Guan Xiao at Bonner Kunstverein

Artist: Guan Xiao

Exhibition title: Products Farming

Venue: Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, Germany

Date: February 2 – April 28, 2019

Photography: Mareike Tocha / all images copyright and courtesy of the artist, Bonner Kunstverein, Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler and Antenna Space

Bonner Kunstverein announces a new exhibition by Guan Xiao.

Working primarily in sculpture and video, Guan Xiao quotes from a broad range of cultural history that includes references to ancient Eastern and Western traditions as well as contemporary popular culture. Previous works have variously adopted The Statue of Liberty, Michelangelo’s ‘David’(c.1501) or the large stone statues or ‘moai’ on Easter Island as subjects.

‘agriculture or farming is the most sci-fi of things to me… The more that we think about the future, and manufacture the so-called civilized world, the farther we distance ourselves from nature, the land and ourselves.’

-Guan Xiao, 2018

Products Farming will present new sculpture and video that collectively consider the state of contemporary production in relation to the natural world.

A series of 6 Root Sculptures refer to the ancient Chinese tradition of carving tree roots. Guan Xiao has described the twisted and gnarled roots as representing the ‘perfect object’, being both natural, shaped by their chemical composition and environmental conditions and a readymade. These anthropomorphous works employ such root forms to support other sculptural components including parasols, camera tripods, microphones, running shoes, electrical cable and coloured rope. In another group of works, entitled Things I Couldn’t Forget, objects that appear to be physical renderings of computer icons are threaded and bolted on top of one another to create totemic columns. A third body adopts the form of windows cluttered with photographs, executive toys and other objects. She has described her sculpture as ‘collage’ in which she tries ‘to connect two very different structures or materials’ in a way that ‘can break the fixed context of an object’.

The sculptural works will be exhibited together alongside a three-channel video work composed as a meditation on nostalgia and homesickness.

The exhibition is Guan Xiao’s first institutional solo exhibition in Germany. It is funded by Kunststiftung NRW with additional support from Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin and Antenna Space, Shanghai. The exhibition opening is sponsored by Reverchon.

Guan Xiao (b. 1983, Chongqing) studied film at the Communication University of China in Beijing. She has since held exhibitions at Kunsthalle Winterthur (2018); K11 Art Space, Shanghai; ICA, London; CAPC, Bordeaux and Jeu de Paume, Paris (all 2016). Her work has also been presented within significant group surveys including the 57^th Venice Biennale (2017); the 9^th Berlin Biennale (2016); 13^th Biennale de Lyon (2015) and the New Museum Triennial, New York (2015).

Guan Xiao, Products Farming, 2019, exhibition view, Bonner Kunstverein

Guan Xiao, A Sinking Blue Field, 2019, pigmented brass, dyeing fiberglass, colored rope, motorcycle kneecap, LED lamp, overall:140(h)cm, width variable

Guan Xiao, Chicken House, 2019, Pigmented brass, dyeing fiberglass, elm, universal screwdriver, overall:90(h)cm, shelf:75x90x15cm

Guan Xiao, The Documentary- Agriculture Story: Breeding, 2019, Printed Vinyl,C-stands, dyeing fiberglass, crystal resin, TV stands, speakers, backdrop: 250 x 450 x 180 cm; big lizard: 35 x 100 x 45 cm; TV stand: 216 x 117 cm; small lizard: 18 x 52 x 23 cm; resin piece:40×35 cm

Guan Xiao, Pond, 2019, Pigmented brass, elm, 3D print, mobile phone straps, overall:210x90cm, shelf:75x90x15cm

Guan Xiao, Slow Wave, 2019, Pigmented brass, dyeing fiberglass, carbon powder, colored rope, motorcycle kneecap, LED lamp, overall: 126 (h) cm, width variable

Guan Xiao, Tulip Model, 2019, Pigmented brass, dyeing fiberglass, colored rope, colored fiberglass, overall:100(h)cm,width variable

Guan Xiao, Things I couldn’t forget-Double Rings Belt Buckle, Milano, 2019, Dyeing fiberglass, spiral wire, stainless steel tube, KUPO 4-way ring lock, strap, lead block, 270(h)cm, dimensions variable

Guan Xiao, Things I couldn’t forget-Carved Stone Balls, Towie, Aberdeenshire, 2019, Dyeing fiberglass, spiral wire, stainless steel tube, KUPO 4-way ring lock, strap, lead block, 270(h)cm, dimensions variable

Guan Xiao, Things I couldn’t forget-Basalt Bead, Metz, 2019, Dyeing fiberglass, spiral wire, stainless steel tube, KUPO 4-way ring lock, strap, lead block, 270(h)cm, dimensions variable

Guan Xiao, Things I couldn’t forget-Slate Axe Head, Illinois, United States, 2019, Dyeing fiberglass, spiral wire, stainless steel tube, KUPO 4-way ring lock, strap, lead block, 270(h)cm, dimensions variable

Guan Xiao, Things I couldn’t forget-Nose Ornament, Quimbaya, Colombia, 2019, Dyeing fiberglass, spiral wire, stainless steel tube, KUPO 4-way ring lock, strap, lead block, 270(h)cm, dimensions variable

Guan Xiao, Things I couldn’t forget-Slate Axe Double Head, Illinois, United States, 2019, Dyeing fiberglass, spiral wire, stainless steel tube, KUPO 4-way ring lock, strap, lead block, 270(h)cm, dimensions variable

Guan Xiao, The Documentary- Agriculture Story:Gathering, 2019, Printed Vinyl, C-stands, dyeing fiberglass, crystal resin, universal screwdriver, stainless steel stands, headlights, snow board,speakers, backdrop: 250 x 450 x 180 cm; shelf: 240×150 cm; headlight: 35 cm (width); head: 70 x 110 x 65 cm; snow board: 163 cm; resin piece:40×37 cm

Guan Xiao, Window–Soft Cheek, 2019, Elm, acrylic coloring, colored rope, dyeing fiberglass, 3D print, perpetual motion toy, LED lamp, window frame: 200 x150 cm; window sill: 33 x180 x41 cm

Guan Xiao, Windows – Smoke in the Sunset, 2019, Elm, Acrylic coloring, colored rope, dyeing fiberglass, 3D print, perpetual motion toy, LED lamp, window frame: 200 x150 cm; window sill: 33 x180 x41 cm

Guan Xiao, Windows – Wheat Field, 2019, Elm, acrylic coloring, colored rope, dyeing fiberglass, 3D print, perpetual motion toy, LED lamp, window frame: 200 x150 cm; window sill: 33 x180 x41 cm