Point at a deer call it a horse

I thought I’d quickly share with you my recent review of the exhibition ‘Point at a deer call it a horse’ for Randian online. If you don’t already know the work of Randian, it seeks to promote independent cultural debate in China and to foster intellectual exchange between China and the rest of the world through commentary on art, artists, exhibitions and galleries, as well as video, architecture and design, published in Chinese and English. If you haven’t already, sign up to their newsletter.

““Point at a Deer Call it a Horse” is based on the Chinese idiom “Zhi Lu Wei Ma 指鹿为马” – to confuse right and wrong, to distort reality through misrepresentation, to deceive…This metaphor for the curatorial rationale has a clear presence in all of the works on display, further reinforcing the show’s notion of “unreal socialism.” It attempted to create a social commentary on the frenetic pace of change and conflicts between the individual, the authorities and culture in contemporary China provided by the Chinese and UK-based artists Ai Weiwei, Cai Yuan and JJ Xi, Stephen Hall and Ren Li Li, Liu Xinyi, Ye Funa, Zhang Peili and Zhang Ding. However, the intensely layered visual and aural articulation of the video, film and performance works, created an overwhelming sensory cacophony through their close proximity in the gallery space, often confusing context thus, distracting from the intended concept.” Read the full review here.

The exhibition is currently on show until 21 April 2013 at the Cul De Sac Gallery, London.