than two thousand years ago. In the eyes of Han Bo (a poet and writer), this is already the post-Einstein "How It Flows On". In an era of fragmented information acquisition, it is more important to express people's feelings about the present through various art forms.
Robin Wong (Founder of Art Pioneer Studio and Director APSMUSEUM), the producer of exhibition, expressed that presenting space and exhibitions which could warm and touch people had always been goal of her team. Despite of all kinds of difficulties and challenges the team went through in the process, to finally achieve the interdisciplinary, trans-time and trans-space exhibition had been exciting. It was an accident but also a beautiful surprise to draw a full stop of the exhibition How It Flows On on the coast of Aranya.
The accident in an exhibition can also be the inspiration for the artist. The composer Jin Wang shared with the audience how the music piece Dialogue was a new creative idea that originated from a technical problem in the real-time transmission of the exhibition. The music was written in the form of dialogue, and the performers could "talk" willingly. How It Flows On was originally a combination of architecture, art and music, but in the touring exhibition of Aranya, poetry and dance are added, so that more art forms can be integrated in the same work. Poet Zhai Yongming's poem Plankton appeared on the transparent screen of the exhibition, depicting the interludes of time and space from the ocean to human beings, from the earth to the universe, echoing artist Qiu Anxiong's animation depictions of various people and objects, as if everything floats in the flood of time.
After the forum, choreographer and dancer Yu Erge presented the dance work One Place. Inspired by the animation in How It Flows On and combined with the music in the exhibition, Yu Erge presented a “lonely dance” on the stage of the Seashore Library by the sea, and interpreted a dialogue with heaven, earth and sea. Yu Erge responded to the themes of light and heavy in the works of How It Flows On with a state of "flesh", which is often estranged and often close.
The combination of various art forms in How It Flows On seems to return to the origin of art, at the time when they were not separated and were, instead, a collective. Although many different fields and forms have gradually separated in the progress of art, in today's exhibition How It Flows On, different art forms begin to meet again, as if to return to the place where art first started.
APSMUSEUM exhibition How It Flows On will be on view through July 15th. We welcome you to come to the main venue APSMUSEUM, located in the L+ Mall in Lujiazui, Shanghai, or the sub venue Seashore Library in Aranya to experience the dialogue between the art and the sea.
Mr. Zhi Wenjun, (b. April, 1962), got his bachelor’s degree in Architecture in 1983 and his master’s degree in History and Theory of Architecture in 1986 at Tongji University, Shanghai China. After his graduation, he began to teach in the university and work for the TIME + ARCHITECTURE as an editor for over thirty years, which is the most influential academic architectural journal in China. In 1996 and 2009 respectively, he researched in the University of Hong Kong and the Princeton University as a visiting scholar. Now he is a professor of the College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University; the editor-in-chief of the TIME + ARCHITECTURE (bimonthly). His research fields include the architectural criticism and media, Chinese contemporary architecture practice, Methodology of research in architecture and academic writing.
Founder of Art Pioneer Studio Ltd.
APSMUSEUM Director
Vice President of Shanghai International Cultural Exchange Association
Robin Wong graduated from the Department of Architecture of Tongji University in Shanghai with a degree in Urban Planning. She is the member of UCCA Center for Contemporary Art International Circle and member of the Real Estate Architect Branch of Shanghai Architecture Society. With over 20 years of experience working in high-ranking real estate development projects in international first-tier cities, Robin has collaborated with five-star hotels, large-scale shopping malls, luxury residences and high-end clubs. Robin is good at integrating indoor and outdoor public artworks into the entire real estate project development and construction, thereby optimizing the quality of the project.
Robin Wong founded the Art Pioneer Studio, which was the Planning Implementation of the main exhibition and General Contract of the permanent spots of 2019 Shanghai Urban Space Art Season (SUSAS 2019). Her team infused new energy into the local area by implementing public art works by more than twenty internationally renowned artists, such as Liu Jianhua, Richard Wilson, Esther Stocker, Yusuke Asai, Oscar Oiwa, Felice Varini, Song Dong, etc.
APSMUSEUM is a non-profit art space founded by Robin Wong in the L+ Mall located in Lujiazui, Shanghai, and was opened to the public since November, 2020. With focuses on contemporary art, architecture, design, fashion, and other creative fields, APSMUSEUM invited 15 artists from mainland and abroad in its inaugural exhibition, including James Turrell, Anish Kapoor, and Ding Yi. APSMUSEUM’s spring exhibition How It Flows On is a trans-space, trans-time, and trans-disciplinary large-scale immersive and interactive public installation collaborated by architect Liu Yichun, artist Qiu Anxiong, and composer Jin Wang. The exhibition will have upcoming touring exhibitions in different cities.
Qiu Anxiong was born in 1972 in Sichuan province. He graduated from Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in 1994. In 2003 he graduated from the University Kassel's College of Art in Germany after six years of studying both contemporary international art and traditional Chinese culture. Now he is teaching at East China Normal University. His works employ different kinds of mediums including animation, painting, installation and video, etc. Representative works are animation films New Classic of Mountains and Seas, Temptation of the Land, Minguo Landscape, video installation Staring into Amnesia. He founded “Museum of Unkown” in 2007, which is an active power in the ecological construction of contemporary arts in recent years.
Qiu Anxiong’s recent work consists largely of paintings, animations, and video installations. In the 2006 piece The New Classic of Mountains and Seas, for example, Qiu employs multitudes of ink drawings and links them together in an animated form. The title itself refers to the ancient Chinese mythology Classic of the Mountains and Seas. Besides investigating the interaction between ancient and modern Chinese culture, this work and others like it have a dreamlike quality: the clearly delineated images framed by unbelievable narratives faithfully depict the absurdity of the world around us. This link to the everyday further enhances the political value of the work, which engages in a damning criticism of environmental degradation, social breakdown, and massive urbanization. Unlike younger artists, Qiu Anxiong does not indulge in the personal pleasures of the everyday, but rather takes the undifferentiated mass of history as his raw material.
Selected Public Collection Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Museum of Modern Art New York. Art Museum of Brooklyn, New York Spenser Museum, Kansas University Museum of University Oxford, Kunst Halle Zurich, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Art Museum Hongkong, Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai Contemporary Art Museum.
Jin Wang, composer, born in 1978, Shanghai, China.
His chamber music has showcased at the Shanghai International Music Festival Shanghais Spring, the Hong Kong Arts Festival, the Korean International Music Festival, among others.
In addition to composing for concert works, Jin Wang has collaborated with a wide-range of different visual artists in various fields.
Collaborated in art films and multimedia works with the artist Yang Fudong such as " An Estranged Paradise ", "Seven Intellectuals In Bamboo Forest", "No Snow on the Broken Bridge", and "The Fifth Night", exhibited in: Documenta 11 Kassel, 52nd International Art Exhibition Venice Biennale, FACT Liverpool, Carnegie International, the Venice International Film Festival, Film Festival Hannover Germany, and other art exhibition and film festivals. Yang Fudong in 2010 directed creative music for famous Italian fashion brand PRADA advertising art video "First Spring", broadcast on PRADA's official website, reaching to a massive global audience.
The music for the artist Qiu Anxiongs animation video work, " New Book of Mountains and Seas Part 1 (2006) ", "New Book of Mountains and Seas Part 2 (2007) ", "Minguo Landscape (2007)," "Temptation of the land (2009), "Portrait "(2011) , has been exhibited at the International Art Exhibition Venice Biennale, the United States Spencer Museum of Art, Barbara Gross Gallery in Germany, Sao Paulo Biennale in Brazil, Cairo Biennale, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo Japan, Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Luxembourg Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Norway, etc. In 2011, Jin Wang collaborated with Qiu Anxiong a sound installation piece "Fundamental Tone," shown at the Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art "Concern Follow".
In 2007, Jin Wang was nominated in The Person of the Year Award by the Chinese Culture of Classical Music.
Poet, artist, novelist, drama writer, director, travel writer, curator, Fudan University graduate, University of Iowa Honorary Writer.
He has published seven books of travel literature, including the Chinese poetry collection "Borrow Deep Heart" and "Boom-lai Temple", the English poetry collection "Middle East Railway", the Russian poetry collection "Knotting the Rod Banquet", the German poetry collection "Chinese Box" (a collection), the full-length novel "Three Rooms and Two Hall-rooms", and "Walking with Dionysus" and "Grafiti and Iconics". In 2009, he took part in the University of Iowa International Writing Program, the 37th Anglo-french Poetry Festival in Paris, France in 2014, the 16th International Poetry Festival in Berlin, Germany, in 2015, Russia in 2017 the Tenth International Biennale "Moscow poet" at the national university of the 11th International Conference on linguistics, Russia, in 2019 International "Moscow Poets Biennale", etc. Since 2017, he has been based in Germany for research on contemporary painting, supported by the Bosch Foundation and the Berlin Literary Association. In 2018, supported by the Henry Luce Foundation, he resided in the Vermontstudio of poets and artists. In 2019, the English version of the group poem "The Western Sky" (translated by Catherine Platt) won the International Literary Translation Award of Amptote. The poems have been translated into English, French, German, Russian and Spanish.
As a drama worker, he founded the Nighttime Stage Drama Studio and produced more than ten drama works, such as "The Chair Doesn't Know" and "Mountain and Sea Spirit". As an artist, his paintings, photographs and installations have been exhibited in China, Russia and the United States. In 2019, he planned the short poem film "Lamentation", which was shortlisted in the international competition of Berlin Zebra Poetry Film Festival in 2020. December 2020 -- January 2021, Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) solo exhibition "How to Drink Up the Sea in Three Rooms and Two Halls" .
As a curator, the exhibition has been presented in the "Goethe Open Space" of the Cultural and Education Section of the Consulate General of Germany in Shanghai, the Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai (MOCA), Shanghai M50 Art District, etc.
As a former media worker, he once edited many weekly magazines and magazines such as the Bund Pictorial and Rodeo Chinese Edition.
Choreographer, dancer, artist traveling in France, artist-in-residence at Cite des art Paris in Paris, France. National first-class actress, one of the first national top talents of the Chinese Ministry of Culture.
Yu studied in Sichuan Dance School and the Contemporary Choregraphie Center in Toulouse, France (Centre de Developpement Choregraphie). She was Invited to perform at the 40th anniversary celebration of the Centre Pompidou in Paris and perform the work LES CHAUVES SOURIS DU VOLCAN at the Theatre of the Centre Pompidou in 2020. She was evaluated as a promising dancer and theater actor by the French music and culture magazines "In Les Rockuptib" and "Huffpost" and one of the artists of the 2020 French Cultural Center column report. She won the seventh and eighth National Tao Li Cup Gold and Silver Award, and her dance drama Home won the Lotus Award. Her performance Jing, in which she collaborated with Hong Kong Dance Company’s choreographer Yuan Shenglun, won the 2020 Hong Kong Dance Awards Best Small Production Award. Another work Moli participated in the 2020 Beijing Youth International Theater Festival, and won the "Zebra Award" Best Dance Theater Award at the First Youth Theater Festival and the "Best Body Award" at the 3rd Shenzhen Contemporary Theater Biennale. She was invited to participate in the first "Aranya Drama Festival" performance in 2021 with her work The Wheel of Time.