“TAG-New Contemporary-Seaward” at the TAG Art Museum Kicked Off!
On December 24th, the 2024 2nd “TAG-New Contemporary-Seaward” exhibition at the TAG Art Museum officially kicked off.
The TAG Art Museum, as a public welfare, art museum, has always been focused on the growth and development of young artists. Therefore, it has launched a new sustainable art project, the “TAG-New Contemporary”. This new project is designed to rely on the abundant academic resources of TAG Art Museum to provide a public platform for young artists to exchange and showcase their creative experiments in the current cultural context, thus helping them to establish connections with the public, media circle, and academia circle, and making every effort to support them realize their dreams and have a better future development.
Installation view of TAG-New Contemporary-Seaward on display from 24 December 2023 – 17 March 2024 at TAG Art Museum, Qingdao.
This project is the 2nd “TAG-New Contemporary” project. It showcased the works of ten young artists active in the field of contemporary art, including Cao Shuyi, Chen Xiaoyi, Ding Hongdan, Feng Zhixuan, He Zike, Pu Yingwei, Shen Linghao, Shi Zheng, Wang You, and Zhang Yibei. From personal experiences and unique perspectives, they explored various changes and evolution of organisms, human groups, and reality and virtual spaces in the post-human era through art forms such as painting, imaging, installation, and new media. Together, this exhibition presented the creative thinking and aesthetic concepts of young artists to the public.
At the opening ceremony, the academic host Duan Shaofeng, and the curators’ team, including Du Songhua, Liu Bingchen, Meng Yu, and Wu Mengzhu, jointly conducted a live tour for the audience, introducing the academic background, viewing clues, theme setting, and display design.
Duan Shaofeng, academic host of "TAG-New Contemporary-Seaward", guided the tour
After the tour, academic host Duan Shaofeng had interactive conversations with participating artists Feng Zhixuan, He Zike, Shi Zheng, and Zhang Yibei on the exhibition site, discussing the new ideas behind the exhibition in a more in-depth and three-dimensional way.
In the conversation, Duan Shaofeng talked about the significance of holding the “TAG-New Contemporary-Seaward” exhibition, “There are various types of contemporary exhibitions in the TAG Art Museum, including international group exhibitions, cutting-edge contemporary exhibitions, and individual exhibitions of mature artists. As a project focused on young artists, “TAG-New Contemporary” is a good supplement to the role of the art museum.”
Regarding the role of art museums, he said, “As we all know, art museums have been changed from the place for knowledge production in the past to the place for experiments nowadays. The establishment and promotion of this project are more valuable than evaluation, and this exhibition is indeed as open and diverse as a place for experiments for contemporary art.”
Liu Shuangchen, curator of "TAG - New Contemporary - Seaward", gives a tour of the exhibition.
During the tour of the curators’ team, Curator Liu Bingchen said, “From the 1st ‘TAG-New Contemporary Art Exhibition-Sailing’ to the 2nd ‘TAG-New Contemporary-Seaward’, this exhibition project has always been a public platform for young artists to communicate and showcase. The artists participating in this exhibition are the younger generation who were born after 1985. Although these young artists hold different creative directions and media choices, they all have new insights and new thinking about the world, and also interpret the meaning of ‘new’ in the ‘New Contemporary’.”
Curator of "TAG - New Contemporary - Seaward", Wu Mengzhu, gives a tour of the exhibition.
Installation view of Chen Xiaoyi's works on display in TAG-New Contemporary-Seaward from 24 December 2023 – 17 March 2024 at TAG Art Museum.
Installation view of Ding Hongdan "You look delicious" on display in TAG-New Contemporary-Seaward from 24 December 2023 – 17 March 2024 at TAG Art Museum.
Curator Wu Mengzhu illustrated the interaction among space, architecture, and exhibition, “The TAG Art Museum introduced the mountains, cities, and seas of nature through windows. In this exhibition, the artists in Hall 2 responded to the fundamental relationship of ‘nature and humans’ with their respective creations. Their works and the scene became the entirety of expression - organic and inorganic, nature and humans, universe and dust, are all breathing together and coexisting with each other.”
Curator of "TAG - New Contemporary - Seaward", Du Songhua, gives a guided tour of the exhibition.
Installation view of Wang You's work on display in TAG-New Contemporary-Seaward from 24 December 2023 – 17 March 2024 at TAG Art Museum.
Installation view of Shen Linghao "Keeping the Dream Alive" on display in TAG-New Contemporary-Seaward from 24 December 2023 – 17 March 2024 at TAG Art Museum.
Curator Du Songhua talked about the design ideas and views of Hall 3 from the perspective of the exhibition, “On both sides of the moving line, the artist's thinking and creation when facing the real world, the social scene and the art scene are presented from the grand narrative of the human world and focusing on the subtle points. The exhibition space was presented as a circle, so the audiences would unintentionally choose to enter the space to the left or right, and then enter the exhibition narrative and context we have set up. Do you feel that the choices you make subconsciously are the same as the way you face the real world?”
Meng Yu, curator of "TAG - New Contemporary - Seaward", gives a tour of the exhibition.
Installation view of Pu Yingwei "Modern Architecture: Dwelling of Ideas" on display in TAG-New Contemporary-Seaward from 24 December 2023 – 17 March 2024 at TAG Art Museum.
Curator Meng Yu told the story from the perspective of this exhibition echoing the current era, “When audiences enter the Hall 4 and appreciate the works, we hope that they would have a small prospect for the future while paying attention to the present. Nowadays a relatively hot and global topic is the urgent transition from online to offline and the expectation of the network. This is also a problem that young artists and we pay attention through our own perspectives and experiences.”
Academic Host Duan Shaofeng (first from right) in conversation with artists Feng Zhixuan (second from right), He Zike (third from right), Shi Zheng (second from left) and Zhang Yibei (first from left)
In the subsequent dialogue between Duan Shaofeng, the academic host, and the four artists present, they discussed the topic of “the relationship between works and narrative”.
Installation view of Shi Zheng "From the Film Set of Alphaville #2" on display in TAG-New Contemporary-Seaward from 24 December 2023 – 17 March 2024 at TAG Art Museum.
Shi Zheng said, “Perhaps the way of receiving information in the current era has changed, leading to changes in the way artists process information. The narrative itself bothers me at first because I’m not a very good storyteller. The expression of art is open, so I can let it be seen in a more objective way. The two works in the exhibition show the places that I am interested in and their differences. One is a spectacle scene, and the other is an everyday scene.”
Installation view of Zhang Yibei "The First Ray of Light Belongs to Me When Spring Comes" on display in TAG-New Contemporary-Seaward from 24 December 2023 – 17 March 2024 at TAG Art Museum.
Zhang Yibei made her discussion from the perspective of concern of the works, “My works pay more attention to my own feelings instead of the external environment. And more importantly, they tell about me.”
Installation view of He Zike "Saros" on display in TAG-New Contemporary-Seaward from 24 December 2023 – 17 March 2024 at TAG Art Museum.
He Zike combined her own creation and life sharing, “Narrative has always been the theme I care about most. The works I chose this time are related to my living environment at that time. I used myself as a filter, converter or channel for real life to pass through me, thus making a really weird story.”
Installation view of Feng Zhixuan "Bells - Buffalo" on display in TAG-New Contemporary-Seaward from 24 December 2023 – 17 March 2024 at TAG Art Museum.
At last, Feng Zhixuan said, “I use works to describe and tell stories, such as using reinforced concrete to create science fiction works. This is related to the environment in which I grew up, and also includes the influence of popular science fiction topics on me. Therefore, I use my works to continue what I imagined at that time, describing the surroundings and the environment.”
Installation view of Cao Shuyi "Of Shape Offshore" on display in TAG-New Contemporary-Seaward from 24 December 2023 – 17 March 2024 at TAG Art Museum.
Just as image of the “Seaward”, the theme of the exhibition, which is selected from the poem “Felt bored in the daily walking, hoping to get rid of the silkworms-like bondage, board a boat and leave the shore in pursuit of more exciting experiences”, this exhibition will seek for better future, helping young artists sail to the vast distance, and bravely move forward towards the future.
2024 2nd “TAG-New Contemporary-Seaward”
Staff List
Founder
Meng Xianwei
Administrative Deputy Director
Shang Fei
Exhibition Co-ordination
Du Songhua, Liu Bingchen, Meng Yu, Wu Mengzhu
Technicians
Wang Wentao, Wang Hongya, Wang Zhaofei
Media Relations
Jiang Xuefeng, Huang Shaoli, Chao Qixuan, Xu Yuanjing
Marketing Co-ordination
Zhu Yaning, Tan Honglin, Chen Yazhen
Public Education
Ding Xiaoyu, Wang Yuxin
Graphic Design
Yue Yue
Internship
Sun Mengyu
Editor: Wu Mengzhu
Photographers: Huang Shaoli, Chao Qixuan
©TAG Art Museum
