FALSE FIRMAMENT, BERNDNAUT SMILDE
The solo exhibition False Firmament by Dutch artist Berndnaut Smilde features among new works also works that the artist developed during his residency stay in LIAN Contemporary Art Space, Shanghai. The show includes his youngest research on breaking light and centers on the site of LIAN Contemporary Art Space, its surrounding as well as its counter part, its antipode, the direct opposite location on the world. In history the firmament was conceived as a vast solid dome, where sun, stars and moon were arranged in the atmosphere.
Nowadays a lot of different proto-scientifical models try to describe how we perceive the blue heaven above us and natural phenomenons related to it
differently. Technologies allow us views onto almost every surface on earth. But our imagination about the view into and out of the sky is still personal, related to our knowledge,
narrations and myths, that we have. How do we perceive nature, images and arrangements in nature? False Firmament is referring to Berndnauts interference with these phenomenons in
nature and questions the matter of truth in our view.
Lian Contemporary Art Space, Shanghai, 2016
Installation views, LIAN Contemporary Art Space, Shanghai, 2016
exhibition folder, design by efemde, published by LIAN
Berndnaut Smilde was born in 1978 in Groningen, The Netherlands. He currently lives and works in in Amsterdam. Smilde’s work consists of installations, sculptures and photos. Using his daily surroundings and spaces as inspiration, Berndnaut Smilde is interested in the temporal nature of construction and deconstruction. His work refers to both the physical state of a building as well as a moment of revelation that depicts either hope or fragility. Berndnaut Smilde analyses spaces and their appearance and takes them apart to investigate their unique details and features. His artistic point of view often centers on duality. His works question: inside and outside, temporality, size, the function of materials and architectural elements. Smilde holds an MA from the Frank Mohr Institute, Groningen. Awards include a start stipend form The Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture. He was a resident artist at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin 2008.
THE COOLING EFFECT, MOU HUAN
Living in the industrial area of Germany and in Beijing (China) the artist Mou Huan is showing his new body of works, which is obviously dealing with his living environment. Energy, production and growth as environmental parameters interest the artist. In his paintings he shows a contradiction to the abstract shape of the cooling tower and its usage.
In his serial working process, he focuses on one object - the cooling tower. An object which is shown with a particular light and in precise shapes transforming into abstraction. The object is to take as a political icon in a time where energy is discussed; Where the earth tries to breath and tries to get rid of badly improved methods for energy-production. This new work is showing a political icon transformed into matters of painting.
Lian Contemporary Art Space, Shanghai, 2015
Born in Chengdu, Mou Huan lives and works in Beijing and Düsseldorf (Germany).
Graduated from Sichuan Acedemy of Fine Arts he had the great opportunity to work in Worpswede,
Germany sponsored by DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service). Later on Mou Huan studied
with Jörg Immendorf and Konrad Klapheck at the Academy of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf.
LIGHT GAP, Li QING
展览介绍 | Introduction
”Mainly interested in painting, Qing is observating her memories and imaginations of different places, that she saw in the reality or in her dreams and that have become significants in her work. There may be details, sometimes historical ornaments in rooms which are characterising a space and a mood related to this space. Qing constructs her notes, which she gets from different places and transports them into an image, in which the walls, the floor and the interior collapses into surrealistic architectures with materials. We are still able to figure these details out in their real sense, but their environment changes. Her creations are showing the artists temperament. By Watching at the paintings one could feel Qings eyes moving through a space, - wandering from one detail to another and imagining theses images again and again till they become their new space on the canvas. When she found an interest on a scenery, she is constructing it in a quite conceptual way. After finishing sketches Qing is preparing her paintings with a view on every single detail and precision. Her paintings address to our feelings in relation to space, light and patterns.
The daily architectural environment of both my memories and the present times is the main source of my works. I use subjective segmentation, misplacings and perspective deformation in my treatment of space and the modelling in the hope of building a "virtual space" that looks familiar, yet remote and unfamiliar at the same time. Within the reconstruction and restructuring of a scene while evoking implicit common experiences, I am controlling the tiny psychological moods of past situations and present experiences, as well as achieving a reconfirmation of my own identity, in order to get as near as possible to the truth of my present own mental state.
Li Qing
Lian Contemporary Art Space, Shanghai, 2015
DRINKING A DRINK, SINKING A SHIP 看一看 想一想
Artists: Catherina Cramer, Nicholas Grafia, Susanne Griem, René Haustein, Niklas Heidemann, Philipp Höning, Daniel Hundt, Seungyho Jung, Sumi Kim, Christian Klement, Luisa Kömm, Johannes Leßke, Sebastian Liebl, Ill Jong Park, Jan Partke, Roman Podeszwa, Hanna Schneider, Meike Schulze-Hobeling, Stephanie Szepanek, Katharina Siemeling,, Vakho Sikharulidze, Kyoung Jae Cho and Manuel Talarico
V Art Center & LIAN Contemporary Art Space, Shanghai, 2015
COLLECTIVE
The place is empty, the floor, the walls. V ART CENTER in the gallery quarter M50 hosts the performance piece Happy Hour first shown in 2014 in Germany from 23 german artists.
The students are working temporarily together since years. The project space Vision Art Center is funded and supported by SIVA University, Shanghai.
Installation Views, 看一看 想一想 Drinking a Drink, Sinking a Ship, V Art Center, Shanghai, 2015
SOLO
LIAN Contemporary Art Center in Yangpu District opens the doors for the first time.
In its inaugural exhibition it shows single works by the students in the class of Daniele Buetti at the Academy of Fine Arts in Münster, Germany.
Installation Views, 看一看 想一想 Drinking a Drink, Sinking a Ship, LIAN Contemporary Art Space, Shanghai, 2015