Wang Jianwei
Wang Jianwei
I often receive critiques from the media and public that my work is very difficult, in an artistic manner…that I’m doing something that’s going very deep into the theory of art. But I don’t think that’s what I’m doing. I think what I’m doing is presenting the world as I see it…as a place where many different things—opposite things—are juxtaposed.
----Wang Jianwei
Wang Jianwei is not by any means alone in using new media in China. His practice is differentiated more by the way he slides from media to media allowing the intent of the art to govern the form of the expression, as for him new media is only a tool of expression, but one however which is stretched and manipulated. In the same way as what he is expressing, the final form tests the boundaries. Other artists, in their own individual ways, are also defining new media practice in China. Artists like Yang Fudong (experimental film), Gu Wenguang (documentary/performance art), Zhou Xiaohu (animation), Feng Menpo, (videogames) and Wang Bo and An Xu (internet based interactive art) explore a variety of media.
----Binghui Huangfu, an excerpt from "Wang Jianwei: Working on the Boundaries"
Artlink Vol 23 no.4, 2003
Wang Jianwei (b.1958 in Sichuan) is a prominent video and installation artist who also acts as a kind of sociologist or anthropologist. Wang's video works often include him as a participant as well as observer. Often inserting himself into his works, Wang keep challenging the division between art and real life. Now he lives and works in Beijing.
Time·Theatre·Exhibition by Wang Jianwei; Today Art Museum, Beijing, 2009
Biography
1958 Born in Sichuan Province, China
Present Lives and works in Beijing
Solo Exhibitions
2011
Yellow Signal - UCCA - Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing
2010
Symptom - Château de Nyon, Nyon
2009
Time·Theatre·Exhibition, Today Art Museum, Beijing
2008
Wang Jianwei - Hostage - Himalayas Art Museum (the former Zendai Museum of Modern Art) , Shanghai
2007
Wang Jianwei - Dilemma: Three Way Fork in the Road - Chambers Fine Art - New York, New York City, NY
2006
Dodge, Shanghai Gallery of Art, Shanghai China
Flying Bird is Motionless, Arario, Beijing, China
2005
Flying Bird is Motionless, Chambers Fine Art, New York, USA
2004
Giant Steps , Asia-Australia Arts Centre, Sydney, Australia
2003 Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA
1994 Circulation-Sowing and Harvesting, Sichuan Province, China
1992 Hong Kong Art Center, Hong Kong
1991 Cultural Palace of Nationalities, Beijing, China
Hostage by Wang Jianwei; Performance and Installtion, 2008
Hostage by Wang Jianwei; Installation, 2008
Selected Group Exhibitions
2011
Move on Asia - Laboral - Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial, Gijón
H-Box - Artsonje Center, Seoul
Community of Tastes：Chinese Contemporary Art since 2000 - Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo
Museum on Paper: 12 Chinese Artists - Iberia Art Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing
2010
8th Shanghai Biennale - Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai
Act I：Long March Project–Ho Chi Minh Trail - Long March Space, Beijing
Comunidad de gustos. Arte contemporáneo chino desde el 2000 - MAC Museo de Arte Contemporáneo. Universidad de Chile, Santiago
fast forward 2. The Power of Motion - Media Art Sammlung Goetz - ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe
Homestay - osage Shanghai, Shanghai
Edge of Elsewhere - 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney, NSW
2009
Beijing Time / La hora de China - Matadero Madrid, Madrid
Beijing Time / La hora de China - Casa Asia - Madrid, Madrid
Himalaya Project：Wang Jianwei & Nalini Malani - Arario Beijing, Beijing
The view from elsewhere. Small Acts - Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, QLD
Guangzhou Photo Biennial 2009 - Guangzhou Photo Biennial, Guangzhou, Guangdong
The view from elsewhere - Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation - SCAF, Sydney, NSW
Art in the Auditorium - Fundación PROA, Buenos Aires
Distance by Wang Jianwei; Installation, 2009
2008
Inward Gazes: Performance Art in Asia – Exhibition by Invitation 2008 - Macau Museum of Art, Macao
Mediation Biennale 08 - Mediation Biennale, Poznan
The 3rd Guangzhou Triennial - Guangzhou Triennial, Guangzhou, Guangdong
Our Future: The Guy & Myriam Ullens Foundation Collection - UCCA - Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing
Wang Jianwei / Ali Kazma - Art in the Auditorium - Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (England)
Between the light and the Dark - Arario Beijing, Beijing
Another Lonely Planet Revisited - Chambers Fine Art - Beijing, Beijing
Peripheral vision and collective body - MUSEION - Museum für moderne und zeitgenössische Kunst , Bolzano
China Power Station:Part III - MUDAM - Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg
Community of Tastes - Iberia Art Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing
Facing the Reality: Chinese Contemporary Art - National Art Museum of China - NAMOC, Beijing
Greenwashing - Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin
Between the light and the dark - Canvas International Art, Amstelveen
Beyond the surface: chinese abstract art - Macau Museum of Art, Macao
Flying Bird in Motionless by Wang Jianwei; Sculpture, 2006
2007
NET - Chambers Fine Art - Beijing, Beijing
MADE in CHINA - the Estella collection - The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Changes - video art from China - 24HR Art, Darwin, NT
Chinergie - China Summer Show - Chinese zomer in Sittard - Museum het Domein, Sittard
The Weight of Reality - Primo Marella Gallery Beijing, Beijing
MADE in CHINA - the Estella collection - Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk
The Year of the Golden Pig - Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection - Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork
2006
Micrology, The Museum of Modern Art, Macao
China Contemporary, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Rotterdam, Netherlands
2005
Adelaide Film Festival, Adelaide, Australia
The Wall: Reshaping Contemporary Chinese Art, Millennium Art Museum, Beijing, China; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, New York; University at Buffalo Art Galleries, New York
Second Guangzhou Triennial, Guangzhou Museum of Art, China
First Shenzhen Biennial of Urbanism/Architecture, Shenzhen, China
Variation Xanadu, Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, Taiwan
2004
China Now, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
Lille 2004, Euralille, France
Between Past and Future, International Center of Photography, New York, USA
At East of the South of the West, National Contemporary Art Centre, Nice, France
Past in Reverse: Contemporary Art of East Asia, San Diego Museum of Art, USA
Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai Art Museum, China
Bunker Museum of Contemporary Art - 18 Solo Exhibitions, Kinmen, Taiwan
The Third Seoul International Media Art Biennale, Seoul Museum of Art, Korea
2003
Camera, Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
Kunsten Festival des Arts, Brussels, Belgium
How Latitudes Become Forms: Art in a Global Age, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA
Alors, La Chine?, Pompidou Center, Paris, France
The 50th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
Festival d’Automne à Paris, Pompidou Center, Paris, France
Ceremony, ICA, London, UK
2002
The 25 th Sao Paulo Biennial: National Representation, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Kunsten Festival des Arts, Brussels, Belgium
The Site + Sigh, Museum of Asia Civilization, Singapore
First Guangzhou Triennial, Guangzhou Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
2001
Translated Acts, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany; Queens Art Museum, New York, USA
The State of Things, Centre Kunst-Werke, Berlin, Germany
My Home is Yours, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Compound Eyes, Art Museum of Lasalle-Sia College of the Arts, Singapore
Living in Time, Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany
2000
Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels, Biarritz, France
Kunsten Festival des Arts, Brussels, Belgium
Brighton Festival, Brighton, UK
World Wide Video Festival, Amsterdam , Holland
Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai Art Museum, China
My Home is Yours, Rodin Gallery, Seoul, Korea
1999
Fast>>Forward: New Chinese Video Art, Macao Contemporary Art Center, Macao
Cities on the Move, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark; PS 1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, USA; Hayward Gallery, Londong, UK
Melbourne International Biennial, Melbourne, Australia
Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival, Yamagata, Japan
Beijing-London, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK
Spider by Wang Jianwei; Medium-dvd video,8 min39sec
Reviews, Publications and Selected Material
2005
Time Out New York, November 2005
