A Light and a Heavy Body: Curated by GAO Yutao

Overview
A Light and a Heavy Body, Curated by GAO Yutao

A Light and a Heavy Body

Curator: Gao Yutao
 

Artists: Eva Haupt, Gao Yutao, Juliana Paek, Konrad Weichs, Shao Wei, Wang Kaifan, Wang Qiang, Wang Xuan, Yang Di, Yuan Hanhan

 

February 26-April 10, 2022

Design Spring, Red No.1-F, Cao Chang Di International Art Village, Cui Ge Zhuang, Chao Yang District Beijing (Former C-Space Gallery)

The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfillment. The heavier the burden, the closer our lives come to the earth, the more real and truthful they become. Conversely, the absolute absence of burden causes man to be lighter than air, to soar into heights, take leave of the earth and his earthly being, and become only half real, his movements as free as they are insignificant. What then shall we choose? Weight or lightness? 
—— Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
 
Lightness and heaviness are on both ends of the balance. The former gets out of the formality to rest on the earth in a poetic manner, while the latter is standing on the edge of the cliff of hot desire like the skater on thin ice. The ten artists from China and Germany sneaked into the interior of the body to find the hidden relationship between lightness and heaviness through art. The function of art is defined as the attempt to turn what’s invisible into visible. The uncertain relationship between heaviness and lightness in Kundera’s work is weighed up intentionally or unintentionally by the artists.
 
Appreciating the works in the exhibition hall, the lightness and heaviness in the body no longer oppose each other but interact and interweave with each other in coexistence. We are angels of barbarism and demons of humility, with lightness and heaviness intertwined in our bodies. All children inhabit the elderly; all newborns inhabit the dead; and all dying people breed eternal life.
 
We befall the world with measurable weights, and eventually return to the dust and earth as something extremely light (nothing). In this era of rapid modernization, we have gradually lost our perception, becoming increasingly indifferent to things that deserve to be treated seriously and even the whole world, let alone gods or humans. In vain, we surrender ourselves to these meaningless feelings. However, one of artists’ missions is to find an antidote to combat this sensory degradation and recapture the moment, light or heavy, for people which is willing to stay among us by chance.
Installation Views
Press release
由 HAOstyle先生活、Yuan Museum、伯年艺术空间 共同策划主办，“2022北京草场地青年艺术家群展”之“轻重之躯”将于2月26日北京草场地国际艺术村隆重开幕。本次展览由高郁韬担任策展人，汇集了来自十位青年艺术家的新近创作。此外，由其他五位年轻策展人分别策划的三场展览“间有闲时多云到阴”“一个干净明亮的地方”“一隅三生”也将在同期开幕。所有展览将持续至4月10日。

 

“2022北京草场地青年艺术家群展”，以“穿越时空的调色板”为总主题，出品人之一的金酉鸣先生与受邀的五位年轻策展人高郁韬、郭鹤天、陆向怡、王诗颖、王垚力，分别在四所原位于草场地的画廊空间内，策划了四场不同主题的青年艺术家群展。全部展览汇集共计81位出生于80、90、00年代为主的艺术家，涵盖绘画、摄影、雕塑、影像、装置等多种创作媒介，呈现多达数百件风格迥异的艺术家代表作品。探讨包括艺术家在以居所为例的自我空间中的创作模式、以艺术为线索探寻身体内部中轻与重之间的潜在关系、以绘画作为媒介展开艺术家潜意识中关于周遭环境的探索与推敲，并以展览作为平台，重述多元与包容作用于起始阶段与探索阶段的艺术家的重要性。所有展览将持续至 4月10日。

 

策展人、写作者、艺术史研究者、博士杨西作为展览的学术主持，将与我们共同聚焦当下青年艺术家们的创作与思考，结合由现实产生的艺术现象，探讨当下青年艺术家的整体面貌、其具备的时代特殊性和他们正在面对的挑战与机遇。与此同时，本次群展也是继“设计之春·北京草场地艺术生活示范区”于2021年启动之后，当代艺术与独立设计品牌之间的一次成功并极具开创性的结合与实践。

 

在此，特别感谢 先生活HAOstyle创始人温浩先生 和 Yuan Museum创始人宋涛先生 为“2022北京草场地青年艺术家群展”提供场地的大力支持。

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