press release

‘Out of Sight’ demonstrates how artists in today's China see themselves in relation to the international artistic landscape. Spatial and filmic installations show the personal obsessions and hallucinations of the artists, but also their need to negotiate in order to survive in modern China.

Guest curator Hou Hanru on the subject: ‘It is not so much its Chinese-ness which makes today’s Chinese art so significant, as its desire to be independent and to escape from what is expected from it.’

Not only did Hou Hanru curate an overview of Asian art at the last Venice Biennale under the title ‘Zones of Urgency’, he also co-curated the 2002 Guangzhou Biennale, the 2000 Shanghai Biennale and is currently preparing the next Triennial of Guangzhou (opening November 28, 2005) together with Hans-Ulrich Obrist, with whom he worked on Cities on the Move from 1997. In 1999 Hou Hanru was curator of De Appel’s Unlimited.nl #2.

‘Out of Sight’ is supported by the Netherlands Culture Fund and Prince Claus Fund.

The exhibition in the De Appel is a component of the Amsterdam China Festival, which is being held from September 30 through October 25, 2005. www.amsterdamchinafestival.nl.

Pressetext

Out of Sight - Current developments in Chinese contemporary art
Kurator: Hou Hanru

mit Cao Fei, Chen Xiaoyun, Lu Chunsheng, Ni Haifeng, Xu Tan, Yan Lei, Zheng Gougu