In Mai Dang Lao (McDonald’s), a hamburger box, fries container, fork, and knife are cast in bronze and adorned with traditional Chinese motifs like the taotie mask, typically featured on ancient ritual bronze vessels used in worship of the ancestors. Here it is combined with the iconic logo of the fast-food giant, transforming the “Happy Meal” into a Shang-dynasty artifact. (1)
Zhang Hongtu has taken the boxes of hamburgers and fries that could represent the fast-food culture of the western world and recreated them in bronze, which is a symbol of Chinese history. The typically fast food boxes as a symbol of modern life are emblazoned with a pattern from China 5,000 years ago.The bronze once belonging to a historical museum, has been transformed into a contemporary artwork. The distant history of civilization and the rapid development of fast food are reflected in this thought-provoking work.
In the beginning, I focused on artists who resonated with my emotions, childhood and memories. The theme of ‘trees' made me feel that people are trees that can walk. The art creation is the soil, in which I can take root.
In the process of collating these artworks, I gradually found a clear direction for research. I am absorbed in how Chinese artists living abroad translate Chinese history and culture into the visual language of contemporary art. I am also interested in how artists discover the possibilities of artistic creation in everyday life. My practice is to reacquaint myself with the materials of everyday life and to find materials that can represent my identity.
In <Two-Minute Wash Cycle>, Huang Yong Ping placed a classical Chinese art history book and a Western art history book into a washing machine and washed them for two minutes. (1) The books end up as pulp, symbolizing that the misunderstandings between different cultures are perpetuated. This work made me realize that I see the world through the influence of multi-culture.
In Xu Bing’s <Phoenix Project>, I marveled at the artist's reuse of discarded materials, where modern materials that had lost their function were used to recreate the phoenix in traditional culture, giving the traditional oriental elements contemporary art value. Because of this work, I chose the dragon, which represents the Chinese tradition for my project.
The front of Xu Bing’s <Background Story> is a very traditional Chinese landscape painting in keeping with the oriental aesthetic, but in fact, the work is made of common materials. These works inspired me to recreate dragon patterns with cheap materials that represent transportation. I believe that traditional patterns with common materials build a bridge between tradition and modernity.
Gunpowder as Cai Guo-Qiang's main creative medium enlightened me to ignite the canvas. When the fire followed my cut marks to help me complete the work, this force between the uncontrollable and the controllable made the work more powerful. It also made me realize that my current methodology is to break the material and then repair it.
In <Cultural Melting Bath: Projects for the 20th century>, Cai Guo-Qiang invited people from different cultures to come and bathe together in the gallery. And the bath was placed around traditional Chinese stones and pine trees, with a net hanging over it, creating a new space for this work in the gallery. (2) I also chose to use a bird net to hold my work together, a hidden layer of netting that allows the viewer to wonder whether the packages are ready for transport or have just been opened.
I hope that I can be a bridge between Chinese culture and contemporary art, re-creating my heritage in a contemporary art language that the world can understand. Language is limited, but the ancient and the contemporary, the East and the West can merge in the world of contemporary art, understanding and learning from each other.
Reference
(1) Dawei, F. (2005). Two-Minute Wash Cycle: Huang Yong Ping’s Chinese Period. House of Oracles: A Huang Yong Ping Retrospective, 6-10. https://walkerart.org/magazine/two-minute-wash-cycle
(2) Kenyon. (1997). Zhou Yan Contemporary Chinese Art Archive. https://digital.kenyon.edu/zhou/1/
Cai Guo-Qiang <Encounter with Unknown>, Shanghai, 2021
This work is over 30 meters high and presents the 'Cosmic Tree', which links the ancient and modern worlds. The whole shape is inspired by the Mesoamerican world tree. In Mexico central world tree has also been interpreted as a representation of the band of the Milky Way. (1)
The exhibition hall has four floors, each with a platform to view the work from a different angle. On the lower level, we look up at this work as if we were looking at the stars. When we go to the highest level, it is as if we are facing the universe.
In this work, a man who was wearing an ancient Chinese cloth is Wan Hu and he lived about 600 years ago in China. He was described as the world’s first ‘astronaut’. He built a chair with 47 rockets and flew to the sky. We can find astronaut Gagarin’s famous sentence “Earth is blue” in this work. This means that the image of this astronaut is the first human to go into outer space. Cai Guo-Qiang combines the unrealized space dream in human history with the first step in space travel, making the work transcend the limitations of time and space.
The kinetic LED lights mimic the interstellar movements of the universe. When this ‘Cosmic Tree’ is opening, it is like an artist painting a sketch by light. This kinetic installation is like a spacetime capsule that connects the ancient with the modern, the familiar with the unknown. I think the kinetic LED lights recreate the moment when gunpowder explodes. The moment the LED lights turn off, it is like a silent night after the fireworks set off. This is because most of Cai Guo-Qiang's works are made through gunpowder. He likes the moment when the gunpowder exploded. He believes in the moment of the explosion, we may feel the meaning of time and space and allowing us to connect with the invisible energy of nature, even with the universe. (2)
This part element gives <Creation of Adam> a new meaning. In art history, the gesture of these two fingers means humans were created by god.
Cai Guo-Qiang made this connection becomes a communication between aliens and human beings. In Cai's world, humans can communicate with the unknown universe through this gesture.
Playing with a paper plane is the first flying dream in childhood. In Cai’s world, a human can fall in love with an alien, the figure represents ancient Egypt can dance with an alien, and an ape can have a baby with an alien. When we look at this work, aliens observed humankind from the perspective of the cosmos.(3)
This work weaves together humanity’s desire to defy gravity and embrace the cosmos shared across civilizations. As a child, Cai always gazed up at the stars and imagined what lies beyond the starry. These elements provide Cai’s artistic methodology and philosophy have a spiritual dimension. He believes that there existed extraterrestrials and superpower and that there is the unseen world behind our world. (4) This dazzling cosmic tree, under Cai Guo-Qiang's expansive view of the universe, transcends the past and the present, breaking through the race. This is a romantic moment about imagination that only belongs to human beings.
Cai Guo-Qiang’s whole art concept is using visible means to illustrate invisible worlds, which is the same as my art concept. His artworks suit both refined and popular tastes. This is what I hope to achieve in my work. He has transformed Chinese history and culture into a visual language that can be understood all over the world. Before he found gunpowder as his art medium, he did many experiments, he never gave up, until found gunpowder to liberate his soul and desire for freedom. His experience and artwork gave me the courage to find my way and encounter with unknown.
Reference
(1) Freidel, D. (1993). Maya Cosmos Three Thousand Years on the Shaman's Path.
(2) Kim B. (2019). “Interview with Cai Guo-Qiang”, NGVMAG, Retrieved from https:// www.ngv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/ NGVMAG_REDESIGN_MAYJUN19_v24_FA_RESUPPLY_All.pdf
(3)(4) Naomi R.(2021). ‘There Is an Unseen World Behind Our World’: Artist Cai Guo-Qiang on Believing in Extraterrestrials, and How They Inspired His New Work, Retrieved from https://news.artnet.com/art-world/cai-guo-qiang-interview-1996208
Materials: Mixed media: Stones, Clay, Mist, Light effect, Sounds of bird and insects, LCD screen
Dimension: Varies
Location: Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
Celebrated Chinese artist Xu Bing transformed the V&A's John Madejski Garden with a magical installation, 'Travelling to the Wonderland', inspired by the classic Chinese fable Tao Hua Yuan ('The Peach Blossom Spring'). Drawing on elements from Chinese landscape scrolls, Xu Bing created a dream-like atmosphere with mist, light effects and sounds of birds and insects. Xu Bing's works often challenge viewers to question their first impression – everything is not as it first seems. From certain angles visitors could see hidden machines and cables reminding them that this wonderland was ultimately un-real, just as the Peach Blossom Spring is ultimately fictional. (1)
Xu Bing has turned a traditional Chinese story depicting a utopia into an installation in contemporary art. And He presents this work in the Western world. Artist crosses the language barrier and makes a traditional Chinese story into a world artwork that can be enjoyed. This is also the direction I would like to research and develop in the future.
Reference
(1) Vam.ac.uk. (2014). Traveling to the wonderland by Xu Bing. https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/travelling-to-the-wonderland
On December 1, 1987, Huang Yong Ping placed a classical Chinese art history book and a Western art history book into a washing machine and washed them for two minutes. These two long-standing histories were transformed into a pile of unreadable pulp within two minutes. (1)
The books end up as pulp, The books end up as pulp, symbolizing that the misunderstandings between different cultures are perpetuated. This work made me realize that I see the world through the influence of multi-culture.
Reference
(1) Dawei, F. (2005). Two-Minute Wash Cycle: Huang Yong Ping’s Chinese Period. House of Oracles: A Huang Yong Ping Retrospective, 6-10. Retrieve from https://walkerart.org/magazine/two-minute-wash-cycle
Schools have maintained the symbol of a public service for the local community, serving the nearby neighborhood children. However, the neighborhood children overtime have embraced both a local and distant-virtual community.
Locally, minority students are culturally rooted in their ethnic heritage (family history). From a distant-virtual, a new trend of blending the same local ethnic roots into a larger, rapidly growing, mixed cultured community. This new community exist as a solid unit with multiple ethnicities seen as a single group.
Son this trending group will positively impact the perception of African American youth. Children with backgrounds in ethnic cultures are emerging as a part of a new multicultural consumer group. I am pleased with the potential educational benefits that this multicultural consumer group can provide for you son.
Multicultural Consumer Group
This trending multicultural consumer group is propelled by population growth and volume purchasing power. The population growth will result in a hike of minority children births in America. So people call this expansion of minority youth as the "Browning of America." As the expansion of minority children occurs it is believed that race would become a more complicated conversation. It is exciting that this group will challenge American's perceptions of race.
The strength of this multicultural consumer group is that it has buying power. Social media has made micro volume purchasing a great tool for this growing young population. One or two dollar purchases by millions of minority school children creates a demanding and economically reliable voice. Or even the free advertisements, worth millions of dollars, that these students provide to brands through social media outlets of Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Facetime or Instagram.
I have so many questions surrounding this growing population that holds so much social capital. Like, who is in this group and how will they use their social and economic influence in American culture? Will this group proactively confuse and redefine the old discussions of race and racism?
Will this group challenge the existing statistics that predicts lower educational performances based on racial groups? Will schools embrace this mixed-cultured technology driven community? I wonder as this group of students mature will they be able to answer these questions. Let us explore this group further.
Group Membership
Multicultural consumers are the fastest growing group of the US population with rough 120 million and expanding at a rate of 2.3 million a year. This group is made up of African American, Hispanic and Asians. The largest segment of this group is Hispanics. African and Hispanic Americans currently sit at the lower end of educational success in terms of K-12 grades, test scores, and graduation rates.
However, this group will have the influence to change the historical pattern of African and Hispanic Americans as the educationally outperformed groups. They can accomplish this task by putting pressure on school systems to absorb their technology driven community. Their mixed cultured community exist almost entirely through online-web relationships.
FaceTime and Instagram
I had a chance to speak with students about their engagement in this online community. As I started the conversation by mentioning Facebook they laughed. They said that Facebook was for old people. They began to inform me that their community engage around three tools: Instagram, Facetime and text. I was shocked that they did not mention phone calls at all.
These students walked me through the time spent between school dismissal and bedtime. It appears that the bulk of that time is devoted to nurturing, engaging and developing virtual relationships. This is done through pictures, micro videos, chats, and texting. According to the students, Facetime and Instagram are the best tools for sustaining this form of relationship.
I asked the students about using these tools during school and they quoted verbatim their district policy on no personal electronic devices. There was almost a letdown at this point. How do schools adjust to this growing online group? How long can schools restrict access to this community during school?
Even an Education Technology Specialist for the state was baffled by the decision of districts and schools in the state to restrict this community rather than embrace this virtual multicultural group. It was in her professional opinion that embracing this community will allow education to make the appropriate reforms that will reach future and failing students.
Group Features
There is a learning curve that is needed in education for embracing this multicultural consumer group. Major corporations are begging for these same students to be even more engaged online because of the economic benefits. When will education begin to beg students to be more engage online because of the academic benefits? This will only occur when we fully understand the group features.
First, members are on the edge of blending and uniting demographics and social trends. They force a reshaping of how Americans use culture to connect with increasingly diverse populations. Second, the cultural patterns that describes this group is foretelling of how communities will look 20 years from now.
This occurs through their belief in expression and inclusion. They express their ethnic uniqueness while at the same time feeling completely included in a group of diverse cultures. Third, this group is absolutely drowned in technology from morning to night.
Miles by your mere birth you are going to be effected by this expanding group of young students. Your school years will play out differently than I can even imagine if this multicultural consumer group is any predictor of your future community. I see the benefits of this group and how it could assist you in accurately addressing the issues of race and education. In time, the blending of demographics and ethnicity will create an unbelievable educational experience for you.
Someone has questioned why my mother, who has been in Australia for over 20 years, has still failed to lose her accent.
Let me explain.
1. While she learnt English in an English class at school, she didn't begin these lessons until midway through primary school. Even after learning English, she had no reason to speak English except for in that class. Therefore, she never engaged in English conversations for over 30 years of her life.
2. You can't just lose accents! Why do people believe that. Sure, you may be more likely to lose an accent at a young age. But she was just over 30 when she moved to Australia. Her English is perfectly understandable. Her sentence structure has changed significantly over the years. Isn't that enough? She's speaking our language in our country more than she does Tagalog. She didn't even speak Tagalog to me ever, so I never picked up the language. SHE'S TRYING TO BE AUSTRALIAN!
So stop asking why she hasn't lost her accent. We're a multi-cultural society, develop an ear for accents just like she developed an ear for ours. Not only that, but she learnt our language to live here so it's not like she's not embracing our culture. Every time I visit her she always goes on about how she cooked me Australian food. She loves Australia Day. Isn't this enough!? STOP BEING MEAN TO HER! It's driving me insane.
