offsite | A NEW BALLARDIAN VISION

CINDY SHERMAN, "Untitled", 1987

A NEW BALLARDIAN VISION
Organized by Leo Xu
June 29th through August 4th, 2017
Metro Pictures, New York, USA 
 
As a part of CONDO Complex New York, a gallery swap between New York galleries and national and international partners, Metro Pictures hosts Leo Xu’s two-part exhibition A New Ballardian Vision. The show brings together a selection of works that reflect recent social, technological and environmental developments through the lens of author J.G. Ballard’s (1930–2009) writings. Xu conceived the exhibition as two distinct chapters; the first features Metro Pictures artists Nina Beier, Camille Henrot, Martin Kippenberger, Oliver Laric, Robert Longo, Trevor Paglen, Jim Shaw and Cindy Sherman. The second chapter focuses on a younger generation of Chinese artists represented by Leo Xu Projects, including aaajiao, Chen Wei, Cheng Ran, Cui Jie, Li Qing, Liu Shiyuan and Pixy Liao.
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news | CITY OF STARS

 

Leo Xu Projects and Art Project CZ co-presents
Group Exhibition: City of Stars
April 19th through June 19th, 2017
MINGO
No. 1690 Huaihai Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai

 

The collaborative group exhibition “City of Stars” between Leo Xu Projects and Art Project CZ runs from April 19th to June 19th, 2017. The exhibition aims to capture the nightlife and living experience in the former French concession area in Shanghai, and to project a broader encapsulation of the Chinese youth’s status quo. Artists on view include aaajiao, Chen Wei, Cheng Ran, Guo Hongwei, Li Qing and Liu Shiyuan.

 

past | THE MUD OF COMPOUND EXPERIENCE


The Mud of Compound Experience

artists: aaajiao, Uri Aran, Chen Wei, Nina Canell, Lee Kit, Li Qing, Liu Chuang, Liu Shiyuan, Mairead O’hEocha
organized and produced by mother’s tankstation and Leo Xu Projects

March 21st through 27th, 2016
No. 98 Apliu Street, Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong

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offsite | THE TELL-TALE HEART

CHENG RAN, "Hit-or-miss-ist", 2013, sound installation

A group exhibition of artists aaajiao, Ian Cheng, Cheng Ran, Guo Hongwei, Koo Jeong A, Ken Okiishi, and Rirkrit Tiravanija

DATES & VENUE
March 13th through April 17th, 2015; hours: 9am-6pm
Chi Art Space, 8/F, New World Tower 2, 18 Queen’s Road, Central, Hong Kong

OPENING RECEPTION & SPECIAL PERFORMANCE
Thursday, March 12th, 5-8pm, with a special performance by Rirkrit Tiravanija at 6-7pm.
The performance continues from March 13th through 15th, 1-2pm daily.

ARTISTS’ TALK
aaajiao, Cheng Ran, Koo Jeong A and Ken Okiishi with Para/Site executive director and curator Cosmin Costinas
Thursday, March 12th, 2015, 4pm
18/F, New World Tower 2, 18 Queen’s Road, Central, Hong Kong
 
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past | CHEN WEI: IN THE WAVES

History of Enchantment (Cold Sculpture), 2014

Chi K11 Art Museum
B3, K11 Art Mall,
No.300 Huaihai Road Central, Shanghai

March 16th through May 31th, 2015

past | CHENG RAN: MUSIC IS ON, BAND IS GONE

Chi K11 Art Museum
B3, K11 Art Mall,
No.300 Middle Huaihai Road, Shanghai

March 16th through May 31th, 2015

A Telephone Booth Romance, 2014

HIT-OR-MISS-IT, 2013

past | SILENCE: THE NINETEEN NINETIES

CHEN WEI, "Float #0816", 2013, Archival inkjet print, 100 x 75 cm

Balice Hertling Gallery
47 rue Ramponeau, Paris
July 3rd – August 1st, 2014

Artists: aaajiao, Chen Wei, Cheng Ran, Guo Hongwei, Michael Lin, Liu Chuang, Xu Zhen, etc.
Curated by Leo Xu Details »

past | JPEG: NEW PRACTICES IN PHOTOGRAPHY

JPEG: New Practices in Photography
 March 6th through April 6th, 2014
online exhibition on Artshare.com
Curated by Leo Xu

Leo Xu Projects collaborated with artshare.com to present an in depth selection of four important Chinese artists and collectives.

JPEG, in computing, is a common method of compressing images. And JPEGs are arguably the most common image format we encounter in our everyday life.

With the advent of JPEGs, the philosophy of photography has been significantly challenged and changed. Access and availability have become instant, the categorization of genres smashed, boundaries of aesthetics blurred. Between 2000 and 2005, we saw an exuberance of online forums and bulletins specializing in photography in China, frequented by a young generation of Chinese, some of whom now active artists on the local and international scene. This uprising also coincided with the momentary boom of photography festivals accommodated by many remote and ancient towns in China. These critical years heralded the arrival of a generation of artists less interested in documenting, with their cameras, performances that solely test the endurance and limits of the body. Rather, they see photography as a frontier that connects choreography, cinematography, literature, and theatre performance.
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past | HEIDI VOET: AS FAR AS I CAN SEE

January 28th to February 28th, 2014
MCM gallery space, IAPM mall, Shanghai
Organizer: LEO XU PROJECTS 

Belgian artist Heidi Voet’s solo show “As Far As I Can See” presents one of her most widely known series, two tremendous craft works consisting of thousands of colorful digital watches made in China weaving into rugs. A new photograph pairing with an installation Stars & Constellations is placed in the store VIP room, echoing the intimacy and exclusivity of the environment. The exhibition is open to public from January 28th through February 28th, 2014. Details »

news | CHENG RAN AND ITEM IDEM ON VISIONAIRE

CHENG RAN and ITEM IDEM, "Joss", 2013, film still (video, 6 min 2 sec)

Artists Cheng Ran and Cyril Duval (Item Idem) create a video work “Joss” for the New York based magazine VISIONAIRE’s online project “30DAYS30ARTISTS” in 2013.

Click below to view the work online.
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past | LEANDRO ERLICH: PROJECT SHANGHAI

Leandro Erlich, "Changing Rooms", 2013. Photo by Justin Jin.

November 8th through 24th, 2013
Jing An Kerry Center, Atrium
1515 Nanjing Xi Lu, Jing’an District, Shanghai

Simply entitled Project Shanghai, the first solo project in China of internationally renowned artist Leandro Erlich comprises two large site-specific installations the artist has produced following his recent researches in Shanghai.

Leandro Erlich, born to an Argentine architecture family in 1973, is widely known for his intriguing optical illusions that allure his befuddled viewers to explore. His staged spaces can always turn the most assured situation upside down. With a single gesture to the architectural structure, Erlich transforms all sorts of everyday places into a baffling and deceptive visual maze, which challenge people’s common sense and further deliver an altered reality. The uncanny and sinister aesthetics of film directors Alfred Hitchcock, Roman Polanski, Luis Buñel and David Lynch directly influence Erlich’s artistic rendering. While the fictional world of the Argentine writer Jorge Louis Borges is thoroughly absorbed into the artist’s imagination.
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past | SHANGHAI SURPRISE

Dates: March 1st through April 10th, 2013

Venue: chi K11 Art Space, B3, K11 Art Mall
300 Huahai Zhong Road, by Huangpi Nan Road

Artists: Aaajiao (Xu Wenkai), Birdhead, Chen Wei, Cheng Ran, Ding Yi, Gao Mingyan, Gabriel Lester, Liang Yue, Liao Fei, MadeIn Company, Michael Lin, Liu Jianhua, MadeIn Company, Qiu Anxiong, Shi Yong, Song Tao, Xiao Jiang, Xu Zhen, Yang Fudong, Yang Zhenzhong, Zhang Enli, Zhou Tiehai

‘Shanghai Surprise’ is a 1986 British adventure comedy film directed by Jim Goddard, starring Sean Penn and Madonna, that is set in 1937 Shanghai during the Japanese occupation. Although the film was a notorious “box-office bomb” and “critical flop,” it nevertheless was able to retain a remote sense of glamour among the wider public. The title has been hailed as an inspiration and is often quoted by writers and artists when portraying Shanghai.

‘Shanghai Surprise’ is a project curated by Shanghai-based Leo Xu and Azure Wu who have experienced the city’s metamorphosis from 2000 to present. During this period both Leo Xu and Azure Wu worked as curators in local museums and more recently have held positions such as curator, art dealer, writer and editor. Inspired by the film’s title, this eponymous project is envisioned as a time and space capsule as opposed to an encyclopedic gesture. Its development is based on minute notes from the curatorial sketchbooks of Xu and Wu, which represent the forgotten and unforgettable moments in Shanghai’s contemporary art sphere that continually produces new ideas and surprises.

‘Shanghai Surprise’ comprises of two parts: a group exhibition featuring works by defining artists, young Chinese and expat authors who possess strong ties to Shanghai-geographically or culturally; and a mobile library that captures Shanghai’s transforming cultural landscape.

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offsite | PROJECTS AT ROCKBUND ART MUSEUM

CHENG RAN, Dark Red (The Deepest Red), 2012, Ten-channel video installation, dimension variable

 
LEO XU PROJECTS is pleased to announce its curatorial collaboration and off-site projects within Michael Lin’s solo exhibition “Model Home” at Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai. Gallery artist Cheng Ran is commissioned to produce a body of videos for the show and a sound project is curated by Leo Xu to extend the exhibition into a subtle soundscape.

Titled “Dark Red (The Deepest Red)”, Cheng Ran’s ambitious ten-channel video installation brings together video documentation of the production of Michael Lin’s “Model Home” and footages on the architectural environment and people involved. The ten videos are scattered within six floors of the entire museum space and presented in various forms.

The sound project includes a sound-and-music album and a commissioned new ambient sound installation by Shanghai-based artist Lou Nanli that takes up each gallery space. The album contains a multimedia application—a collaboration between Shanghai-based media artist Xu Wenkai (aka. aaajiao) and Lou Nanli—and a compilation of music and songs by musicians and artists reflecting on living experience in Shanghai.

As part of the exhibition’s program, Shanghai-based Dutch artist Gabriel Lester will be giving a talk on the time and space relationship. The talk takes place on March 16, 7pm at the Rockbund Art Museum. The talk will be delivered in English with a Chinese translation.

LOU NANLI & aaajiao, A Room in Stripes, 2012, Multimedia computer application

MODEL HOME: A PROPOSITION BY MICHAEL LIN
March 10th through June 3rd, 2012
Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai
20 Huqiu Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai

 
For further information, please contact the gallery info@leoxuprojects.com and phone: +86-21-3461 1245.

 

artist talk | APICHATPONG WEERASETHAKUL

image courtesy of Kick the Machine Films.

November 19th, 2011, 1 pm

Venue: Rockbund Art Museum, Auditorium
Associate Mission Building, 1F, No 169 Yuan Ming Yuan Road

Free of admission

Through a multimedia presentation, the talk explores the career of award-winning filmmaker and artist Apichatpong Weerasethakul and his works that cross over various disciplines including cinema, video, photography, installation, etc,

Born in 1970 in Bangkok, Apichatpong Weerasethakul was trained in architecture and went on to study filmmaking at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He started making films and videos in 1994, and has since produced seven features, namely, “Mysterious Object at Noon” (2000), “Blissfully Yours” (2002), “Tropical Malady” (2004), “Syndromes and a Century” (2006), and “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” (2010), in addition to his video and installation works exhibited in museums, biennales and galleries. Mostly set in the depth of forests and rural areas of Thailand, Weerasethakul’s works are known for his idiosyncratic narrative and visual language that are inspired by Thai folklore, TV soap operas and Western cinema. Subtle and mysterious, they create intersections where the immediate reality and the surreal (at times utopian) collide, and address the personal politics and social issues.

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offsite | VOYAGE: RECENT VIDEOS BY YOUNG CHINESE ARTISTS



September 7th through 10th, 2011
Venue: ShContemporary Art Fair 2011, Video lounge program

Artists: Aaajiao (Xu Wenkai), Cheng Ran, Hu Xiangqian, Li Ming, Liu Chuang, Zhang Ding. etc.