"Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China," which examines photo and video art from China produced since the mid-1990s, will be on view at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University from Oct. 26 through Feb. 18, 2007.
The exhibition concludes an international tour that has included showings in New York, Chicago, Seattle, London, Berlin and Santa Barbara, Calif.
The Nasher Museum of Art is a major new arts center on Duke's campus that serves the university, Research Triangle area and surrounding region with exhibitions and educational programs.
The exhibition includes more than 100 works by 60 young artists and focuses on artists' responses to economic, social and cultural changes that have swept through China. The show provides insight into the forces shaping modern Chinese culture, including how younger Chinese artists have come to perceive themselves and their communities.
"After two years on tour, this exhibition is still the benchmark for contemporary Chinese art," said Kimerly Rorschach, the Mary D.B.T. and James H. Semans Director of the Nasher Museum. "This show was the catalyst that achieved wider acceptance for Chinese photography and video in the international art world, and I am tremendously excited about sharing it with our local audiences."
"Between Past and Future" won second place in the International Association of Art Critics/USA's 2003-2004 AICA Awards, in the category of "best thematic museum show in New York City." The New York Times called the exhibition an "impressive survey" and "perspective-altering."
"Between Past and Future" was organized by the International Center of Photography, New York, and the David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, in collaboration with the Asia Society, New York, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. The exhibition is co-curated by Wu Hung, professor of art history at the University of Chicago and consulting curator at the Smart Museum, and Christopher Phillips, curator at the International Center of Photography. Rorschach helped organize the show while she was director of the Smart Museum; she joined the Nasher Museum as director in August 2004.
The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated 232-page catalogue published by the Smart Museum of Art/ICP/Steidl. It includes essays by curators Wu Hung and Phillips and artist biographies and interviews.
"Between Past and Future" will be accompanied by programs at the Nasher Museum that include a conversation with the two curators on Oct. 25, an artists panel discussion on Oct. 26, a performance by Chinese dancer Yin Mei on Nov. 11, a teacher workshop on Nov. 16, a lecture by critic and scholar Joan Kee on Nov. 30, Thursday night film series in the spring, a Family Day event on Feb. 4 and a Chinese New Year celebration on Feb. 18.
Two other exhibitions of Chinese photography will be on display at Duke this fall. The Center for Documentary Studies presents through Oct. 29 "Red Color News Soldier: Li Zhenshen," an exhibition of rare photographs documenting China's Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). "Urban Landscapes," an exhibition curated by Wu Hung and featuring six large photographs by Miao Xiaochun will be on view at Duke's John Hope Franklin Center for Interdisciplinary and International Studies from Oct. 27 through Feb. 23, 2007. Xiaochun's work is also represented in "Between Past and Future."
"Between Past and Future" and related programs are supported in part by The Smart Family Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, The Henry Luce Foundation, W.L.S. Spencer Foundation, Jeffrey A. and Marjorie G. Rosen, Marilynn Alsdorf, American Center Foundation, The Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, Fred and Stephanie Shuman, Artur Walther, The Blakemore Foundation, Helen and Sam Zell, Salvatore Ferragamo Italia S.P.A., Richard and Mary L. Gray, Rosenkranz Charitable Foundation, Illinois Humanities Council, Virginia W. Kettering Fund of The Dayton Foundation, The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation, Inc., Dorie Sternberg, Sarina Tang, Mrs. Catherine G. Curran, Joy of Giving Something, Inc., Jennifer McSweeney, Peter Reuss and Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn. The cultural media sponsor is Museums Magazines.
At the Nasher Museum, this exhibition and its related programs received support from the North Carolina Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of North Carolina and the National Endowment for the Arts; the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation; and Duke's Asian/Pacific Studies Institute, Department of Asian and African Languages and Literature and Film/Video/Digital Program.
The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University
The $24 million Nasher Museum of Art, designed by Rafael Viñoly, is located at 2001 Campus Drive at Anderson Street. The museum, which opened Oct. 2, 2005, also includes a café and gift store.
The museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday; and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. The museum is closed Mondays. Suggested admission is $5 adults, $4 for seniors and members of the Duke Alumni Association, $3 for non-Duke students with I.D. and free for children 16 and younger. Admission is free to Duke students, faculty and staff with a Duke I.D. Admission is also free to Durham residents who present a valid I.D. with proof of residency, courtesy of the Herald-Sun.
Nasher Museum exhibitions and programs are supported by the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, Mary D.B.T. Semans and the late James H. Semans, The Duke Endowment, the Nancy Hanks Endowment, the James Hustead Semans Memorial Fund, the Marilyn M. Arthur Fund, the Victor and Lenore Behar Endowment Fund, the North Carolina Arts Council, Duke's Office of the President and Office of the Provost, and the Friends of the Nasher Museum of Art.
Additional information is available at www.nasher.duke.edu.