Zhou Tao “1,2,3,4″

Non-Aligned, an exhibition of two internationally renowned Chinese artists curated by Jovana Stokic.

The exhibition’s title ironically evokes the term “non-alignment,” coined by Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru within the Cold-War world political climate of the 1950s when the Non-aligned movement was formed. Nehru described five pillars to be used as a guide for Sino-Indian relations, which were first put forth by Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai. Called Panchsheel (five restraints), these principles would later serve as the basis of the Non-Aligned Movement. The five principles were:

Mutual respect for the other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty
Mutual non-aggression
Mutual non-interference in domestic affairs
Equality and mutual benefit
Peaceful co-existence

By creating works in the globalized late capitalism, artists of course transcend the daily politics and interact with each others following rules similar to these five principles. This is the platform for the interaction of two artists who are both born in China and both work internationally: Yingmei Duan and Zhou Tao.

Zhou Tao was born in Changsha, China, 1976. He lives and works in Guangzhou and belongs to a generation of Chinese artists whose careers have coincided with a period of rapid urbanization and industrialization-changes that have been the subject of much of Zhou’s work. His body of works in video thematize displacements, unstable subjectivities and the uncertainties of contemporary identity. His work titled “Stuff,” specially commissioned for the Marina Abramovic Institute, will focus on his interaction with an unknown city – San Francisco.

At the centre of Yingmei Duan’s performance art is her exploration of human instincts, longings, and dark desires. She examines the processes of society and questions its conventions and behaviours. Born in 1969 in China, Yingmei Duan is part of the Chinese avant-garde, and worked as a painter for many years, living in the legendary art district of Beijing’s East Village. In 1995 she participated in the performance “To add one meter to an anonymous mountain”, an iconic work of Chinese contemporary art. She became a pure performance artist under the influence of Marina Abramovic, with whom she studied at the HBK Braunschweig in Germany from 2000 to 2004. There, she also worked for one year with the film-maker and action artist Christoph Schlingensief. In the last fifteen years Yingmei Duan has made her name in numerous national and international exhibitions, festivals and workshops through her performance art. She often impulsively and spontaneously develops performances as situational experiments. This is exactly what she plans to do in San Francisco.

NON-ALIGNED: Yingmei Duan and Zhou Tao
Live Performances: January 30 and 31 2010. 5-8 pm
Exhibition Dates: January 30 through February 30, 2010
The Exhibition features documentation of two internationally renowned artist’s previous performances and two new, site specific performances during opening weekend.

Marina Abramovic Institute
575 Sutter St. San Francisco, CA
January 30 and 31 2010. 5-8 pm

Press release and images provided by the institute.

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