Fuck Off (art Exhibition)
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''Fuck Off'' () was a
contemporary art Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a ...
exhibition which ran alongside the Third Shanghai Biennale (2000) in
Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
. The exhibition's title translates as "Uncooperative attitude" in Chinese, but the blunter English language sentiment was deemed preferable. The exhibition encompassed conceptual,
performance A performance is an act or process of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Performance has evolved glo ...
, and
protest art Protest art is the creative works produced by activists and social movements. It is a traditional means of communication, utilized by a cross section of collectives and the state to inform and persuade citizens. Protest art helps arouse base emo ...
.


Overview

The exhibition was held in a
Eastlink Gallery
warehouse by
Feng Boyi Feng Boyi (Chinese: 馮博一; born 1960) is an independent art curator and critic in China. His work focusses primarily on contemporary Chinese art, working with museums and displaying art collections. He has worked several times with artist Ai We ...
and the 43-year-old
Ai Weiwei Ai Weiwei ( ; , IPA: ; born 28 August 1957) is a Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist. Ai grew up in the far northwest of China, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his father's exile. As an activist, he has been ...
, and is revered by many young Chinese artists. Ai encapsulated ''Fuck Off'''s artistic-curatorial attitude with one set of photos in which he gives
the finger "The finger", or the middle finger (as in giving someone the (middle) finger, flipping the bird or flipping someone off) is an obscene hand gesture. The gesture communicates moderate to extreme contempt, and is roughly equivalent in meaning t ...
in turn to the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...
, the
Forbidden City The Forbidden City () is the Chinese Empire, imperial Chinese palace, palace complex in the center of the Imperial City, Beijing, Imperial City in Beijing, China. It was the residence of 24 Ming dynasty, Ming and Qing dynasty, Qing dynasty L ...
, and the viewer, and another in which he drops an ancient
Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...
Chinese vase, which smashes at his feet. Coinciding with the
Shanghai Biennale The Shanghai Biennale is one of the highest-profile contemporary art events in Shanghai and the most established art biennale in China. It was initially held in the Shanghai Art Museum. From 2012 on, it has been hosted in Power Station of Art, th ...
, the opening of the exhibition embodied an uncooperative attitude towards the establishment, as summed up in the closing line of the exhibition catalogue: "Perhaps there is nothing that exists 'on-site,' but what will last forever is the very uncooperativeness with any system of power discourse." The exhibition included works by 48
avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
artists, many of whom exhibited provocative and controversial works. Among them was
He Yunchang He Yunchang (born 1967), also known as A Chang, is a Chinese performance artist known for works of endurance. Life and career He Yunchang was born in Kunming, southwest China, in 1967. He graduated from the Yunnan Art Institute in 1991 wit ...
, who posed in a color photograph bare-chested while suspended from a crane by his ankles over a rushing river, into which he holds a knife—the same knife he later used to cut his own arm. Sun Yuan exhibited ''Solitary Animal'', a glass case containing an animal skeleton and—purportedly—enough poison gas to wipe out the show's entire audience. Wang Chuyu's performance consisted of a four-day fast. Zhu Ming floated down the
Huangpu River The Huangpu (), formerly romanized as Whangpoo, is a river flowing north through Shanghai. The Bund and Lujiazui are located along the Huangpu River. The Huangpu is the biggest river in central Shanghai, with the Suzhou Creek being its ...
in a plastic bubble wearing a diaper. The most controversial work was probably ''Eating People'' by Zhu Yu, which was eventually not displayed in the show. It consisted of a series of photographs of him cooking and eating what is alleged to be a human fetus. One picture, circulated on the internet via e-mail in 2001, provoked investigations by both the
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
and
Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...
. The piece's cannibalistic theme was controversial in Britain when Zhu's work was featured on a
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
documentary exploring Chinese modern art in 2003. In response to the public reaction, Zhu Yu stated, "No religion forbids cannibalism. Nor can I find any law which prevents us from eating people. I took advantage of the space between morality and the law and based my work on it". Zhu has claimed that he used an actual fetus that was stolen from a medical school. The exhibition ran for ten days from 4 to 14 November, 2000. After the opening, the Cultural Inspection Bureau raided the exhibition and removed works considered inappropriate. Later on, they demanded the exhibition to close for being inappropriate, prior to its scheduled closing date. The police confiscated all remaining catalogs for not having the publication permit. In an interview by Chin-Chin Yap, Ai Weiwei was asked if the actual exhibit of ''Fuck Off'' had a concept similar to th
Black, White, and Gray Cover Books
he published. He went on to say that after the books were finished, there were a lot of interesting art happening, and the people in his life continually recommended creating an exhibit with a theme similar to that of the books. His opinion was not that the show was really good because it was organized so quickly, and he knew that there was a possibility that it could be shut down by the police and having all of the works confiscated. Luckily, he said that the artists involved were "cooperative and interested and the attitude was there." In a very eye-opening statement, Ai goes on to say that, "maybe ''Fuck Off'' was most important because of what it represented." Those involved had clear ideas about the message they wanted to send to Chinese institutions and Western curators, institutions, and dealers: "We had to say something as individual artists to the outside world, and what we said was 'fuck off'." Many influential artists in the contemporary
Chinese art Chinese art is visual art that originated in or is practiced in China, Greater China or by Chinese artists. Art created by Chinese residing outside of China can also be considered a part of Chinese art when it is based on or draws on Chine ...
scene took part, many of whom have since been included in international exhibitions, catalogs, and television documentaries. A catalog of the exhibition has been published, a black book with the simple title ''FUCK OFF'' on its cover.


Feng Boyi on ''Fuck Off''

Co-curator
Feng Boyi Feng Boyi (Chinese: 馮博一; born 1960) is an independent art curator and critic in China. His work focusses primarily on contemporary Chinese art, working with museums and displaying art collections. He has worked several times with artist Ai We ...
felt as though Chinese artists were just working for foreigners because the early Chinese contemporary art shows were being held in foreign countries. In co-curating the exhibition, Feng said, "We wanted to show the 'fuck off' style, not working for the government or in the style of western countries, but a third way."


Co-curators

Description by Ai Weiwei and Feng Boyi in October, 2000: ''Fuck Off'' is an event that is participated by both the organizers and artists. In today's art, the alternative is playing the role of revising and criticizing the power discourse and mass convention. In an uncooperative and uncompromisable way, it self-consciously resists the threat of assimilation and vulgarization. A cultural attitude that stands against the power and makes no compromise with vulgarization is, together with independent individual experiences, feelings and creations, is what extends the pursuit and desire of art for spiritual freedom – an everlasting theme. Such a cultural attitude is obviously exclusive and alienated. It aims at dealing with such themes as cultural power, art institution, art trends, communications between the East and West, exoticism, post-modernism and post-colonialism, etc. ''Fuck Off'' emphasizes the independent and critical stance that is basic to art existence, and its status of independence, freedom and plurality in the situation of contradictions and conflicts. It tries to provoke artist's responsibility and self-discipline, search for the way in which art lives as "wildlife", and raise questions about some issues of contemporary Chinese art. Allegory, directing questioning, resistance, alienation, dissolution, endurance, boredom, bias, absurdity, cynicism and self-entertainment are aspects of culture as well as features of existence. Such issues are re-presented here by the artists with unprecedented frankness and intelligence, which leaves behind fresh and stimulating information and traces of existence. In this exhibition, participants and their works are not objects of choice, identification and judgment. They have no quest for any kind of excuse. Group identification and inner difference are both so fully respected and encouraged that it may be doubted if there is the necessity for the presence of audience. An on-site ambiguity and uncertainty forces one to seek meaning and satisfaction only in the form of proliferation and postpone. Perhaps there is nothing that exists 'on-site', but what will last forever is the very uncooperativeness with any system of power discourse."


Notable works

''Accidental Dropping'' Ai Weiwei was concerned with Chinese history as a whole and the fact that people were not properly learning about it or preserving it. By dropping a near-priceless artifact, Ai was essentially asking if the Chinese people really care about their own history, taking something valuable and reducing it to shards. ''Golden Sunlight (Performance)'' He Yunchang is known to push the limits in his performance art. His goal is to "seek enduring and fearless confrontation with reality and a poetic expression for this." ''Chinese Landscape: Tattoo No. 2'' Huang Yan sees landscape paintings as a way of expressing himself. His landscape scenes are painted on his body, on pork, and even on cow bones. ''Mouse'' Jin Le experiments with a wide variety of materials in order to demonstrate what he thinks that people and animals would look like if scientists succeeded in combining them into one form. ''Peace series No. 19'' Liang Yue uses Photoshop as his main form of expression. He attempts to Photoshop a variety of ads onto photos he takes and then post them absolutely everywhere in an attempt to require people to see them. ''Paradise Lost No. 17'' Meng Huang was born in Beijing, and says, "I grew up, knowing nothing. Now I live in Beijing and find that works of art stars are very much westernized." His works seem to be reminiscent of an almost unattainable land that was once a paradise, but is now sad and downtrodden. ''Stamping on Water'' Song Dong notes, "I find more pleasure in doing 'art' as a matter because of the openness of artistic language. As I understand it, the time is over when artistic styles are defined by medium, method and paradigm. When I make use of these, the only thing that I have in mind is whether they fit my ideas." His work seems to show a lot of disparity in life and the fact that humans are a lot less important to the world around them. ''Skin Graft'' Zhu Yu is a very outspoken artist who uses his work to make a statement. His work is aimed at making people think about the world around them. He says that "We're not very afraid that we are not thinking what others are thinking since such an issue is taken care of by our spirit. What we are afraid of is that people are thinking what they are not supposed to think. So we need to re-think over what people initially take to be right, and abstract out everything that has nothing to do with reality."


List of artists exhibited

Ai Wei Wei Ai Weiwei ( ; , IPA: ; born 28 August 1957) is a Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist. Ai grew up in the far northwest of China, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his father's exile. As an activist, he has been o ...
,
Cao Fei Cao Fei ( zh, 曹斐, ; born 1978) is a Chinese multimedia artist born in Guangzhou. Her work, which includes video, performance, and digital media, examines the daily life of Chinese citizens born after the Cultural Revolution. Her work explores ...
, Chen Lingyang,
Chen Shaoxiong Chen Shaoxiong (196226 November 2016) was an artist living and working in Beijing, China. Chen Shaoxing worked across mediums including paint, photography, and collage, though he has become increasingly focused on the combination of ink, video, an ...
, Chen Yunquan, Ding Yi, Feng Weidong, Gu Dexin, He An, He Yunchang, Huang Lei, Huang Yan, Jin Lei, Li Wen, Li Zhiwang, Liang Yue,
Lin Yilin Lin Yilin ( zh, c=林一林; born 1964) is a Chinese performance artist. Duration and bodily experience are always the key aspects of Lin's practice throughout his career. Through performance, he creates experiences that seem to attempt to overcom ...
, Lu Chunsheng, Lu Qing, Meng Huang,
Peng Yu Peng Yu (; born 26 January 1934), is a Chinese actress. She is known for the TV comedy ''A Family in Dongbei''. She was awarded the Golden Rooster Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2001 for her acting in ''The Full Moon''. Selected filmogr ...
, Peng Donghui, Qin Ga, Rong Rong,
Song Dong Song Dong (, born 1966) is a Chinese contemporary artist, active in sculpture, Installation art, installations, performance, photography and video. He has been involved in many solo and group exhibitions around the world, covering a range of them ...
, Sun Yuan, Wang Bing, Wang Yin, Wang Chuyu, Wang Xingwei, Wu Ershan, Xiao Yu, Xu Tan,
Xu Zhen Xu Zhen (Chinese 徐震), born in 1977 in Shanghai, China, is a multimedia artist. Xu Zhen's body of work, which includes photography, installation art and video, entails theatrical humour and social critique. His projects are informed by perf ...
, Yang Yong,
Yang Fudong Yang Fudong (; born 1971 in Beijing) is a Chinese contemporary artist. In the early 1990s, he began to work with film. He began creating films and videos using 35 mm film. Currently Yang directs films, creates photographs, and creates video ...
, Yang Maoyuan, Yang Zhenzhong,
Yang Zhichao Yang Zhichao (; born 1963) is a Chinese artist recognized for his extreme and multi-disciplinary performance art. Biography Yang was born in 1963 in Gansu, Gansu Province, China. He graduated from the Art Department of Northwest Normal Univers ...
,
Zhang Dali Zhang Dali (, born 1963, in Harbin, China) is an artist based in Beijing. Zhang trained at the Central Academy of Fine Arts and Design, where he graduated in 1987. After his studies, he moved to Yuanmingyuan as a freelance artist (1987–198 ...
, Zhang Shengquan, Zheng Guogu, Zhu Ming, and Zhu Yu. Chen Hao, Zheng Jishun, and Song Tao exhibited a video documenting their walk through the city while blood leaked from plastic tubes inserted into their veins.


References

{{Coord, 31.2494, 121.4441, display=title Art exhibitions in China 2000 in Shanghai 2000 in art Avant-garde art