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4/9/2003

Zhang Huan

Nikolaj Kunsthal - Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center, Copenhagen

The body is a proof of identity and also a kind of language (Zhang Huan)

Zhang Huan (*1965) is one of the most prominent younger Chinese artists, and his performances over the past years have made a great impression in the East as well as in the West.
In his works the artist draws on and combines Zen Buddhism, political criticism and international contemporary art. Zhang Huan uses performance, photo and video and always with the naked body as the starting point for the often extreme challenges of his works.

The naked body, which in China is regarded as being very private, to Zhang Huan is a central precondition for communication to take place in his performances, because nudity expresses human vulnerability as well as identity and points to man as a species rather than an individual. The exhibition includes more than 50 large photographs and seven video works. Several of these works document the many and highly spectacular performances which the artist has made over the years, partly in China and partly in the US. Zhang Huan was born in China and educated at the national art academy.

In the years around 1990 he starts developing an artistic mode of expression which challenges the traditional Chinese propaganda and more politically defined art scene. He orients himself towards Western contemporary art and makes his first official performance in 1993, which in its turn earns him a fine and forces him to write an official letter of selfcriticism. In 1997 he emigrates to the US where he is currently living and working. From the East he has brought with him the Buddhist and Taoist teachings. Taoism, with its tenets of simplicity in the conduct of life and its emphasis on ordinary, everyday acitvities, significantly informs Zhang Huan s works of art, his subject matter as well as his methods. In his works Zhang Huan ties political criticism and Zen Buddhism together in an exquisite artistic whole which paraphrases both Western art history and the new art scene.

His works always relate to the reality constituted by the site he has chosen for his performances. His works have consequently undergone certain changes since he moved to New York. His preoccupation with his own body has become less pronounced in his more recent performances, whereas choreography and fiction have assumed a more central position. At the same time the inherent cultural references have become more complex.

Performance in Copenhagen on Friday September 5 at 4:30 p.m.
At the opening Zhang Huan will make a performance, titled 18 Years Old, the content of which at this point remains unknown.
Duration: 30 mins. Opening from 4 to 6 p.m.

Nikolaj
Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center
Nikolaj Plads 10
DK - 1067 Copenhagen
tel. +45 33931626
fax. +45 33321574

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