Walker Art Center Presents First Retrospective of Chinese Artist Huang Yong Ping October 16-January 15
Celebrating an artist who offers alternatives to a Eurocentric world view, the exhibition House of Oracles: A Huang Yong Ping Retrospective navigates the divide between East and West, tradition and the avant-garde. The first retrospective of this Chinese-born, Paris-based artist premieres at the Walker Art Center October 16, 2005–January 15, 2006, before traveling to Massachusetts next year and to international venues to be announced. House of Oracles showcases drawings, sculptural objects, and installations from 1985 to the present, including the Walker-commissioned Bat Project IV, a re-creation of a section of the U.S. surveillance plane that set off an international controversy in 2001 when it collided with a Chinese fighter jet.
Working across diverse traditions and media, Huang Yong Ping has created an artistic universe comprised of provocative installations that challenge the viewer to reconsider everything from the idea of art to national identity to recent history. Once the leading figure of the mid-1980s Xiamen Dada movement—a collective of artists interested in creating a new Chinese cultural identity by bridging trends in Western modernism with Chinese traditions of Zen and Taoism as well as contemporary reality—Huang continues to confront established definitions of history and aesthetics. His sculptures and installations—drawing on the Western legacies of Joseph Beuys, Arte Povera, and John Cage, among others, as well as traditional Chinese art and philosophy—routinely juxtapose traditional objects or iconic images with modern references.
An important presence in the global art world since he participated in the groundbreaking 1989 exhibition Magiciens de la terre (Magicians of the Earth) at the Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, Huang has shown his often breathtaking sculptures and installations in major contemporary art venues and at prestigious festivals in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. He was invited to the 2004 São Paulo Biennale, the 2003 Venice Biennale, the 2001 Yokohama Triennale, the 2000 Shanghai Biennial, and the 1997 Gwangju and Johannes Biennales. He has been included in group exhibitions at, among many others, the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, P.S. 1 and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. He represented France (with Jean-Pierre Bertrand) at the 1999 Venice Biennale and was a finalist in the biennial Hugo Boss Prize, held at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, in 1998. Huang is represented in the Walker’s collection and was included in its 1998 exhibition Unfinished History.
The Walker’s retrospective exhibition began to take shape following deputy director and chief curator Philippe Vergne’s visit to Huang’s studio three years ago. There, Vergne paged through notebooks that meticulously catalogued ideas, commentaries, and documentation of two decades of the artist’s work. This visit was “an overwhelming experience, revealing the extent to which the work was consistent, ambitious, sarcastic and humorous, and sharply subversive,” recalls Vergne. “It also confirmed that Huang’s work, which seems to question all my certitudes about art and artmaking, was not geared towards easily achieved success or recognition, but aimed at changing, shifting the nature of aesthetic discourse.”
The resulting exhibition, House of Oracles, was conceived as a “total work of art,” a singular, immersive sculptural environment that is a hybrid of fun house, diorama, and menagerie. Realized in collaboration with Vergne and assistant curator Doryun Chong, the exhibition was designed by Huang as a metaphorical—and sometimes literal—journey through the “belly of the beast.” One of the first works viewers come upon is a monumental sculpture of an elephant mounted by a snarling tiger, a commentary on hunting safaris of bygone colonial days. Following this are passages formed by cages once inhabited by lions, with routes marked by light boxes reminiscent of an airport immigration checkpoint: “National” and ”Other.” The “spine” of the installation, a 50-foot wood python suspended from the ceiling, leads viewers to a replica of a Beaux Arts-style bank building from 1920s Shanghai, molded from 40,000 pounds of sand and concrete and slowly disintegrating during the exhibition’s run. The final section is dominated by the Walker-commissioned Bat Project IV, a 40-foot tunnel made from the cockpit of a decommissioned military plane—adorned inside with 300 stuffed bats—bamboo scaffolding, and plastic construction fences.
At the core of Huang’s work is a challenge to the accepted notions of art and what it does. The exhibition’s title, shared by one of the works on view, suggests the stimulating and awe-inspiring—perhaps even unsettling—experience the viewer might have. For when one enters a house of oracles, one does not exit without being profoundly changed by the experience.
House of Oracles: A Huang Yong Ping Retrospective will be accompanied by a 250-page fully illustrated catalogue, the first to address the full range of Huang Yong Ping’s artistic accomplishments. Included will be an anthology of the artist’s writings translated for the first time into English; essays by Vergne and critic-curators Hou Hanru and Fei Dawei; and a conceptual map and dictionary on the artist’s work by Chong. ($45; $40.50 Walker members)
Related Events
Opening-Day Curator Tour
Sunday, October 16, 2 pm, Free with gallery admission
Bazinet Garden Lobby
Cosmology, bestiary, Joseph Beuys, digestion. Exhibition curators Philippe Vergne and Doryun Chong discuss these and other themes and influences in Huang Yong Ping’s work.
Target Free Thursday Nights
In conjunction with the exhibition, Target Free Thursday Nights explores various systems of knowledge that help make sense of the complexities of contemporary life. A series of talks winds through categories of knowing such as science, spirituality, art, history, and medicine to ask questions about the “reading” of culture.
Thursday, October 20
Gallery Tour, 6 pm
Gallery Talk: Cultures of Medicine and the Human Body,
7 pm, Free
Lecture Room
Several of Huang’s works reference practices of traditional Chinese medicine and concepts such as ch’i, the energy that flows through all existing beings; yin and yang; and the body as a microcosm for the cosmic universe as expressed through various symbols and materials. Join a Chinese medical practitioner and a Western medical doctor for a discussion about perceptions of healing from different cultural perspectives.
Thursday, November 3
Gallery Tour, 6 pm
Lecture: Howard French, 7 pm
Cinema, Free, but ticket required. Tickets available at the Bazinet Garden Lobby desk one hour before the program.
In his recent book, A Continent for the Taking, Howard French provides an account of the disastrous consequences of the fateful, centuries-old encounter between Africa and the West. Raised in Washington, DC, and the Ivory Coast, French worked as a university lecturer before becoming a journalist to report on Africa in the 1980s. Now a senior writer for the New York Times living in Shanghai, he reports on the ever-shifting politics of the world’s fastest growing economy: China. Join French for a lecture on the key issues facing China at a time of great economic and cultural transition, as well as for his thoughts on the connections between the relationship of the West to the “lost” continent of Africa and to the rising superpower of the East. Since 1986, French has reported for the Times from Central America, the Caribbean, West and Central Africa, Japan, Korea, and now China. He also maintains a Web site, howardwfrench.com, which features writings, photographs from his travels, music reviews, and recommended reading lists.
The Artist’s Bookshelf, 7 pm
Mr. Muo’s Traveling Couch by Dai Sijie
Star Tribune Foundation Art Lab
Participation is free, but space is limited. Call 612.375.7600 for reservations.
The exhibition House of Oracles: A Huang Yong Ping Retrospective introduces viewers to the work of an artist who reconsiders ideas about national identity and cultural divisions between East and West. To echo these questions, The Artist’s Bookshelf looks to Dai Sijie’s newest novel, Mr. Muo’s Traveling Couch in which a complex series of cultural collisions results from the journey of the European-educated protagonist (a convert to psychoanalysis) to his native China.
Find this book in the Walker Shop, The Friends of MPL Bookstore, and the Minneapolis Public Library. Visit www.mplib.org to reserve a copy.
Presented in partnership with the Friends of the Minneapolis Public Library.
Thursday, November 10
Gallery Talk
Part One: Mythologizing Animals, 7 pm
Bazinet Garden Lobby
The Walker partners with the Bell Museum of Natural History to explore animal imagery and mythologies through respective exhibitions. This two-part series investigates the representation of animals in art and natural history, and the various ways that we mythologize and conceptualize nature.
Animal symbols as well as living creatures appear throughout the work of Huang Yong Ping, referencing Taoist astrology and Chinese culture. Join an art historian for a “decoding” of these signs and a discussion of Eastern mythology as seen in House of Oracles: A Huang Yong Ping Retrospective.
Thursday, November 17
Art Lab: Games of Chance, 6–9 pm
Star Tribune Foundation Art Lab
Huang Yong Ping’s 1985 work 4 paintings created according to random instructions was created using a roulette wheel derived from the Chinese compass first used in 12th-century BC. Using a multi-disc wheel constructed in a similar fashion, create your own work of art by chance.
Thursday, December 1
Gallery Tour, 6 pm
Art Lab: Games of Chance, 6–9 pm
(See description above.)
Coming in January
Oracles of the 21st Century: An Exploration for the New Year
How do we engage in divination today? Internet astrology? Fortune cookies? Google? Join artists, writers, and thinkers for a discussion on the contemporary manifestations of the ancient art of fortunetelling.
Target Free Thursday Nights are made possible by Target.
Gallery Talks
Opening-Day Curator Tour
Sunday, October 16, 2 pm, Free with gallery admission
(See description above.)
Gallery Talk: Cultures of Medicine and the Human Body
Thursday, October 20, 7 pm, Free
(See description above.)
Gallery Talk: Part One: Mythologizing Animals
Thursday, November 10, 7 pm, Free
(See description above.)
Gallery Talk: Part Two: Conceptualizing Nature
Tuesday, November 15, 7 pm, Free
Bell Museum of Natural History, 10 Church Street SE, University of Minnesota
Animals have been observed by both artists and scientists in their attempts to understand the patterns and processes of nature. Both the exhibition Visions of Nature: The World of Walter Anderson and the Bell’s collection of dioramas depict animals as seen in their natural environments. Join Bell Museum curator Don Luce and art historian Robert Silberman for a discussion of these exhibitions as they relate to a distinctly American conceptualization and identity with nature.
Free First Saturdays
Random Ruckus
Saturday, November 5, 10 am–5 pm, Free
Performance: Animal Dance
11 am and 1 pm
Youth and adult performers from the Shen Pei Dance Company present a series of five animal dances based on the rooster, deer, snake, peacock, and butterfly.
Art-Making for the Whole Family: Chance Operation
11 am–4 pm
Follow the strategy of chance and make a sculpture loosely based on Huang Yong Ping’s “roulette” system. Spin the wheel to receive instructions on building a construction of your very own.
Family Gallery Tour
House of Oracles: A Huang Yong Ping Retrospective
12 noon and 2 pm
Join a Walker tour guide on a family-friendly tour of the exhibition.
Film: Animal Shorts, 2 and 3 pm
On the big screen, catch two heartwarming films about animals, Lilla Grisen Flyger (Little Pig Is Flying) and Ride of the Mergansers, a short documentary on ducks.
Story Time: Story of the Chinese Zodiac by Monica Chang
12:30, 1:30, and 2:30 pm
How were the 12 animals chosen for the Chinese Zodiac? And why does the rat come first? These and other questions are answered in this illustrated version of the Chinese zodiac legend.
Free First Saturdays are made possible by Coldwell Banker Burnet, Medtronic Foundation, and WCCO-TV.
Gallery Tours
Thursday, October 20
6 pm, Free
Friday, October 21
6 pm, Free with gallery admission
Saturday, October 22
12 noon, Free with gallery admission
Thursday, October 27
1 pm, Free with gallery admission
Thursday, November 3
6 pm, Free
Saturday, November 5
2 pm, Free
Sunday, November 6
12 noon, Free with gallery admission
Thursday, November 10
1 pm, Free with gallery admission
Saturday, November 12
12 noon, Free with gallery admission
Friday, November 18
1 pm, Free with gallery admission
Thursday, December 1
6 pm, Free
Saturday, December 3
12 noon, Free
Friday, December 9
6 pm, Free with gallery admission
Thursday, December 22
1 pm, Free with gallery admission
Friday, December 30
6 pm, Free with gallery admission
Exhibition Tour
Walker Art Center
October 16, 2005–January 15, 2006
MASS MOCA, North Adams, Massachusetts
February 19, 2006–January 8, 2007
Additional venues to be announced.