Life and death : art and the body in contemporary China

Fok focuses on the ways in which these artists use their own bodies, animals' bodies and other corporeal substances to represent life and death in performance art, installations, and photography. Over the course of her investigations, corporeality emerges as a common means of highlighting the social and cultural issues that surround these life and death. By assessing its effectiveness in the expression of these themes, Fok ultimately illuminates the extent to which we can see corporeality as a significant trend in the history of contemporary art in China. Her conclusions will fascinate scholars of performance and installation art, photography and contemporary Chinese art. |For all their ubiquity, life and death have not been fully explored as integral themes in many forms of contemporary Chinese art. Life and Death addresses that lacuna. Exploring the strategies employed by a variety of Chinese artists who engage with these timeless concerns, Silvia Fok opens a new line of inquiry about contemporary art in a rapidly changing environment. Fok focuses, in particular, on the ways in which these artists use their own bodies, animals' bodies, and other corporeal substances to represent life and death in performance art, installations, and photography. Over the course of her investigations, corporeality emerges as a common means of highlighting the social and cultural issues that surround these themes. By assessing its effectiveness in the expression of life, death, and related ideas, Fok ultimately illuminates the extent to which we can see corporeality as a significant trend in the history of contemporary art in China. Her conclusions will fascinate scholars of performance and installation art, photography, and contemporary Chinese art. Content: FrontCover Half-title Title Copyright Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Preface Chapter 1: Life, Death and the Body in Art in the PRC The production and reception of contemporary Chinese art The artist's body as a revolutionary tool in contemporary Chinese art: Somatic perception and criticism Life, death and the body in art Tactile materiality of corpse in art Tactile materiality of skull in art Overview of the book Notes. Chapter 2: The Role of the Body in Representing Death in Art: Simulation of Death versus Dying in the Name of Art versus Photography Documenting Dying and DeathSimulation of death -- Wei Guangqing, Suicide Project, 1988 -- Lanzhou Art Army, Funeral/Burial, 1993 -- The SHS Group, Big Glass, Paradise in a Dream, 1993 -- Huang Yan, Lying on the Rail, Suicide/Murder News, 1996 -- Zhu Gang, Obituary, 1999 -- Zhou Bin, A Traffic Accident Scene, 1999 -- Xing Danwen, Urban Fiction, 2004-present Dying in the name of art -- Qi Li, Ice Burial, 1992 -- Zhang Shengquan (Da Zhang), Dying on 1 January 2000. Photography documenting dying and death- Wang Youshen, Before and After Grandmother Passed Away, 1989-1995 -- Song Yongping, My Parents, 1999-2001 Conclusion Notes Chapter 3: Animal Body in Art Human body interacting with animal body -- Zhang Peili, Document of Hygiene No. 3, 1991 -- Dai Guangyu, Incontinence, 2005 -- Wang Jin, To Marry a Mule, 1995 -- Wang Chuyu, Pigeon Dinner, 1999 -- Zhang Shengquan, To Cross/To Carry a Goat, 1996 -- Sun Yuan and Xiao Yu, Herdsman, 1998 -- Xu Zhen, But I Don't Need Anything (I'm Not Asking for Anything), 1999 -- Wu Gaozhong, Birthday on 28 May, 2000. Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, A Safe Island, 2003Animal bodies interacting among one another -- Xu Bing, A Case Study of Cultural Transference, 1994 -- Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, Dogs Cannot Touch Each Other: Controversy Model, 2003 Display of living and dead animal body -- Xiao Yu, Ruan, 1999 -- Yang Maoyuan, Inflated Horse, 2001 -- Xu Bing, Wild Zebra, 2002 Conclusion Notes Chapter 4: Corporeal Materials in Art Human body interacting with body parts -- Zhu Yu, Basics of Total Knowledge No. 4, 1998-1999 -- Zhu Yu, Skin Graft, 2000 Human body interacting with corpses. Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, Body Link, 2000- Zhu Yu, Eating People, 2000 -- Zhu Yu, Sacrifice: Feed a Dog with His Child, 2002 Human ashes as material in art -- Dai Guangyu, Be Lost, 1999 -- Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, One or All, 2004 -- Xu Bing, Where Does the Dust Collect?, 2004 Human blood as material in art -- Yang Zhichao, Macau, 2005 Human hair as material in art -- Leung Mee Ping, Memorise the Future, 1998-2002 -- Gu Wenda, United Nations -- China Monument: The Great Wall of People, 2004 -- He Chengyao, The Possibility of Hair, 2006 Human body as material in art. Yang Zhichao and Ai Weiwei, Hide, 2002. For all their ubiquity, life and death have not been fully explored as integral themes in many forms of contemporary Chinese art. __Life and Death__ addresses that lacuna. Exploring the strategies employed by a variety of Chinese artists who engage with these timeless concerns, Silvia Fok opens a new line of inquiry about contemporary art in a rapidly changing environment. Fok focuses, in particular, on the ways in which these artists use their own bodies, animals’ bodies, and other corporeal substances to represent life and death in performance art, installations, and photography. Over the course of her investigations, corporeality emerges as a common means of highlighting the social and cultural issues that surround these themes. By assessing its effectiveness in the expression of life, death, and related ideas, Fok ultimately illuminates the extent to which we can see corporeality as a significant trend in the history of contemporary art in China. Her conclusions will fascinate scholars of performance and installation art, photography, and contemporary Chinese art.

Fok focuses on the ways in which these artists use their own bodies, animals’ bodies and other corporeal substances to represent life and death in performance art, installations, and photography. Over the course of her investigations, corporeality emerges as a common means of highlighting the social and cultural issues that surround these life and death. By assessing its effectiveness in the expression of these themes, Fok ultimately illuminates the extent to which we can see corporeality as a significant trend in the history of contemporary art in China. Her conclusions will fascinate scholars of performance and installation art, photography and contemporary Chinese art.

"For all their ubiquity, life and death have not been fully explored as integral themes in many forms of contemporary Chinese art. Life and Death addresses that lacuna. Exploring the strategies employed by a variety of Chinese artists who engage with these timeless concerns, Silvia Fok opens a new line of inquiry about contemporary art in a rapidly changing environment" -Back cover. For all their ubiquity, life and death have not been fully explored as integral themes in many forms of contemporary Chinese art. Exploring the strategies employed by a variety of Chinese artists who do engage with these timeless concerns, the author opens a new line of inquiry about contemporary art in a rapidly changing environment