Enter into the ‘Metamorphosis of the Virtual 5 + 5’ in Shanghai

Associated media

K11 Art Foundation presents new wave digital art exploring the known and unknown 5 July–31 August

K11 Art Foundation  is presenting a new wave of Chinese and French digital art, the ‘Metamorphosis of the Virtual 5 + 5’. The exhibition, featuring major pieces by both established and emerging Chinese and French artists, opened on 5 July in the Shanghai K11 Art Mall.

Conceived as a multi-sensorial experience – simultaneously physical, spiritual and emotional – ‘Metamorphosis of the Virtual 5 + 5’showcases spectacular immersive and interactive installations, with a few of the art pieces especially developed for the chi K11 art museum.

The curator’s intention is to create new cultural dialogues among the artists and the community,and to encourage the audience to explore and ponder upon creativity in the five highlighted areas: Flux, Life Forms, Cityscape, Morphogenetic and Avatar.

 ‘Metamorphosis of the Virtual 5 + 5’ is part of the official programme of the 50th anniversary of Franco-Sino diplomatic relations, along with the upcoming co-curated exhibition between KAF and Palais de Tokyo in Paris during FIAC in October and the ‘Master of Impressionism – Claude Monet’ retrospective, still on show in Shanghai and attracting many visitors.

Adrian Cheng, Founder and Chairman of KAF commented:

We are very pleased to present this exhibition, which we believe will strike a chord with many of us. Although new technologies and internet have taken a central place in our daily life and society, digital art remains in a paradoxical way quite confidential. These creators all belong to the same group of pioneers and visionary artists who share the certitude that the digital world offers new ways of making and perceiving art; a philosophy which is in tune with KAF’s vision of art.

The ‘Metamorphosis of the Virtual 5 + 5’ is an expression originally created by the French writer and philosopher Christine Buci-Glucksmann in an essay she wrote about Pia MYrvoLD, one of the participating artists of the exhibition. Apart from the evocative and poetic qualities, it suggests that we deal with an artistic substance that is ‘alive’ and in constant change. The idea of metamorphosis engages us in an endless and generative process or story.

 ‘Metamorphosis of the Virtual 5 + 5’
5 July – 31 August 2014
Venue: chi K11 Art Museum , B3, Shanghai K11 Art Mall

Curators
David Rosenberg is an independent curator and editor based in Paris. He regularly organizes exhibitions in France and abroad and has published numerous titles on modern and contemporary art. Most recently, he curated exhibitions at the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest, MACRO in Rome, la maison rouge, Fondation Antoine de Galbert in Paris, Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton in Paris and the Fondation Boghossian in Bruxelles.

Joanne Kim (K11 Art Foundation)

Artists

From China: Aaajiao, Feng Membo, Miao Xiaochun, Tsang Kin-Wah, Zheng Da
From France: Maurice Benayoun, Miguel Chevalier, Pascal Haudressy, Pia MYrvoLD, ORLAN

The French Artists

Maurice Benayoun (aka MoBen) is a new-media artist and theorist based in Paris and Hong Kong. His work employs various media, including (and often combining) video, immersive virtual reality, the web, wireless technology, performance, large-scale urban art installations and interactive exhibitions.

Miguel Chevalier decided very early on to work exclusively with computers and new technology. He was an early practitioner of digital and computer art, and works internationally. He usually interacts with architecture and public spaces, developing ‘meta-cities’, virtual gardens or forests and ‘fractal flowers’ that follow their own development.

Pascal Haudressy’s work creates a link between the real and the virtual. He works on installations that combine digital images, objects and sculptures. He is also interested in exploring the aesthetic potential linked to accidental and random processes that occur during computers calculations. 

Pia MYrvoLD worked as a multimedia artist but also as a curator and a successful fashion designer before focusing on digital art. She creates digital architecture and landscapes, hosting primitive artifacts, like an antique Venus sculpture or cell-like entities and bio-forms. Her ‘morphogenetic fields’ are usually combined with sound and music.

ORLAN’s perfomances have been seen around the world. She was the very first artist to use surgery as an artistic medium. Her practice extends to sculpture, photography, performances, bio-technologies and new technologies. She mainly focuses on the concept of the ‘avatar’ and digital body.

The Chinese Artists
Aaaajiao (Xu Wenkai) was born in Xi'an, and later moved to Shanghai, where he continues to live and work. Aaajiao is one of China's foremost digital artists, bloggers and free culture developers.

Tsang Kin-Wah produces works ‘combining the foul language (text) with the floral pattern (image)... which are swirling and running throughout the space’. He also creates large immersive multimedia installations where sound, color and language fuse.

Feng Mengbo is one of the first Chinese artists to develop an interest in global networking, the virtual world and their effects on human behavior, initially trained as a printmaker at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing. He began working with digital in the early 1990s. Since the early 1990’s, he has worked at the intersection of painting and digital media. 

Miao Xiaochun produces expansive photographic works that document the realities of contemporary Chinese cities and affirm the relationship between the inhabitants and the constructed spaces. He also uses digital technology to create entirely new conceptual worlds, often as 3D animations. As an artist he has made a conscious choice to use contemporary tools, however, he retains his belief in the traditional concepts and aesthetic principles of Chinese art.

Zheng Da is an interactive new-media and low-tech artist, independent game producer, professor at the China Central Normal University Academy of Fine Arts and a visiting student in CPI at the South Korean Ministry of Culture. He currently lives in Wuhan.

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