The Face of Facebook

The Face of Facebook
2013-10-30 14:42

Opening: October 23rd , 2013, 6-9pm 
Duration: October 23rd  2013-Dec 9th, 11am-7pm (Mon. Closed) 
Address:  ShanghART Singapore, 9 Lock Road, #02-22 Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108937.
Contact:  +65 6734 9537 | infosg@shanghartgallery.com
Website:   www.shanghartsingapore.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/shanghartgallerysg

ShanghART Singapore is pleased to present a solo exhibition of Beijing-based artist Zhu Jia (b. 1963), The Face of Facebook, from October 23rd to December 9th, 2013, which is the first in-depth examination of his works in Singapore. Featuring a recent project, the Face of Facebook (finishing version), as well as videos and photographs from earlier stage, the exhibition will provide an engaging look at Zhu’s works over the past two decades.

Zhu Jia is conceptually probing unique visual experiences beyond regular ones. His recent project, the Face of Facebook, is an exact example. This project is not a traditionally finished work by Zhu himself, but is a combination of various contributions from his personal network (more than 50 friends), among them there’s no lack of powerful names in contemporary art circle in China, such as Liu Xiaodong, Wang Guangyi, Yan Peiming, Zhang Xiaogang, video artist such as Yang Fudong, as well as young artist like Sun Xun. This project is a seemingly replacement of his Facebook account in China (Facebook is banned in mainland China), yet it goes more than that. The relationship between Zhu and his “followers” is more solid, or we can call it friendship. Friends that are connected show their trust and respect to Zhu Jia, and are willing to contribute a work that may be of high value. As Zhu has once commented, “This is not a question of painting per se, but it delves into the question of power, politics and market.”

Repetition and uncertainty is a constant theme in Zhu’s works. Repetition of endless movements provokes dynamic visions from multi-perspectives. He uses quasi-motionless images to focus on details of human figures, everyday objects and banal landscapes and expose their "objective" state of existence. His landmark work, which has been shown in New York MoMA, Forever (1994), is a discombobulating video that captures the streets of Beijing through the circular movement of a bicycle wheel; Never Take Off (2002), in which an airplane cruising endlessly on the tarmac, a lamentation on latent or wasted energy; Zero (2012), comes from the narrated and fragmentized memory of family story, details of protagonists and objects are unfolded through slow but elegant shots, sensibility is stirred and remained through visual images and psychological perceptions. Using characteristic wit, humor and poignancy, Zhu reflects upon the vast political, economic and social change in China.

Selected Exhibitions:

Solo Exhibitions
2013     Zhu Jia: The Face of Facebook, ShanghART Singapore, Singapore
            Video Bureau Archive 17: Zhu Jia, Video Bureau, Guang Zhou, Beijing, China
2012     Zero - Zhu Jia Solo Exhibition, ShanghART Beijing, China
2011     The Face of Facebook, Zhu Jia Solo Exhibition, ShanghART Beijing, China
2008     We Are Perfect, Zhu Jia Solo Exhibition, ShanghART H-Space, Shanghai, China

Group Exhibitions
2012     7th Shenzhen Sculpture Biennale, Accidental Message: Art is Not a System, Not a World,
            OCAT, Shenzhen, China
            Face, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2011     Moving Image In China : 1988-2011, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China
            Out of the Box , The Threshold of Video Art in China (1984-1998), Guangdong Times
            Museum, Guangzhou, China
2010     Not Only Time, Zhang Peili and Zhu Jia, REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/Calarts Theater),
            Los Angeles, U.S.A.
            Looking through Film: Traces of Cinema and Self-Constructs in Contemporary Art, OCT
            Contemporary Art Terminal Of He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
2009     Double Happiness, Leonhardi Kulturprojekte, Frankfurt, Germany
            Another Scene, Artists' Projects, Concepts and Ideas, ShanghART H-Space, Shanghai,
            China
            Impossible, 8 Chinese Artists Engage Absurdity, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery &
            MISSION 17, San Francisco, U.S.A
2008     7th Shanghai Biennale, Trans Local Motion, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2007     10th International Istanbul Biennial, Not only Possible, But also Necessary - Optimism in
            the Age of Global War, Istanbul, Turkey
            World Factory, Walter and McBean Galleries, San Francisco Art Institute, U.S.A.
2006     Nunca salgo sin mi cámara / Never Go Out Without My DVcam, Video en China, Museo
            Colecciones ICO, Madrid, Spain
            Dual Realities, 4th Seoul International Media Art Biennale (Media_City Seoul), Seoul
            Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
            China Contemporary, Architecture, Art and Visual Culture, Netherlands Architecture
            Institute; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen; Netherlands Fotomuseum, The Netherlands
2005     2nd Guangzhou Triennial, BEYOND: an extraordinary space of experimentation for
            modernization, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
            Zooming into Focus, Contemporary Chinese Photography and Video from the Haudenschild
            Collection, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
            Emergency Biennale in Chechnya, A Suitcase from Paris to Grozny, Palais de Tokyo, Paris,
            France
2004     Nuit Blanche, Dazibao d'images, Paris, France
            Beyond Boundaries, Shanghai Gallery of Art, Shanghai, China
2003     50th International Art Exhibition Venice Biennale, Dreams and Conflicts.  The Dictatorship
            of the Viewer, Venice, Italy
            Time After Time, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, U.S.A.
            Alors la Chine?, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
2002     Synthetic Reality, Video & image works show of Chinese Artist, East Modern Art Center,
            Beijing, China
            Tempo, the Works Show of Contemporary Art in 20th, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA),
            New York, U.S.A.
            Asianvibe, an Exhibition of Contemporary Art, Espai d'Art Contemporani de Castello
            (EACC), Castello, Spain
            Printemps de Septembre, Festival de Photographie & Arts Visuels, Toulouse, France
2001     Living in Time, 29 Contemporary Artists from China, National galerie im Hamburger
            Bahnhof Museum fuer Gegenwartskunst, Berlin, Germany
            Compound Eyes, Dr Earl Lu Gallery, Singapore
            Translated Acts, Performance and Body Art from East Asia 1990-2001, Haus der Kultren
            der Welt, Berlin, Germany; Queens Museum of Art, New York, U.S.A.
2000     PhotoEspana 2000—Festival International of Photograpy, Madrid, Spain
            Quotidiana, The Continuity of the Everyday in 20th Century Art, Castell di Rivoli-Museo
            d'Arte contemporanea, Torino, Italy
1999     Unveiled Reality, Contemporary photography of China, Art Beatus Gallery,  Vancouver,
            Canada
            3rd Art Life 21--SPIRAL TV, It's Tomorrow Now, Wacoal Art centre,Tokyo, Japan
            Cities on the Move 4, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen, Denmark
            Cities on the Move 5, Hayward Gallery, London, U.K.
1998     Every Day, 11th Biennale of Sydney, Museum of Contemporary Art etc., Sydney, Australia
            16th World Wide Video Festival, Amsterdam, Netherlands
            Asia City, The Photographers' Gallery and Asia House, London, U.K.
1997     Uncertain Pleasure — Special Topic Exhibition, Art Beatus Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
            Another Long March, Chinese Conceptual Art in the 1990', Chasse Kazerne, Fundament
            Foundation, Breda, The Netherlands
            Cities on the Move 3, PS1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, U.S.A.
            Cities on the Move 1, Exhibition of Asian Art, Secession, Vienna, Austria

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Related Artists: ZHU JIA 朱加

Related Exhibitions:

Zhu Jia: The Face of Facebook 10.23, 2013