April 11 - July 28, 2019
Out of Ink: Interpretations from Chinese Contemporary Art explored the essential ideals of the ink painting tradition as manifest in the work of 13 contemporary artists at work in China. Their art does not necessarily rely upon conventional materials – ink, paper, or brush – but encapsulates the cultural spirit of ink. The experimental forms of expression that underscores their practice are a prism through which to understand how artists are rethinking the conventions of ink to forge new ties to the present cultural context, and enrich this weighty tradition in the process.
The exhibition curated by Karen Smith echoed content familiarly seen in ink painting, such as landscapes or natural forms, as single or juxtaposed elements from the natural world, as well as the role of calligraphy. These revealed the spirit of ink, a core value that is its most enduring esoteric quality, yet, none of the artists presented here claim to be ink artists. Instead they work with, appropriate, manipulate, or deconstruct, the spiritual and aesthetic ethos of “ink” as cultural metaphor, philosophical system, and as understanding of relationship between man and the physical world of form and space. In their respective ways, each artist makes a contribution to the future possibilities of a medium that has been the dynamic pulse of the nation’s culture through China’s long civilization.
Participating artists are Xu Bing, Chen Haiyan, Jian-Jun Zhang, Xing Danwen, Luo Yongjin, Sun Yanchu, Qiu Anxiong, Li Ming, Xu Hongming, Chen Guangwu, Liang Wei, Zhou Fan, and Tang Bohua.
Exhibition Catalogue
Out of Ink: Interpretations from Chinese Contemporary Art explored the essential ideals of the ink painting tradition as manifest in the work of 13 contemporary artists at work in China. Their art does not necessarily rely upon conventional materials – ink, paper, or brush – but encapsulates the cultural spirit of ink. The experimental forms of expression that underscores their practice are a prism through which to understand how artists are rethinking the conventions of ink to forge new ties to the present cultural context, and enrich this weighty tradition in the process.
As part of the exhibition Out of Ink: Interpretations from Chinese Contemporary Art, Pera Museum presents a talk by the curator Karen Smith in conversation with the artists Tang Bohua, Jian-Jun Zhang and Zhou Fan.
As part of the exhibition Out of Ink: Interpretations from Chinese Contemporary Art, Pera Museum presents a talk by the academic and curator Beth McKillop, who contributed to the exhibition’s catalogue with an essay.
As part of the exhibition “Out of Ink: Interpretations from Chinese Contemporary Art”, Pera Museum presents a talk by the artist Xu Bing, who participates in the exhibition with his installation Background Story: Summer Mountains.
Pera Museum presents Movement of the Line / Line of the Movement, a workshop-performance program that will be held at the exhibition floor as part of the Out of Ink: Interpretations from Chinese Contemporary Art exhibit.
Video
I walk over rocks hot as iron under the September sun. I can make out a few lines in the distance, and a few cracked rocks, but apart from those, not a single tree, not one plant
In 1998 Ben Jakober and Yannick Vu collaborated on an obvious remake of Marcel Duchamp’s Roue de Bicyclette, his first “readymade” object. Duchamp combined a bicycle wheel, a fork and a stool to create a machine which served no purpose, subverting accepted norms of art.
I think it was Frank Zappa – though others claim it was Laurie Anderson – who said in an interview that ‘writing on music is much like dancing on architecture’.
Tuesday - Saturday 10:00 - 19:00
Friday 10:00 - 22:00
Sunday 12:00 - 18:00
The museum is closed on Mondays.
On Wednesdays, the students can
visit the museum free of admission.
Full ticket: 200 TL
Discounted: 100 TL
Groups: 150 TL (minimum 10 people)
