Roadside Picnic

Zhang Lang’s installations deliberately disrupt our sense of place. Access (2017) features wood blocks painted to resemble key card readers placed strategically around the gallery. In some instances, such as near entranceways, the placement made sense. In other cases, the arrangements seemed haphazard, such as on a pillar or near the bottom corner of a wall. Only upon seeing the latter did it becomes clear that the readers don’t offer access to anywhere. Instead, their lack of function challenges our collective acceptance for restricted spaces, raising questions about who is given access and who is kept out. Meanwhile, Locate (2017) projects an illustration of New York on the wall while an audio recording of a Chinese voice plays from a targeted speaker hanging from the ceiling. The separation of sight and sound disorients the viewer, and also emphasizes the cultural disconnect between what’s being seen and heard. A closer listen reveals a string of nonsense Mandarin words that’s a deliberately accented recitation of the poem that appears onscreen.

Weigang Song likewise casts his gaze upon his immediate surroundings in the city. The six-minute-long video Dedicated To (2017) opens with shots of yellow cabs turning down Broadway and other moments of urban life. In the second section, a doctor uses a gastroscope on himself while the artist narrates a story, saying lines (with subtitles) such as, “The biggest political fight that everybody has to take is not Racism, Feminism, Colonialism or Communism; It’s Narcissism.” The ironic tone carries into the final section, in which footage of the artist walking in the snow provides the backdrop to a series of dedications. “This work is dedicated to those who are giving up,” the note begins. Later, it continues, “To those who are giving up on Visa, migration and identity politics; To those who are giving up on home country, hometown and homecoming.” The sentiment of rootlessness can be read as self-consciously cynical but also sincere.

Wang Tuo’s 24-minute film Roleplay (2016) examines the interpretations of truth in the context of a romantic relationship. Sitting together in an expensive apartment, two actors improvise a couple’s therapy session, in which they present an idealized marriage. Anecdotes about meeting in Paris and their enviable careers are intercut with scenes of the same two actors retelling a much less aspirational encounter. Assuming the working-class characters of The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), the man and woman, filmed separately in their real-life apartments, describe the tumultuous affair, which ends in violence. The contrast between the happily married couple and the doomed lovers exposes the performative nature of how we create our own narratives.

By mixing mediums, other artists experiment with non-linear narrative forms. Tan Tien’s door-like structure in Parenthood #7 (Wood Curtain) (2017) and the painted text in Parenthood #1 (2017) represent complementary fragments of the same story. Chang Yu Chen relies upon a similar method of curation with her collection of crafted materials and found objects, which include drawings, textiles and an artist’s book. November Room (2017) simultaneously serves as documentation of the artist’s process as well as a shareable experience. Rounding out the exhibition is an outdoor mural by Miranda Fengyuan Zhang and the pieces left behind from a performance at the opening reception by Tingying Ma.

The young artists featured in “Roadside Picnic” demonstrate a particular interest in commanding their stories. By resisting any one narrative being forced upon their work, this emergent generation of contemporary Chinese artists expresses a curiosity for the world that suggests a future open to imagination.

“Roadside Picnic” is on view at Chambers Fine Art, New York, until February 17, 2018.

To read more of ArtAsiaPacific’s articles, visit our Digital Library.