China tour —
Follow the artwork on tour through China.
My friend Elaine Zhang will follow the artwork and document it for us.
Yangpu District.
From 11 June – 12 July 2020.
Heritage Museum: Wo Jia Cultural & Creative Space in Jiading District.
From 18 July – 2 August 2020.
Shanghai Yangpu District.
8 August – 23 August 2020
Changning District.
28 August – 11 September 2020.
1 April until end of December 2021
1. Shanghai Art Collection Museum
The artwork was on exhibition at the:
Shanghai Art Collection Museum
From 11 June – 12 July 2020.
Video
Elaine:
“In the video, I like the scene when people walk on the bridge in a vertical view. The lake water flows under the bridge slightly. People look like tiny dots on the black bridge’s floor. You think it is still but it is moving, slightly and gently, The quiet mini-movie is set next to the big and still lightbox which is quite matching.”
Transport to the museum
Since I had already left China. The lightbox The Broken Bridge was stored in Suzhou. My best friend Wan made all the arrangements together with Marie Mao from the Shanghai Art Collection Museum. The lightbox was then shipped to the museum with moving company Huolala—the Chinese Uber-like freight company.
What is inside
On the lightbox is a photograph of the Broken Bridge in Hangzhou. The photo is printed on a special sort of canvas which is then stretched inside an aluminum frame. On the inside of the frame are lights. And when plugged into electricity, the Broken Bridge is illuminated.
Although the lightbox is quite strong, the canvas itself nevertheless is fragile. Fortunately, all went well and the lightbox arrived safely at the first location.
Although the lightbox is quite strong, the canvas itself nevertheless is fragile. Fortunately all went well and the lightbox arrived safely at the first location.
2. Small heritage museum
Then the artwork went to the second stop:
Wo Jia Cultural & Creative Space in Jiading District.
From 18 July – 2 August 2020.
This museum is inside a 600 square meter park. With traditional water town buildings with white walls and dark blue roofs. An interesting setting for the artwork. Elaine made a pdf on how to find the artwork.
About the ArtWork
The artwork is actually not called The Broken Bridge.
It is called Empathetic Walking Panel.
For this exhibition-tour it consists of 2 elements. On display are:
- The lightbox showing the Broken Bridge.
- And a 6 minute video compilation of the drone-recorded Bridge-Performance.
Empathetic Walking Panel
For the group exhibition Unstruct I had organized a Bridge-Performance on the Broken Bridge. I called it: Empathetic Walking Panel.
The bridge-performance was captured with the use of a:
1. Selfie-stick— showing the Empathetic Walking Panel frontal and up-close.
2. Drone video camera— giving an overview from above of the area, The Broken Bridge, and the Empathetic Walking Panel walking arm in arm over the bridge.
People
The Empathetic Walking Panel consisted of:
– Helene Compain-Holt (Head of Pastoral Care and Boarding at King’s College).
– Matteo Preabianca (Professor of Languages, Zheijiang University).
– And myself Kim Engelen (Master of Fine Arts in Critical and Pedagogical Studies/Visual Artist).
The drone was skilfully operated by Andres Planas.
3 Questions
During the Bridge-Performance, called Empathetic Walking Panel—I asked 3 thought-provoking questions about the ex-pat community living in Hangzhou, China.
3. Yangpu Riverside Gallery
Then the artwork went to the third location:
Yangpu Riverside Gallery.
From 8 – 23 August 2020.
The building of the museum is nearby the Huangpu River and close to the Yangpu Bridge. In the first photo, you can see the Yangpu Bridge, which is a cable-stayed bridge with many wire steel ropes held on a high red pillar.
ArtWork Explained by JoeJoe
Hi Kim,
I visited the museum in the Yangpu district yesterday. I took my son Joejoe together to enjoy the tour.
Please refer to the attached pdf. I write some texts next to the pictures.
When we watched your work, a surprising thing for me was that Joejoe told me how to read your work!
He said: “Mom when you look at this work, what component you notice first?”
I said, “The bridge?”
He said, “What’s the most attractive part of this bridge?”
I said, “The hole of the bridge?”
He said, “Yes, the opening hole of the bridge. Do you know why?”
I asked, “Why?”
He said, “Because when you watch it in horizontal, you will find it is on the lower third place; and when you look at it in vertical, it is on the right one-third place. And the cross-point of the one-third place is the most beautiful place of the whole picture in a work.”
Joejoe says that their Art Teacher taught them about it. Now I understand why your work looks so comfortable in a very nice layout, although the objects on the picture are just normal things, such as a bridge, a stone, some people, or else ordinary stuff. That’s the reason for the secret! There must be more secrets in the work for how the aesthetics principle running, which creates the pleasant work. Amazing!
5. Pengyang Art Space
1 April until end of December 2021
Since June 2020 the artwork has een traveling in China. Now it is showing until the end of 2021 at the Pengyang Art Space in Jiaxing.
I am supper grateful for the help of Wan for storing and shipping the work. And Elaine who again and again followed the artwork to photograph the artwork for documentation of the Lightbox at its then location.
Insider Art New
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