Trace of Existence

From 24 January to 13 March, 2016, the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA) presents “Trace of Existence,” a group exhibition featuring eight artists from China and abroad located in the Central Gallery. Including painting, video, and installation, the exhibition explores how an artwork’s rhetoric—the “trace” of its creation—is constructed within different contexts and states of existence, as well as through specific life experiences and artistic practices. Taking its title from the exhibition “Trace of Existence: A Private Showing of Chinese Contemporary Art’ 98,” curated by Feng Boyi on the eastern fringes of Beijing, the exhibition not only presents a set of explorations in experimental art, but also investigates the state of cross-cultural interaction at the local and global levels.

A long-time resident of Dongguan, China’s leading hub for the manufacture of electronics located along the Pearl River Delta, Li Jinghu is interested in the role virtual representation plays in our daily lives. Waterfall is executed by connecting Android cell phones collected from local residents. Each cellphone plays a recording of water flowing from the donor’s faucet. While the virtual “waterfalls” on the individual screens are derived from actual footage, the “waterfall” constructed by the display of collected cell phones is merely a visual pun. Here, the act of gazing by screen is subject with said “waterfall” providing the context.

Mateo López’s artistic practice feeds from journeys and encounters and extends to the architectural realm. In the itinerant piece Nowhere Man (2007- ), López uses paper as the main medium, displaying traces of his own life on a single plane in the form of a model. The drawing construction recalls an absent protagonist. Nowhere Man is a work in progress, the epitome of the lifestyle of a wanderer. The paper-made objects of the installation were further used as props for the films El Minutero and Time as Activity. López’s filmmaking and drawing practice attempt to portray the way processes and time can be contained.

Koki Tanaka’s practice incorporates video, photography, on-sight installation, and public intervention. In recent years, he has produced a series of “collaborative” projects, which organize temporary groups according to a cause. The participants’ reactions to this impetus are captured and are intended for the study of social behavior. In his work A pottery produced by five potters at once (silent attempt), Koki Tanaka invites five people to create a single piece of pottery but forbids them from using verbal communication to complete it. The resulting creative situation is captured with onlookers and filmmakers at times appearing in the frame.

Visually reminiscent of abstract painting, the works of Andrew Beck explore the presentation of art in the age of digital imaging. With these pieces, the artist first paints a black block directly onto a piece of glass, then exposes a piece of photographic paper in a dark room to form a graphic pattern of “light.” After the pattern is complete, Beck attaches the photographic paper to the back of the glass. Here, the build-up of layers lends a sense of depth comparable to sculpture, while the incorporation of photographic techniques coupled with the instantaneity of “light” bring focus back to the work’s moment of creation.

Inspired by the notion of “fit” (to match or coordinate), Fit No. 8 assembles common household objects, bought from a local market, in random nonsensical ways, creating a stable yet detachable whole. Emptied of everyday function, these readymades take on a new meaning that challenges the standard system of production and consumption.

Recently completed with materials used predominantly for construction, Shi Yong’s series “Let all potential be internally resolved using beautiful form” self-consciously evokes a sense post-industrial kitsch. Within each piece, the artist has placed an aluminum rod upon which is written quotations from a personal essay. While only portions of the rods can be seen, inhibiting readers from knowing the literary work in its entirety, the constituent visual pieces are nonetheless arranged according to the sequence of the essay. With the sculptural bodies of the series competing with the literary work for attention, the pieces alludes to the ongoing debate of form versus content within art.

For a long period of time, Jon Pestoni has been exploring and experimenting in the field of non-figurative painting. His works not only consider the nuances of color, form, light and shadow, but also relate closely to spatial materiality and tension. The exhibition works are all formed by multiple layers. Each layer is a part of the entire work but also function individually—the superimposition of layers accentuates the temporality in the process of the painting and attempts to break the boundaries of two-dimensional representation. These pieces seem to refer to classics of abstract painting—the rough strokes of action painting resting on regular geometric surfaces reminiscent of geometric abstraction, thus realizing a conversation of disparate layers loaded with various messages of culture and art history.

Yang Guangnan examines the trivial experiences of everyday life, transforming them into works of sculpture, installation, and performance. The metal box in Action No.3 resembles a window through which the streetscape of Heiqiao Art Village—filmed at a low angle—can be seen. Carried by a cleaning machine, this “window” wanders aimlessly, bouncing back after hitting a wall or obstacle. Indicative of a low-quality industrialism, the work parodies street surveillance, sharing the reactions of those that have been filmed, while completing a circuit that exists between the sites of production and presentation.

“Trace of Existence” is curated by Philip Tinari and Guo Xi. Participating artists include Andrew Beck, Li Jinghu, Liang Shuo, Mateo López, Jon Pestoni, Shi Yong, Koki Tanaka, and Yang Guangnan. Exclusive sponsorship of sound equipment comes from GENELEC.