Get It Louder lands at SOHO Shangdu

This month, Beijingers have more than just the usual reasons for a trip to the mall as Get It Louder 2007, a multi-media platform for up-and-coming artists, hits Beijing's brand new SOHO Shangdu shopping center on August 16.

Noted breakcore DJ, iLoop, whose Shanshui Records single-handedly created the avant-garde music scene in China, is one of the 150 artists, Chinese and international, participating in the two week exhibition. “Of all the artists involved none are older than 30,” iLoop says, “It appeals to a young crowd because the exhibits are nothing like the oil paintings and traditional styles that some people maybe associate with ‘art.’”

There is no place better to retire outworn ideas of art than a consumer paradise like SOHO Shangdu. Get It Lounder’s famed curator, Ou Ning, has already toured the exhibit through the Grandville Mall in Guangzhou and the Life Hub in Shanghai where the exhibit took root throughout the entire commercial space, including outdoor pedestrian areas and underground parking lots.

In addition to iLoop and crew doing Shanshui-style elevator music all over Shangdu, the exhibit also features installation works, fashion, photography and architecture. Ai Weiwei’s “Building Asia Brick by Brick” Legoland extravaganza proved especially popular with the kids in Shanghai who delighted in building their own miniature fantasy lands out of white Legos.

The unique multiplicity of media at Get it Louder reflects the state of the working artist in today’s China. “In China, people have many jobs at the same time,” iLoop says. “I’m a musician, but I can’t make a living off my music so I am also a graphic designer.” The great leveling power of consumerism also makes an apropos backdrop for a China art market where merit increasingly plays tastemaker. “If someone has talent, I think they can do anything well,” iLoop says. “Regardless of their education or background, if their art is good, that’s all that really matters.”

Get it Louder’s multi-media approach includes a guide modeled on web browsing. “[Get It Louder] can be visited as if you were doing a Google search,” says Ou Ning, who is determined not to let established modes of art-gallery-exhibition get in the way of getting it louder. “An exhibition should be part of daily life, which can be easily found everywhere.”

THE DETAILS

Get It Louder Multimedia Art Exhibit

August 16-September 1

SOHO Shangdu

www.getitlouder.com