Platform China Contemporary Art Institute No. 319-1 East End Art (A), CaoChangDi Village, Chaoyang District Beijing China (city map) Send E-mail tel +86 (0)10 - 8145 9360 www.platformchina.org

Fire His Breath, Jade His Bones
New Work by Shi Jinsong
2008.7.26-2008.8.24
Curator: Wu Hung

Opening Party: JULY 26, 2008, 2:59PM
Venue:Platform China Contemporary Art Institute Main Space B

Platform China Contemporary Art Institute is pleased to present Shi Jinsong’s new solo exhibition - Fire His Breath, Jade His Bones -- curated by Wu Hung. This show challenges the conventional concept of an exhibition by emphasizing the “materiality” of contemporary art. The idea of this project first emerged in the summer of 2007 when Shi Jinsong became enchanted by the potential of two kinds of natural materials in making art: fire and jade. This exhibition is the result of his experimentation with both materials over the past year.

The exhibition contains three works - two are related to fire and one uses jade. One of the “fire” works is a burning piece of charcoal made from an enormous tree trunk; the other is an exposed car engine with a stainless steel exhaust system that turns red following periodic explosions. Because of the shortage of appropriate terminology we may call them installations, but both works are far from “readymade,” resulting instead from carefully planned transformation of natural materials and utilitarian objects. The third work in the exhibition is a tiny jade human head set on a stainless steel base upstairs. Motorized by a mechanism it strikes the wall at the rate of 16 times per minute. Its “cool” material and monotonous, repetitive action contrast dramatically with the two “fire” works displayed downstairs.

These works all allude to violence and danger, but of different forms and cultural connotations. They impress people with a penchant for danger as well as for technological precision---a characteristic of Shi Jinsong’s art which achieves a new level of expressiveness.

If displayed in a western museum, such installations would have most likely been presented as flameless and “safe” objects. To be shown in Platform China Contemporary Art Institute in Beijing’s Caochangdi, however, these works are imbued with deep social and psychological significance: the fusion of aggressive burning and impassionate technical calculation reflect what may be called the current “China conditions” - the country’s impatient and explosive thrust into the modern world, and the exhilaration and threat generated by such desire and movement.