Chicago and Shanghai are sister cities. Columbia College has put together Focus: China, a series of exhibitions, lectures, film screenings and associated events bringing contemporary Chinese culture to Chicago audiences.
The Museum of Contemporary Photography’s exhibition entitled Reversed Images: Representations of Shanghai and its Contemporary Material Culture is a remarkable group show that mixes photography, installation, and video from international artists. The opening coincided with a symposium, and artist Shi Guorui, known for his camera obscura images, gave a great presentation of his work.
Birds Nest Stadium, Beijing, camera obscura photograph, Shi Guorui
Meanwhile, the Hyde Park Art Center continues its good work of promoting strong artwork by showing a number of video works from Chinese artists (and a few non-Chinese who did special projects in Shanghai), including the prankster Xu Zhen, the new-media whiz Cao Fei, and the well-known Yang Fudong. The opening on Sunday was quiet, but was worth it for the historical overview delivered in University of Chicago PhD candidate Peggy Wang’s presentation. Dan S. Wang also skilfully handled the Q &A that arose following the screenings as well as did a lot of administrative legwork on the China project overall.
Both shows are up now and are worth your time.
Yang Fudong, Honey #3, still photograph
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