'Field of Vision : Beijing'

Beijing New Art Projects, situated in the fashionable 'Factory 798' Art District of Beijing, is the venue for the first Asian staging in the 'Field of Vision' global art project. 'Field of Vision: Beijing' presents a freeze-frame slice through the multiple perspectives of the many real and imagined contemporary Chinas. This immense wall-based installation is constructed from a skillfully edited assemblage of uncensored 'visual blogs' collected worldwide over the Internet following a highly successful call for submissions.'Field of Vision: Beijing' is the result of a year long collaboration between Chinese photography and performance artists the Gao Brothers and German artist Stephan Hausmeister, currently based in the UK. The Beijing field, like all other geographical instants in this ongoing global series, reflects a unique local situation at a fixed point in time, including its relationships to global issues and perceptions, both positive and dissonant. Invitations to produce further 'Fields' at key locations in Berlin, Sofia, Belfast and Bangkok have been received, with each planned as a new and unique unfolding in the map of contemporary perceptions, both global and local, that chart our steps into this uncertain century. The final artwork resulting from the 'Field of Vision' gallery event appears as an on-line version on the ever expanding project website, where visitors can navigate across the entire surface of the work and zoom in on the selected focus points to explore in detail the vast field of diverse viewpoints. All images are identified by the name and country of the contrib! utor, and many are accompanied by small personal statements that add to the depth and fascination of the artwork. Events: 'Field of Vision: Beijing' opens at 15:00 on Saturday 16 September, also celebrating the re-launch of the newly renovated Beijing New Art Project's gallery space. Construction and installation of 'Field of Vision : Beijing' takes place as a live event from 9 - 14 September with gallery visitors welcome to view the emerging 'field'. Progress updates and live-audience reporting will appear on the project website throughout. A symposium at 15:00 on Friday 15 September will include video interviews with Chinese artists, artist's talks, and an open discussion. These presentations are the result of an ongoing critical investigation into the current boom in Chinese artistic production, and in the position of Beijing specifically - including the rapid emergence of the 'Factory 798' Art District into the international limelight. Through a diversity of content and views the symposium will raise and challenge a number of critical perspectives on China and the West today, highlighting the need for critical debate supporting the 'internal' perceptions of Chinese cultural producers, alongside issues concerning 'Orientalism' and the internalization of Western views of self, Eastern 'Occidentalism', and state absolutism and the 'absolutism' of capitalist exchange-value. Opening: September 16 at 15:00 Symposium: September 15 from 15:00 – 18:00 http://www.field-of-vision.net/Beijing Beijing New Art Projects 798 Art District, 4 Jiuxianqiao Road Chaoyang District, Beijing 100015 China T / F China: +86 – [0]10 – 84566660 Curators: Gao Brothers, China; Marcel Hager, Germany; Stephan Hausmeister, Germany / UK Symposium host: Malcolm Ferris, University of Hertfordshire, UK Alison Dalwood - Cang Xin - Feifei Lu - Han Bing - Helen Marshall - Ji Shengli (Hei Yue) - Kazuaki Tanahashi - Lao Liu (Tian Yi Bin) - Liu Fei - Ma Han - Miao Xiaochun - Michael Wright - Paul Dacey - Sam Jury – QingQing - Ye Fu ...and another 160 artists from 23 different countries, submitting more than 900 images for the Beijing field. A first preview of all images submitted until August 15 is visible at www.field-of-vision.net/Beijing/Raw, images collected later than August 15 will be published by September 14.