Xu Zhen Sets Up A Company
Xu Zhen, one of China’s most famous critical artists of the last few years, has decided to merge his own practice with that of the artistic production company ‘MadeIn’. At the invitation of METROPOLIS M, Huang Du flew to Shanghai to talk with Xu Zhen about his motives.The whole thing has the look of a group show, which it indeed is, according to Xu Zhen, the Chinese artist behind it. The travelling exhibition Seeing One’s Own Eyes is the first to be produced by the MadeIn company, a collective founded by the artist that wants to become a true multinational. MadeIn is meant to grow into a brand that no longer can be associated with a personal identify, or even a national one. It is a world player, as was immediately announced in this first exhibition, which since September 2009 has been on a world tour that is bringing it to the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham this summer. The presentation focuses on the Middle East, portrayed by means of a large billiard table as a playing field of the superpowers. Lying here and there on the green cloth are small heaps of rubble, representing destroyed villages in Iraq and Palestine. The billiard balls roll over them. In the surrounding rooms, a large collection of highly diverse works expresses the Middle East conflict, such as a perfect circle formed by the tips of combat boots that soldiers have ‘left behind’; a wall-to-wall carpet of debris that literally breathes; upside-down glasses with an orange luminescence in them suggesting a burning city. Among the many objects on the walls are paintings that are a cross between Arab calligraphy and the drip paintings of Jackson Pollock.
To come straight to the point, why make an exhibition about the Middle East?
‘The “Middle East” is a label that refers to a kind of exotic identity. Until recently, China was always seen as something exotic. Now I want to reverse the roles and make other people exotic; that way you change your own role as an artist at the same time. I have often wondered whether Chinese art could not be presented in a different context, apart from the label of “Chinese” that is usually stuck upon it. When we show something that gives no indication of nationality, how do people look at it? I believe that this is what we should be seeking now, the time is ripe for it. For me, an exhibition about the Middle East is a game. It strikes back at the present art system.’
You recently gave up your identity as an artist and founded a company called ‘MadeIn’. Why did you decide to do this?
‘Running a company gives more possibilities than an individual artist’s practice. You can develop activities such as making something in a collective process, or you can make something “on order”. For an international name, we thought up “MadeIn”, which means “to be made in some place”, such as “Made in China”. It took us a lot of time to find the right Chinese name to go with it. We finally chose ‘没顶 Mei Ding’, which means “without an end, without limits”, thus symbolizing the continuous development of the company.’
Where does this idea come from?
‘I have been shifting amongst different positions and identities in my art for a long time now. What’s more, I was becoming rather bored by my own work. At the beginning of 2009, I thought for the first time about giving up my personal identity in order to take a distance from the ordinary artistic approaches of the past. I contemplated a different creative system, more multifunctional, in which artistic creation, art projects and curatorial work could be brought together. After half a year, I decided that giving up my own identity would be the best way to do this. As the company’s manager, curator and art director, I will contribute to all of the artworks made under its name.’
Must the individual artists who work with you also give up their personal identity?
‘No one loses his or her identity. Moreover, no one can. We are just running the company as if it were a brand. For instance, when a brand in the design world wants to buy another designer’s work, it will inevitably face the issue of intellectual property, which is dealt with in a businesslike manner. Within the art world, such copyright issues are often only a matter of discussing an artist’s identity and the originality of his or her artwork. For us in MadeIn, the core of our ethos is what is produced. We envision specific types of cooperation according to the different partners we deal with. We hope that our brand will produce something different than the art pieces of an individual artist.’
What’s actually the most important idea behind MadeIn? Are you questioning the position of contemporary Chinese art? The system of production and distribution?
‘As the boss and art director of the company, I think the most important thing is to stand out, and in doing that I am examining the art system. Friends of mine recently compared my initiative to Andy Warhol’s Factory or Takashi Murakami’s company. But I think there’s a big difference. We might devote ourselves to selling a brand, but the way we are doing it differs from those earlier examples. We will manifest ourselves through very dissimilar projects and will have to keep on developing from project to project.’
Getting back to the production and distribution of art, is there a problem with the present system?
‘I was discussing this very issue with friends not long ago. I asked them if people today are interested in art, or in the art world itself. I am sure many people do not have a clear answer to that question because they think that the one is inseparably connected with the other. What I therefore want to do as a manager and art director is to create an environment in which art is presented. Many people in the art world, myself included, have been very involved with art history, but the context of a company is different. The logic of a company is simply that “the company is for the brand, and the brand is for everyone”. A company operates more efficiently and has more possibilities to react to market requests.’
How do you keep a balance between the experimental and commercial aspects of art?
‘That’s very easy, because I put together separate assembly lines for the company. Even something very academic can be produced in an assembly line. All series of works that our company produces are expected to serve a market of their own, and are auctioned off in the end. If you do that as an individual artist, you don’t take a position, but for a company it’s about seeking to match the aesthetics of the bourgeoisie, which in itself can be seen as a concept.’
On what basis do you select artists to work with?
‘We make a request of the artists and they start working on that. It makes no difference whether it is Yang Fudong’s work or Liu Wei’s work, or anyone else’s. We put the emphasis on a cooperative relationship. This may be a new form of working together for the artists, but I think that they will be very happy with it. We also take over artists’ projects, for which I pay the rights, after which we will adapt them if necessary. I see that as a new and very rich way of collaborating.’
What you expect from this?
‘We only started three months ago, but I think that it is going very well, better than when I was still operating as an individual artist. We are building up something independently, instead of only serving the existing art system as individuals. I expect to be busy with this for at least four or five years.’
Huang DuHuang Du
MadeInSeeing One’s Own EyesMadeInSeeing One’s Own Eyes
Ikon Gallery, BirminghamIkon Gallery, Birmingham
26 May – 11 July 201026 May – 11 July 2010
Huang Du
