CHINA PULSE: CHINA PULSE AIMS AT TAKING THE PULSE OF CURRENT TRENDS IN CHINESE PHOTOGRAPHY. THIS YEAR IT FEATURES WORKS FROM TWO ARTISTS: LUO YANG AND LIU KE.

CARTOGRAPHIES OF LIGHT:

NEW PHOTOGRAPHY FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT OF LUXUN ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS

Artists: Ao Guoxing, Feng Mengjin, He Hao, Li Yuanming, Lin Jianjiao, Liu Dawei, Liu Lihong, Sun Xiaochuan, Wang Ningde, Wang Xining, Wu Ting, Xu Dan, Xue Zhijun, Yan Shi, Yu Xingyue, Zhang Meng, 

Curator: Lisa Angela Orcutt

Cartography is generally defined as the art and science of representing a geographical area, usually in the form of maps or charts. Requiring close observation, aesthetic choices, and technical skill, it is both a ‘study’ and a ‘practice,’ which although aiming to construct objective indexical representations of the world, still contains subjective aspects as embodied by terms in the field such as the persuasive map. Here, the juxtaposition of ‘light’ and ‘cartography’ as curatorial concepts is used to suggest a metaphor for the practices of the photographers featured in this exhibition. As members of the organic academic community of the Photography Department of the Luxun Academy of Fine Arts, these artists also deal with photography as both a ‘study’ and ‘practice;’  their work prioritizes construction, concept, and process over documentary or unmediated lens-based image making, evidencing close observation combined with careful design, dedicated craftwork, directorial ordering of parts to the whole.

Founded in 1985, the Photography Department of the Luxun Academy of Fine Arts is the first such department to be established in a Chinese higher education art school. Thus uniquely positioned on the map of photography education in China, the Department has developed a program that seeks to ‘establish a balance between a focus on the ontological characteristics of photography, and the transmedia conceptual expression of contemporary art.’ The Department, embedded as it is within the art academy, is a porous environment allowing for a broad range of exposure to a variety of techniques, materials, processes and discourses outside of the intuitive parameters of art photography. This educational setting not only responds to the complex image environment we live in today, it also gives practitioners freedom to explore new possibilities of photographic production.

Bringing together recent works by artists at the LAFA Photography Department and alumni active in the contemporary arts scene, “Cartographies of Light” examines a cross-section of these practices of image making within the context of the contemporary art academy and its broader sphere of cultural influence, and contemplates what it means to understand, communicate, and re-imagine photographic production today.

Courtesy of artists

Ao Guoxing

Graduated from the Photography Department of LuXun Academy of Fine Arts in 2002, Ao Guoxing is now a faculty member, associate professor and supervisor of master's students at the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, living and working in Shanghai. His works explore the potential of light-sensitive materials, and examine the relationship between reality and fiction in photography. His representative works include North of North, South of South, Ode to Joy, The Unknown, Daybreak, and The Realm of Reality. Ao Guoxing has been shortlisted for Documentary Emerging Directors, awarded the BASF Young Artist Academic Award and the Grand Jury Prize of Lianzhou International Photography Festival. His works have been included in Changjiang International Photography & Video Biennale, and exhibitions by Stuttgart Art Museum, Singapore Art Museum and Royal Art Center in the Netherlands. 

Feng Mengjin

Born in 1995 in Huludao City, Liaoning Province, China, Feng Mengjin is a graduate student in the Photography Department of LuXun Academy of Fine Arts. Feng's works are not limited to specific materials and media, but use photo, video, installation and other means to constitute a body of work. Feng Mengjin’s work often explores the themes of memory and association, the relationship between humans and the environment, and women's perspectives, while also experimenting with creative language and method. Through the overlap of different spaces, juxtaposition of multiple screens, and presentation of various visual modes, the information in the imagery dispels the original contexts and reconstructs her understanding about life. Her works were included in the Culture City of East Asia Incheon Photography and Film Festival, the Houtan Contemporary Art Fair, the 7th Golden Shuanmazhuang Awards Students Image Art Festival and the LuXun Academy of Fine Arts Photography Exhibition.

He Hao

Born in Shandong in 1993, graduated from LuXun Academy of Fine Arts, He Hao now lives and works in Beijing.

Li Yuanming

Born in 1994 in Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province, Li Yuanming graduated from LuXun Academy of Fine Arts in 2020. Li’s selection of works include Broken Childhood, My Dreams, Why They Fall and more. Her works have been exhibited at the Asian Marine Media Art Festival and the 8^th Dali International Film Festival.

Lin Jianjiao

Born in Shenyang in 1968, graduated from the Photography Department of LuXun Academy of Fine Arts in 1993, Lin Jianjiao is a professor, supervisor of master’s students, and director of the Photography Department of Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts. Her major works include After the Commercial Society, Elapsed Landscapes, The Beauty of the Unconscious, Nowhere to Place and Alien Objects. Her work has been shown in large-scale exhibitions including The 10^th Photography Art Exhibition in Liaoning Province, The 6th South Korean and Chinese Professor's Works Exchange Exhibition,  “Making Landscapes” the 1^st Xi'an Contemporary Image Art Documentary Exhibition, "Where to Go” Liaoning 11+ Image Exhibition, The 1^st Beizhen Photography Exhibition 2018 and the Culture City of East Asia 2019: Incheon Photography and Film Festival.

Liu Dawei

Born in 1970, graduated from the Photography Department of the LuXun Academy of Fine Arts in 1993, Liu Dawei now lives and works in Beijing. His works evidence a long-term interest in online images and mixed media. Artistic creation for Liu involves developing a self-imposed system that encompasses random elements. Here, artistic production is both social and completely personal, and at the same time it is an ongoing process of updating and adjusting the relationship between the artist and his surrounding environment.

Liu’s solo exhibitions include “Dawei.ai” at K PROJECT Gallery, Caochangdi Art District, Beijing, 2017 and a solo project at Beijing International Gallery Fair 2017, Beijing International Exhibition Center. Liu Dawei has also participated in group exhibitions of Curitiba Biennial 2017, Curitiba Art Gallery, Brazil, and “GENERATION C” Group Exhibition of Chinese New Generation Artists, 2017, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney, 2008.

Liu Lihong

Born in 1958 in Shenyang, Liu Lihong was enrolled into the Craft Department of the LuXun Academy of Fine Arts in 1982. He was a professor and director of the Photography Department at the LuXun Academy of Fine Arts. He has created series of works such as Winter Solstice, Vanishing Land, Wandering and Pine. His works have been exhibited in the 7th Beijing International Art Biennial and the 1st Beijing International Photography Biennial.

Sun Xiaochuan

Born in Shenyang in 1978, graduated from the Ecole Nationale de la Photographie d’Arles, France in 2006, Sun Xiaochuan now lives and works in Shenyang. His research interests focus on contemporary photography. He has created different series of photographic works such as The Hometown Collection, A New World, All is But Dust, False, Beneath the Body, Shimmer, Overturning, Fragmental and Irretrievable Everything. His works have been exhibited at La Mama Gallery, New York; Belfast Exposed Photography Gallery, Ireland; Three Shadows Photography Art Centre; Liangzhu Museum, Hangzhou; Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts, Nanjing; Art Museum of LuXun Academy of Fine Arts; Cui Zhenkuan Art Museum; Xiangshuihai Art Museum; Changjiang International Image Biennale; Beijing International Art Biennial; Les Rencontres d’Arles, France; Dali Photo Festival; Pingyao Photo Festival; Lishui Photo Festival. Artist residency programs include Rousseau Park Artist Residency in France, 2017 and Odyssey International Residency Program by the French Ministry of Culture.

Wang Ningde

Born in 1972,  graduated from the Photography Department of the LuXun Academy of Fine Arts in 1995. He currently lives and works in Beijing. While Wang’s early practice largely focused on the medium of photography, in recent years he has begun to work with installation and other media, exploring foremost questions about the language and nature of the image within the context of contemporary art. An interest in broadening the boundaries of the language of photography underlies the formal innovation in Wang’s work. At the same time, his works also present subjective responses to current social realities.

Wang Ningde’s work has been shown in solo exhibitions at Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, New York (2018), Fort Mason Festival Pavilion, San Francisco (2017), m97 Gallery, Shanghai (2014), and Galerie Paris-Beijing, Paris (2010), among others. Wang Ningde’s work has been featured in numerous large-scale exhibitions including: China 8: Works in Progress, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany; Le Moine et le Demon, Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, Lyon, France, and Techniques of the Visible, Shanghai Biennale 2004, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China.

Wang Xining

Wang Xining was born in 1983 in Huludao, Liaoning Province, and graduated from LuXun Academy of Fine Arts in 2009. She now lives and works in Shenyang. Her series of works including Small Reunion, Mark. Remember and Mobile Phone Images 2016-2017 have been shown at the 5th Culture and Art Festival of Songzhuang, China, Lishui Photo Festival 2017, and Shanghai Young Art Fair 2018, among others.

Wu Ting

Born in 1989 in Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province, Wu Ting obtained a master’s degree from the Photography Department of LuXun Academy of Fine Arts in 2017, and now lives and works in Shenyang. Working mainly with photography and printmaking, Wu has created different series of work including "Inter-promotion" and "Path". Her work has been shown in solo exhibitions including "My Meaning" solo photo exhibition and the online solo exhibition "Everyone Is an Artist" at Changjiang Museum of Contemporary Art, Chongqing. Her works have participated in the "A Handful of Realms" small-format painting exhibition, the 5th University Art Fair, the photo exhibition "Delay", the Asian Students Photography Exhibition, and "Caesar Rising Star" Annual Nomination Exhibition for Students of Contemporary Art Academies.

Xu Dan

Born in Shenyang in 1978, graduated from the Photography Department of the LuXun Academy of Fine Arts in 2003, Xu Dan is a faculty member at LuXun Academy of Fine Arts. She worked in the Photography Department of Shanghai Jiefang Daily Group. In 2007, she applied to the San Francisco Art Institute to study at the photographic mixed media studio founded by Ansel Adams. Her research interests focus on photographic mixed media and classical techniques, and she is particularly interested in exploring production and shooting with pinhole cameras, new material transfer techniques, and combining imaging processes from photography, oil painting, watercolor and other mixed media. Representative works include Echoes of a Fantasy World, Lost, Daylight Etching and Sound in the Wild.

Xue Zhijun

Born in Jixi City, Heilongjiang Province in 1971, Xue Zhijun is a professor and graduate supervisor at the Photography Department of LuXun Academy of Fine Arts. He lives and works in Shenyang.

Since 1994, his photography, documentaries and other works have been included in dozens of international and domestic art exhibitions and academic events such as the Beijing International Art Biennale. He has published monographs including Gilbert & George (2009) and Oil Floating on Soup (2018).

Yan Shi

Born in Shenyang in 1975, Yan Shi studied at the Photography Department of LuXun Academy of Fine Arts and Multimedia and Mixed Media Department at the Art College of Xiamen University. He now works in Beijing. Yan Shi's artistic practice is inclusive and unrestricted by media or materials. Yan's profound observation of contemporary life is deeply rooted in examining, and entering into dialogue with, art historical narratives. Yan's artworks are presented in a straightforward manner, summoning the object itself to speak, and inviting the viewer into unknown and open-ended exploration.

Yan Shi’s work has been included in exhibitions such as the Quanzhou Contemporary Art Exhibition, Quanzhou, 2018; "Parallax", Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, 2013; "Phenomena and Situation Since 1985 III", Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, 2008; “Thermocline of Art: New Asian Waves”, ZKM Museum, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2007; "The6th Moscow Photo Biennale", Moscow, 2006; "The 2nd Guangzhou Triennial", Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou.

Yu Xingyue

Born in 1997 in Sanhe, Hebei Province, graduated from the Photography Department of LuXun Academy of Fine Arts in 2019, Yu Xingyue now lives and works in Beijing. She was invited to present work in the "Safe Landing" themed exhibition at 1905 Creative Culture Park. In 2019, she was shortlisted for the first 1839 Photography Award and won the Award of Excellence.

Meng Zhang

Born in Harbin of Heilongjiang Province in 1995. Currently, he has been studying for the postgraduate courses stipulated in the Cinematography Department of LuXun Academy of Fine Arts. His representative works and exhibitions are various, for example, his series of works “The Last Resort” was exhibited in “Image Archives Exhibition in Epidemic Period of Window 2020” sponsored by Tsinghua University Art Museum and “The Last Resort” was selected for the online exhibition titled “Year 2020 in My Life”. In addition, his series of works titled “Invisible Bottom Line” was chosen to participate in “Isolation Reflection Themed Online Exhibition”, his series “Society of Spectacle - Waitoushan Iron Ore Mine” was exhibited in the “7th Exhibition of Excellent Photographic Works from LuXun Academy of Fine Arts”, his work series “Trace” was shown in “Asian Marine Media Arts Festival” held in Incheon, South Korea, and was also exhibited in “Academy Spirit: Vision – Exhibition of Excellent Works for Postgraduates of the Top 10 Fine Art Academies”. Meng Zhang’s work “Boundary” was selected to participate in “Joint Exhibition of Playback Images”.

curator

Lisa Angela Orcutt

Lisa Angela Orcutt is an American curator and translator based in Beijing. 
In 2018, Orcutt obtained an MA degree in art history from Institute of Fine Arts, New York University where she focused on contemporary art and curatorial studies. Previous projects include curating Arcs—2018 New Talent Award Special Exhibition (PHOTOFAIRS Shanghai, Shanghai), and co-organizing the show Vestige(s) (Commons Gallery, New York).