Expo Update
Wednesday, 13 January 2010 07:01
Written by JFK Miller

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Later this month, OV Gallery is asking local artists to reinterpret the facelift which Shanghai is receiving ahead of the Expo. 'Make-over' features a number of newly-commissioned works, including installations, video and performance works, as well as works which will take place/be displayed in public spaces.

"We’ve all seen it – the warped bamboo scaffolding, the torn up streets, the walls dripping with fresh paint, the city is getting a facelift in time for the World Expo, similar to Beijing in advance of the Olympics," says OV's director, Rebecca Catching. "But what lies underneath that glossy white paint? What are we covering up and why? Who decides what will be the face of Shanghai? That's what this exhibition is trying to explore."

See below for a preview of the works on display.

January 23-March 13, OV Gallery, 19C Shaoxing Lu, between Shanxi Nan Lu and Ruijin Er Lu; 5465 7768; www.ovgallery.com

The artists on show

Jin Feng has carved out fake headlines garnered from the Internet onto a wall. He will then produce a print of the work directly from the wall. The work explores the phenomenon whereby journalists who are too busy/lazy to go out and interview people to write real stories completely fabricate articles. It’s a piece that explores the nature of reality and the architecture of truth.

Christina Shmigel has placed paper maquettes of unremarkable fragments of Shanghai architecture inside glass vitrines. In this work, she is questioning who decides what kind of face Shanghai will show to the world.

Ben Houge: when the Expo comes, many of the city’s itinerant peddlers will be forced to give up their trade and their hawking and leave the city. Ben has created a digital video work of falling items that is regulated by an algorithm. The piece will also contain a small book documenting the lives of the vendors and the impact the expo will have on their lives.

Maya Kramer has produced a number of art deco tiles, like the old ones we see in the lobbies of French apartment buildings in Shanghai, that are laid out on the floors and joined to a Stereoscope (the binoculars you see at tourist attractions). Through the viewfinder viewers will be able to see images of past World’s Fair sites.

Jiang Hongqing has made a video documentary of residents evicted from their homes on Expo the site about their new lives. The video will be shown in a small replica of a traditional lane house mounted on the back of a bicycle.

R. Mutt, Shanghai’s conceptual joker artist, proposes an installation which involves a series of goldfish tied in plastic bags and hanging from the ceiling in front of a wall. On the wall is projected an image of a blue sky with white fluffy clouds. Here we have the goldfish in an artificial environment enjoying the illusion of an idyllic landscape. It’s a work which delves into perception and reality.

Su Chang takes a celebratory mood with his work “The Future Will Be More Beautiful,” which involves a cake covered with fluffy white frosting which spells out this optimistic slogan. The piece is a time-based work which will gradually degrade throughout the time of the exhibition. He will use time-lapse photography to capture the degradation of the work. This piece explores the genuine excitement of the expo – the celebratory mood – the spectacle of the expo as an event – and the temporary fleeting nature of this celebration.

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