Courtesy of Sainsbury Centre
A mind-boggling piece of performance art is taking place at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts at the University of East Anglia.
The centre is currently playing host to the China China China!!! exhibition, showcasing contemporary Chinese art.
‘In Just Blink of an Eye’ requires Chinese Students from UEA to rest on concealed metal frames and creates the illusion of falling and stopping and hovering in mid air.
The students described how they are getting on with the installation and the reaction that they are getting from members of the public.
“Getting into position on the frame is a challenge and a team effort. Once in position it’s surprisingly comfortable, although it’s a strange sensation – you feel like you might fall even though you know you can’t. It’s good fun – most people who pass by and see us just start laughing!” said Nicole Chao, Paris Jia and Rita Xu.
The artist Xu Zhen is a significant personality in the Chinese contemporary art world and the curators have displayed the artwork in its original form.
“For China China China!!! at the Sainsbury Centre, I added this recent piece by Xu Zhen which had previously been exhibited in Beijing and in New York. This is the first time that this work has been presented to the European public in an original out-door version.
“The subtitle of the exhibition is ‘Contemporary Chinese art beyond the global market’ - this installation echoes this. It stands as a memento of a long instability that the worldwide financial market and consequentially the art market did not want to, or have to, face until recently,” said curator Davide Quadrio.
Go to www.scva.ac.uk for more information.
