YINGMEI DUAN AT THE HEIXIANGNING ART MUSEUM IN SHENZHEN

 

Curated by Feng Boyi, Heixiangning Art Museum presents an international show of Chinese female artists who are living in foreign countries. Yingmei Duan will present two performances for the exhibition, Observer and Room 2. 

 

During Observer Yingmei Duan observes the audience, and at the same time the audience observes her. She is at once, performer and spectator. The audience enters the exhibition; they look around with curiosity and suddenly notice a woman far up above – on the wall. It is Yingmei. She sits on a little platform. Yingmei pulls her legs to her body to appear very small and watches the people with concentration through her large glasses. Quietly she rests on the platform, which is just big enough for her to sit on. She wears everyday clothes and over her shoulder is carrying a white linen bag, which is full of things, as if she was on her way to an appointment or had just come back from shopping. From her position Yingmei Duan can get a good view of what is going on around her and therefore becomes a spectator of the exhibition.

 

Room 2, a sound installation performance, will be presented within the exhibition hall. When the audience enters this room, they experience an environment of white walls and they can hear sounds coming from the walls. In the empty room the audience cannot see pieces by Yingmei but instead can imagine her works by listening to the audio. The sound describes different artworks in various mediums such as installation, photography and performance. During the course of the exhibition this work titled “Room” is constantly in development, the audio changes daily so the audience always experiences new works.

 

The artworks described are based on Yingmei’s personal life experiences as a starting point to incorporate art, literature and religion. The audio references themes such as childhood, dreams, memories, fairy tales and legends. Some materials like paper, pencils and so on will be provided for the audience to use to create their own artworks in response to their feelings and imagination inspired by the audio. In addition visitors are welcome to bring materials themselves, which they feel will aid their creativity. Their artworks will be presented on the walls or on the floor outside of the empty room.