Yan Xing (b. 1986) is part of a young generation of Chinese artists who were born after the Cultural Revolution, and with therefore no direct connection of the social, political and cultural issues that informed the earlier generation. This exhibition brings together important works from throughout Yan Xing’s career, as well a newly created site-specific work based on the Broad MSU’s historic art collection.

At times theatrical and performative, Yan Xing explores the complex construction and deconstruction of artworks, pointing to his ongoing fascination with art history, literature, politics and philosophy. Including works in a variety of media from video to installation, his work confronts art history and its dominant theories, questioning established canons and taxonomies, and encouraging multiple readings and layers of understanding. In this way he positions his own work within an independent context—paradoxically as dependent upon art history as it is disconnected from it—and encourages the viewer to understand contemporary art within a broader art historical narrative. At the same time he questions the place of art within contemporary culture, as well as his own understanding of what art might be.

Yan Xing is organized by the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University and curated by Caitlín Doherty, Curator and Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs. Support for this exhibition is provided by Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne, the Alan and Rebecca Ross Endowed Exhibition Fund, and the Broad MSU’s general exhibitions fund.

About the museum

The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum is an engaged public institution that reflects through art the longstanding global focus of Michigan State University. Expressly dedicated to exploring contemporary culture and ideas through the probing gaze of international artists, the Broad MSU is a place where artists’ ideas, words, and actions create a vibrant center for questioning and understanding the world. Committed to education, experimentation, and study, the Broad MSU is a laboratory for the new, grounded in a deep appreciation for the historical. The Broad MSU is committed to expanding, preserving, exhibiting, and interpreting its collection of artwork from ancient cultures to the present day.

Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Zaha Hadid, the museum features a striking facade of pleated stainless steel and glass, signaling the museum and the university’s dynamic vision. More than 70 percent of the 46,000-square-foot facility is dedicated to exhibition space. The museum is named for Eli and Edythe Broad, longtime supporters of Michigan State University, who provided the lead gift for the museum.

About the exhibition

Date: June 4—October 16, 2016

Venue: Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum

Courtesy of the artist and the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, for further information please visit http://broadmuseum.msu.edu.