New Works II
New Measurement and Qian Weikang: Two Case Studies of Conceptual Art Practice in the Early 1990s
January 24–June 6, 2015
Opening: January 24, 3pm
OCAT Shenzhen
A and B Exhibition Halls
OCT Creative Park South
Enping Road, Nanshan District
Shenzhen
Hours: Tuesday–Sunday 10am–5:30pm
Curator: Carol Yinghua Lu
Curatorial Assistants: Qu Chang, Song Yichen, Zhuo Muxi
Host organization: Shenzhen OCT Contemporary Art Terminal
Support: Shenzhen OCT Holdings Corporation
New Measurement and Qian Weikang: Two Case Studies in Early Chinese Conceptual Art is the second installment of OCAT Shenzhen’s research-oriented “New Works” exhibition series. This exhibition examines individual historic cases, expanding the field of vision for the understanding and recounting of artistic practice to the entire cultural context and historical awareness of the period, as well as these cases’ complex interactions with politics, society and ideas. Presenting the discoveries and ideas of this research work in the form of exhibitions and publications will allow us to more effectively understand the foundation and position of our current work.
The two cases examined in this exhibition are the New Measurement Group and artist Qian Weikang, which emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s, respectively, and ended in the mid-1990s. These two instances of practice took place in Beijing and Shanghai respectively. Though one practice unfolded in the form of an artist group, and the other emerged in the work of an individual artist, both were quite lively throughout the early and mid-1990s, and both elicited much attention and discussion for their rigorous approach to creation. The work of both the New Measurement Group and Qian Weikang consciously maintained distance from the mainstream artistic experiences and values of the time, and stand as indispensable chapters in early Chinese conceptual creation. Meanwhile, these practices formed a relationship, both conscious and unconscious, of contention and collaboration with other creations of the time, and have formed an influence on later artistic practices and understandings that to this day cannot be ignored. Their works raised an appeal for the respect for defined rules in creation, and a rational approach to work that restrains individual emotions, wills and rights, opening up a creative field where ways of thinking and the artistic experience itself become the objects of examination and analysis.
In early 2014, the curatorial team of OCAT Shenzhen, led by director Carol Yinghua Lu, began field research on the three artists of the New Measurement Group and Qian Weikang, other creators active in that period, and critics and curators who worked closely with these four artists, collecting large amounts of historical documents in order to re-create and restore their artworks and working environments, to explore the creative motivations and conceptual processes of these now-ceased artistic practices, in an attempt to thoroughly document, describe and reshape their work and context. On this foundation, the publication New Measurement and Qian Weikang: Two Case Studies in Early Chinese Conceptual Art will be released after the exhibition opening.
The New Works exhibition examines and observes the past and present. “New Works” refers not only to the vanguard creations and ideas of the field of contemporary art, but also the rediscovery and new discussion of the work of the past. This new observation is in order to rediscover the threads of work and ideas that were not sufficiently discussed in the past, to expand the dimensions of historical context, and to understand the foundation and position of our current work in a richer and more open context, so that we can resist decontextualized approaches to work and exposition, and the forgetting, ignorance and fin-de-siècle sentiments and celebrations that come with them.
