ARTIST: Shen Shaomin

CURATOR: Cui Cancan

OPENING: 4pm,27 th of September，2014

DATE: September 27–Novermber 9, 2014

VENUE: WHITE BOX MUSEUM OF ART 798 Art Dist.,

NO.2 Jiu Xianqiao Road, Chaoyang Dist., Beijing, China

In 1969, Swiss curator Harald Szeemann curated his unprecedented exhibition When Attitudes Become Form in Kunsthalle Bern, which broadened the boundary of artistic creation and exhibition, or in other words, it blurred the definitions of exhibition and art. Since then, the perspective of curatorial presentation and form of artistic creation transcended the exhibition or artwork itself, and the forms are now almost hollowed.

Till today, we don’t assert that we have mastered art yet without doing anything. Instead, we still have a passion for art. We believe that the originality or recurring of a concept is not a dilemma, and we’d rather present them to the public, and put it into discussion.

Concept seemed to become the essential form of artistic creation, and attracting attention had become the essential means to get exposure.

Cui Cancan’s been involved in Shen Shaomin Solo Exhibition as a curator. This is an exhibition evolved from failures. Cui and Shen started discussions since September 2013, about what kind of exhibition to present. In yearlong time, they’ve had seven versions about this exhibition and every single version seemed to be the final one in the very beginning. However, with intensive discussion, instead of being at the mercy of a perfect exhibition, we’ve diverted into extensive thinking between philosophic elements about self, society and history. It developed to a state in which we’ve been constantly denying every new version, which led to vain with any version’s being unnecessary, and returned to the origin of discussion.

Therefore, we are presenting this exhibition, to expose the construction and subversion of yearlong plans, to the public. Instead of carrying out any of the seven plans, we decided to just present the whole process of constant affirmation and disaffirmation. This is not a research and investigation of art history or curatorial history, but accepting and presenting failures. We gave up on creation, but on the contrary, we see it as a creation.

As a renowned Chinese artist, it is Shen’s first solo exhibition in the past seven years. In his recent works, he has implemented extensive thinking about art, society and philosophy into his artistic creation, within Shen’s precise and rigorous works, we can still taste the poetic breeze. 

This is an exhibition evolved from failures.  Shen Shaomin and I started discussions since September 2013, about what kind of exhibition to present. In yearlong time, we’ve had seven versions about this exhibition and every single version seemed to be the final one in the very beginning. However, with intensive discussion, instead of being at the mercy of a perfect exhibition, we’ve diverted into extensive thinking between philosophic elements about self, society and history. It brought us to a state in which we’ve been constantly denying every new version, which led to vain with any version’s being unnecessary.

Which shall be the better one of a solo exhibition? A materialized visual specimen or a show to present how one is thinking? What we do is to get rid of conventional aesthetics and principles to return to the original before materialization.

As far as I am concerned, one obtains his freedom while choosing to give up an exact custom developed from experience. It’s not the freedom of art, but the freedom of one being involved in this world. Among this exhibition, every version itself comes to emerge as trace recorded authenticity and intricacy about human being, though it has stayed the same every time and never been put into effect.

Questions like ‘when will art end its life in an individual?’ and ‘when does individual developed and mastered the art?’ come and go. We doubt if we’ve really own art. What we own is our particular ways to express without restraints, which has its birth and death through continuous suspicion. That is to say, suspicion here is kind of freedom for us to get involved in art activities. In such paradox, which we go without other choices, we choose to depart from experience of dogmatic and boring, even if there is failure coming.

Marcel Duchamp stated that his best art comes from his life, which have been maintaining till today. In times when artists refuse to replication and constantly challenge themselves, innovation has become an eternal topic in art world. They fancy themselves as legend in field of art history, by the means of one exhibition or a piece of work. Yet, seeking perpetuation is another cliché derived from conservativeness.

In regards to this exhibition, we don’t assert that we own art yet without doing anything; instead, we still have a passion for art. We believe that the originality or recurring of a concept is not a dilemma, and we’d rather present them to the public, and put it into discussion.

In other words, this exhibition evolved from failures tells about one exact thing: accepting and presenting failures is superior to achieving good art. Although we gave up materialized visual objects, we’d had freedom and ambition that allows us to ignore doctrine.   

                                                                                                                                     Curator: Cui Cancan