Since the launch of the project, we have collected, organized and shared performance art documentation from Sichuan, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Yunnan, Guizhou, Anhui, Gansu, Chongqing, Shaanxi, Zhejiang and Shenzhen. In the process of collecting and organizing the literature, there are often new discoveries, which make people sigh and lament the passage of time and the continuity and thickness of history.
The information that has been sunk into the archives constantly subverts our existing cognitive experience, and repeatedly reminds us that as a long-neglected segment in the field of Chinese contemporary art, the collection and sorting out of behavioral art documents is urgent and necessary. After all, most of the first generation of artists engaged in the exploration of performance art in the 1980s in mainland China are now old, and some of them have already passed away quietly, so a lot of first-hand information is nowhere to be found.
For the seventeenth session of Warm Up, we shared the performance art of Ningxia. Is there performance art in Ningxia? I’m afraid this is a common question. As expected, the results of collecting and combing are that the occurrence of performance art in Ningxia is highly accidental, showing the characteristics of fragmentation. The current information shows that after a brief appearance in 2005, it was not until eleven years later, in 2016, that it reappeared. Although there has been continuity since then, it presents three distinctive features: first, the vast majority of performance art activities are concentrated in the Yinchuan Contemporary Art Museum and are mostly presented in the form of video footage; second, there are only three or four local artists who continue to create work, most of which are foreign; and third, there is little interaction between the work of Ningxia’s performance artists and the local art ecology.
On May 11, 2024, at 19:30 pm, the 17th session of Warm Up: “Ningxia’s Performance Art Archive 2005-2023” was held at the Archives. We were honored to have young curator Chen Jianxin (on-site) and artist Chang Tran (online) from the Yinchuan Museum of Contemporary Art to host this sharing session. Video interviews with some of the people involved in Ningxia’s performance art activities were shown, and some of the precious documents were displayed to help us gain a more vivid and in-depth understanding of the artists, their works, and the ecology of Ningxia’s performance art.
The work of collecting and organizing historical documents is complicated and requires the cooperation of fellow artists. The archive would like to express its sincere gratitude for the support of many colleagues, such as Mao Tongqiang, Li Siyao, Fan Siqi, Yan Liyi, and so on, which is difficult to detail. Of course, special thanks to Chang Tramp and Chen Jianxin, who with great enthusiasm and patience, for the collection and organization of information to pay a lot of effort. It is gratifying to know that the significance and value of this work is enough to reward our efforts.
Sharer Introduction
Chang Jianzhong was born in Yinchuan, Ningxia in 1995. His artistic practice involves the mediums of poetry, performance, video, installation and painting. Chang Tran’s creations are based on a state of mind that he has maintained for a long time – a persistent gaze at the times, the environment and the individual. From the early painting “Resistance” series to the performance “Educational Examination” are the products of this “gaze”, and later art practice is also more based on the examination of “relationship” to create and present, and at the same time to respond to the social nature of the present and present the problem, to provoke the public to the habits and rules of the collective. At the same time, they respond to the social nature of the present and present problems, triggering the public’s collective reflection on habits and rules.
Chen Jianxin, born in 1991 in Ningxia, China, is a young curator who has long been engaged in exhibition planning and execution and academic combing in Ningxia. Currently, he is the Deputy Director of the Exhibition and Academic Department of Yinchuan Contemporary Art Museum. Now lives and works in Yinchuan.
Photos from the sharing session
