Danwen
Xing
The architectural structures that Danwen Xing photographed are
all maquettes made to promote real-estate developments that are being
planned in China today. This entire body of work is playful and
fictitious, wandering between reality and fantasy. Al the figures in
the series are images of the artist, playing different characters. The
figures act out of totally imaginative roles as part of different plots
and in different spaces. Together the resulting pictures compose the
episodes of the urban fiction.
These images represent the state of urban life today. In our childhood,
skyscrapers were buildings that we had to raise our head to look at.
Now we can imagine our future by bending down to examine tiny models of
buildings. This, perhaps, is another image of modern life.
Lives and works in Beijing
Solo shows (selection since 2004)
2009
Xing Danwen, Galerie Sollertis, Toulouse, France
2008
The City Fairy - Xing Danwen, Korea Art Center, Busan, Korea
Wall House, Gallery Barry Keldoulis - project space, Sydney, Australia
2006
"disCONNEXION/duplication", Chinese Museum, Melbourne, Australia
"Urban Fiction", TPW, Toronto, Canada
Group shows (selection since 2004)
2008
New World Order, Groninger Museum, the Netherlands
Another Voice, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
FOTOFEST 2008, Houston, Texas, USA
ING REAL Photography Award, LP II Art Exhibition Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
China Design Now, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
2007
City of Expiration and Regeneration, 2007 Shenzhen Biennal, China
Chinaproduction, Architekturzentrum Wien, Vienna, Austria
Floating,
National Museum of Contemporary Art, Soeul, Korea
Thought Provoking, Sense Provoking, Noorderlicht, Groningen, The Netherlands
Altered States, Tisch Gallery, AIDEKMAN ARTS CENTER / TUFTS University, USA
METAMORPHOSIS, Tampere Art Museum, Tampere, Finland
MADE in CHINA, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
2006
China Show, URBIS, Manchester, UK
TOTALSTADT/BEIJING CASE, ZKM, Karisruhe, Germany
C On Cities, 10th Venice Architecture Biennale, Venice, Italy
New Urban Realities, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam & NAi, The Netherlands
Fantasy Landscapes, Asia House, London, UK
MADE in CHINA, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, USA
2005
Urban / Culture, CP Biennale, Museum Bank Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia
Traces and Omens, the 12th Noorderlicht Photo Festival, Groningen, the Netherlands
The WALL, Albright-Knox Art Gallery/UB Anderson Gallery, Buffalo, USA
Unspeakable Happiness, MUSEO TAMAYO ARTE CONTEMPORANEO, Mexico city, Mexico
On the Edge, Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Stanford University, California, USA
Between Past and Future, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
Re-VIEWING the CITY, 1st Guangzhou Photo Biennale, Guangdong Museum of Art, China
2004
Grotesque Reality, the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea
GRAVITY, the Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
Die Chinesen, Kunst Museum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany
REASON & EMOTION, the Biennale of Sydney, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia
Between Past and Future, International Center for Photography & Asian Society, New York, USA
Smart Museum of Art & Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA
Je t’envisage: La disparition du portrait, the Musee de l'Elysee, Lausanne, Switzerland
Urban Fiction, image 0, 2004, 170 x 241.8 cm