Moments Lost in Obscurity
Presented in a darkened room, the mood of this group exhibition featuring new media by Chinese artists is somewhat dispiriting. In Jin Jiangbo's Commemoration Series-Cloud of Angels, stuffed birds hang in the semi-gloom like extras in a Hitchcock film, making the viewer feel an uneasiness when walking under them. The effect is funereal and maudlin and emphasizes the artist's comment on the lives lost in this year's snowstorms.

Art turns interactive with Xu Tan's Searching for Keywords--Live, Consume where the visitor can sit at a table covered in the familiar red, white and blue of the ubiquitous rice bag and, using a webcam, keyboard and microphone, become part of the process by recording their own story. This is accompanied by three screens-two stills-one showing a webpage dictionary and the other a shot of a temporary shelter which echoes recent news events and a film of the construction of the hut.

Unfortunately at our visit, this seemed to be dismantled due to water leaking from the ceiling of the gallery. A feature of this work is that not only the more mundane media of video are used, but the artist also cites "Internet" as part of his chosen media. The work also changes form according to its location.

Finally, Shen Shaomin's documentary I'm Chinese presents the most accessible part of the show. Featuring the lives of people living in northern China, this work illustrates the hardship, poverty and disillusion of their existence. However, the violence and cruelty shown during the killing of animals was enough to make spectators leave the room. This aside, moments such as the ethnic diversity of faces gathered in one scene reflect a microcosm of Chinese society today.

While not a "feel-good" exhibition, this show is a fervent sample of what Chinese artists are currently exploring in new media.

Elyse Singleton

Details

When: Through Wednesday, July 30
Add: Unit 3, 19 Shaoxing Lu 绍兴路19号丙 Tel: 5465-7768