During the month of May, 2009, Gigi Janchang  at her exhibition at fabs gallery space, Warsaw, Poland had  a live dialogue with cdf art club participants in a San Francisco. 

 
fabs gallery:  (fact-abstraction) –  a group of artists (an association) in Warsaw, Poland “who may employ various forms, from performance and installation to ephemeral action, going beyond the classifications of art, decided to constitute fabs – a site of action, work and exhibition.”  Website:  www.fabs.icmedia.pl.
 
About the exhibition in Warsaw, Poland
Inspired by the recent dramatic cultural and political changes in the world, a large scaled installation by Gigi Janchang will be exhibited at Artists Association Fabs Gallery Warsaw, Poland in May 2009.  Titled “Rubbered and Mirrored”.  It is a piece created specifically for and occupying the entire space of the gallery. In the installation, stretched chair, table, floor lamp and photograph are placed in two adjacent rooms, one upright, the other upside down.  Visitors are physically exposed to two opposite visual vantage points — which enables participants to be in sync, as well as out of sync, in relation to the space.

Topic:

The differences among American, European and Asian Contemporary Art – Globalization/ Dialogical Aesthetics

Participants:

Jiin-yun Liang, an artist
Gigi Janchang, a conceptual artist
Jamie Windborne, a conceptual artist
Sabina Sule, an artist
Dmitriy Kustov, an art patron

cdf-notes-on-march8-09

Topic:

It Is Not There / Post-Autonomy / Invisible Art

Participants:

Gigi Janchang, a conceptual artist
Taro Hattori, a conceptual artist
Sabina Sule, an artist
Dmitriy Kustov, an art patron

‘The world is full of objects, more or less interesting; I do not wish
to add any more.’ Douglas Huebler

notes on It Is Not There post-autonomy invisible art

Social Sculpture / Holiday Party

Participants:

Cong-yun Liu, a visual criticism student at CCA
Gigi Janchang, a conceptual artist
J. Evert Winburn, a conceptual artist
Michael Zheng, a conceptual artist
Mayumi Hamanaka, a conceptual artist
Taro Hattori, a conceptual artist
Sabina Sule, an artist
Dmitriy Kustov, an art patron

“Every human being is an artist, a freedom being, called to
participate in transforming and reshaping the conditions, thinking and
structures that shape and inform our lives” by Joseph Beuys

“Listening, speaking and thinking together are processes central to
the social sculpture ideas and proposals. The ‘permanent conference’
was a term Beuys used to describe the dialogue, exchanges and social
process work that supports the shaping of a humane, democratic and
viable future” by Social Sculpture Research Unit

notes-on-social-sculpture

Topic:
International Biennales
 
Participants:
Gigi Janchang, a conceptual artist residing in SF.
Jamie Windborne, a conceptual artist residing in SF.
Sabina Sule, an artist residing in SF Bay Area.
Dmitriy Kustov, an art patron residing in SF Bay Area.
 
The discussion defined and explored the dynamics behind international biennales. How well do such shows or festivals represent regional artists, and how well do such organizations guage current trends and progress in art? were among the questions we addressed. The CDF group enjoyed exploring certain artists’ interests with relational aethesetics, which was defined as a discursive context for socializing, that is, a type of art installation or experience that facilitates a social happening that addresses the very lack of social interactivity in our personal lives. This type of happening may simply involve arranging a table of food in an art gallery, giving people several motives to interact with one another through the eating and sharing of food and the discussing of artwork. So how is this different from Social Aesthetics? One art critic just might have an answer for us at http://www.aleksandramir.info/texts/larsen_afterall.html.

Marzarama (Testa di Menelao o Aiace)

 – more on the group’s discussion to be contributed by others soon …

The first CDF club event was held with great success, enjoyment and intimacy on August 17th, 2008. We are very pleased to have all art professionals from various fields to join our first dialogue.  Although we chose our first topic on Contemporary Art from China, it only serves as a stimulus to allow us to think more in depth on art that we created, reviewed, criticized, and even imagined.

I want to give great thanks to Gigi Janchang, who introduced us to an artist from China, Zhu Feng, to join our first dialogue. Zhu Feng is an artist based in Shanghai, currently taking part in an exhibition in Bates, Maine. More works of Zhu Feng’s are available at www.r44.fotoyard.com.

Zhu’s art is a continuous experiment on the medium of photography. For example, his series “Top” are selected building tops from pamphlets, flyers, and brochures — free and easily found printed materials. Zhu reproduced them, turning them into “The second hand reality”. His portrait series “Face”, challenged the tradition of photographic portraits and their function as identification. The artist applies a method of scientific positivism to create a face, a de-constructed face, congealed in a virtual space of optics and mathematics.

However, The revolution continues: “New Chinese Art”, held in London’s Saatchi Gallery brought us to a very different, almost panoramic world of contemporary art from China, from well-established artists to new graduates, from traditional paintings to new media works. Jiin-yun Liang and Zhu shared their personal experience with the attending artists and their works to all of us.

We are definitely expecting more art professionals to join our themeful dialogue and share their thoughts, creation and experiences. The next dialogue will have the theme of ‘Found Objects’.   

photos by Zhu Feng

– written by Liu Congyun/ edited by Jamie Windborne

CDF ART CLUB first event, August 17, 2008
Topic: Contemporary Chinese art.

Participants:
Jiin-yun Liang, an artist residing in SF Bay Area.
Cong-yun Liu, a visual criticism student at CCA, SF.
Feng Zhu, a photographer residing in Shanghai, China. 
Gigi Janchang, a conceptual artist residing in SF.
Jamie Windborne, a conceptual artist residing in SF.
Sabina Sule, an artist residing in SF Bay Area.
Dmitriy Kustov, art patron residing in SF Bay Area

The following web sites were referred to during the discussion:
http://www.bates.edu/x171230.xml#
(“Stairway to Heaven From Chinese Streets to Monuments and Skyscrapers”, Bates Museum of Art, Lewiston, Maine, USA, where Feng Zhu is taking part)
http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/new_art_from-china.htm  (“THE REVOLUTION CONTINUES: NEW CHINESE ART”, Saatchi, London, UK)

About the organization:

The goal of cdf is to foster contemporary dialogue in various spheres of human expression including art (visual art, music, movies, writing, poetry, etc.), science, business, and social relations.

About the discussion group:

The CDF ART CLUB is a discussion group where art professionals share their observations on contemporary art practices with their peers.