What is Love?
Women, Chinese, Performers
Program:
Sunday
7 p.m. HE CHENGYAO, No Title, performance/entrance every 10 min by booking
7 p.m. XIAO LU, What is Love?, performance/one person at the time
Monday:
6 p.m. KO SIULAN, Poetest, durational performance in public space, starting in front of the Old Power Station - SMEEL
7 p.m. LIU LUSHAN, Daily Life, performance/entrance every 10-15 min by booking
9 p.m. BÉRÉNICE ANGREMY, Contemporary Chinese Performance, lecture
The performance program Women, Chinese, Performers
introduces the works of four Chinese women who come from different
generations and backgrounds in China. In the performances that they
will present on their European tour, at City of Women in Ljubljana and
at La Bellone in Brussels, these artists explore issues such as
identity, gender, body, political conflict, and personal story; and
each of them works with a specific language and medium: imagery,
poetry, body extremity, installation, and interaction. Witnesses to the
tremendous turmoil, changes, and economic dreams and reality that China
has been undergoing for more than 20 years, these artists also often
reflect in a personal way the position of being woman and artist in
China.
Xiao Lu, whom historical documents
record as the first Chinese woman performer ever, usually does
performances that are confounded with her intimate life. What is Love will
question in a spontaneous way the relationship between the artist and
her audience. No one can yet answer this question, and you will be the
one who will discuss, express, reveal, or hide. He Chengyao,
well known for her subtle and sensitive poetic performances, invites
the members of the audience to interact with her in a special
arrangement that is intended to reflect their own inner feelings.
Ko Siulan, who is a performer engaged in social and political issues, always manages to create an esthetic and poetic world. Poetestis
a long duration traveling performance in the city and can be understood
as an action bordering on protest, propaganda, performance, and
everyday life.
Liu Lushan, a Chinese artist
who lives in Japan and who deals with new media in order to cross the
borders of communication, will use video/visual images as a way to
trace her present daily life events as core elements that influence her
as a member of the Chinese Diaspora. China Art Performance Platform (CAPP)
Contemporary Chinese Performance
Lecture
It would be difficult to discuss contemporary Chinese experimental
art without addressing Live or performance art, a medium closely
aligned with the origins of contemporary art in China, whose small but
stubborn voice has been present for the last thirty years. The
practices of the contemporary arts (painting, installation, video,
etc.) had been considered potentially subversive until the end of the
90's, but since then they have been successfully integrated into the
socioeconomic order and accepted by the authorities; nevertheless,
performance art continues to be tainted by an aura of taboo that has
been difficult to shed. Certainly this has to do with the perception of
the body, which remains a taboo subject, as well as the ephemeral
nature of the medium, which often leaves no trace and is thus difficult
to control.
The gesture of Xiao Lu, a woman performer at
the China Avant-Garde Exposition in 1989, not only stigmatized the
genre, but also again raised the question of women’s creativity in a
field dominated by men. Women performers in China were obliged to
maintain a level of creativity and combativeness in the art world,
which eventually resulted in a new wave of women artists in recent
years. Openly and simply, these artists tackle their fundamental
problems concerning their identities as women, as artists, and as
active members of Chinese society, through language that is at the same
time poetic, aggressive, ornate, abstract, and aesthetically refined or
personal.
Curated by: China Art Performance Platform (CAPP), Thinking Hands;
Production: La Bellone; Co-production: City of Women, Charleroi/Danses;
Supported by: Europalia, China; Organization: City of Women; In
collaboration with: the Old Power Station - SMEEL; With the help of:
the Embassy of the People's Republic of China.
