Wang Qingsong

Né en 1966 dans la province chinoise de Hubei, Wang Qingsong est diplômé de l’Académie des Beaux-Arts de Chengdu dans le Sichuan. Il vit et travaille à Pékin depuis 1993. A partir de 1990, il se consacre plus spécifiquement à la photographie. Wang Qingsong s’y met en scène à travers divers scénarios. Ses installations et performances représentent, avec une perspective assez radicale, les bouleversements opérant sur la société chinoise. Par des détournements aussi inventifs qu’irrévérencieux de thèmes et d’oeuvres classiques de Chine et d’Occident, il évoque la modernisation accélérée de son pays et son basculement dans une consommation à outrance. Il dénonce, de manière aussi inquiétante que loufoque, une culture de masse incontrôlable, écrasante et totalitaire, dans le déluge d’images de laquelle les hommes et leurs repères sont engloutis.

COMMENTAIRE

La photo Follow Me (2003) s’inspire d’une célèbre émission télévisée d’enseignement de l’anglais, que les gens de sa génération regardaient autrefois pour apprendre l’anglais et découvrir le monde occidental ; Wang Qingsong y présente les changements intervenus depuis vingt ans, dans une installation saturée de messages publicitaires. Néanmoins, l’artiste ne désespère pas. Après la libéralisation de l’économie en Chine, le monde a aussi commencé à s’intéresser à ce pays, à vouloir en comprendre la langue et la culture. « Mon rêve est celui d’une Chine tournée vers le monde et, en même temps, d’un monde tourné vers la Chine ». C’est peut-être dans cet échange et cette reconnaissance réciproque des cultures que se trouvent ou se retrouvent les repères humains nécessaires à toute vie sociale.

La photo « Night revel of Lao Li » (2000), reprend le célèbre rouleau de la chine ancienne 3night revel of Han Xizai » (12ème siècle). L’empereur Song de l’époque craignait que son ministre ne complote contre lui et avait rendu son « rapport » sous la forme d’une peinture en cinq scènes, montrant la vie de débauche du ministre. Dans la photo contemporaine, le personnage du ministre est joué par Li Xianting, l’un des plus grands critiques d’art en Chine, Wang Qingsong, apparait cinq fois et agit comme un révélateur » de la vulgarité et de l’hypocrisie qui règne dans la Chine d’aujourd’hui.

La photo « Another Battle » fait référence à un épisode de la deuxième guerre mondiale, les « marines » américaines à ‘assaut de mont Suribachi à Iwo jima en 1945. La photo contemporaine remplace le drapeau US, icône de l’Americain Dream, par le logo de Mac Donald, bannière kitsch de l’impérialisme américain et irrémédiable signe d’une dégradation des mythes dans notre société de consommation.

EXPOSITIONS PERSONNELLES

2020
Wang Qingsong: On the Hopeful Field, Tang Contemporary, Beijing, China.

2019
Wang Qingsong/Detroit/Beijing, Irving Stenn Gallery, UMMA, USA.
Wang Qingsong: The Glorious Life, Museum of Photography Seoul, Korea.
Alternative Reality, United Art Museum, Wuhan, China.

2017-2018
The Great Wall?, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig, Germany.

2016
One World, One Dream: Works of Wang Qingsong, Dirimart Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey.

2015
Wang Qingsong – Everything is Possible, Gallery Of Photography, Dublin, Ireland.
Wang Qingsong, Beetles & Huxley Gallery, London, UK.

2014
Follow You – Wang Qingsong, Koege Museum, Denmark
One World, One Dream, White Box Art Center, Beijng, China
Asian Contemporary Photography, Wang Qingsong and Jung Yeondoo, Daegu Art Museum, Korea
AD-Infinitum, Frost Art Museum, Florida, U.S.A.

2012
Wang Qingsong, Gallery 100, Taipei, Taiwan
The History of Monuments, Taipei MOCA plaza, Taiwan

2011
When the World Collides, International Center of Photography, New York, U.S.A
Happy New Year, Tang Contemporary, Beijing, China
Glorious Life – Wang Qingsong Photo Works 1997-2010, Lucca Photo Festival, Villa Bottini, Lucca, Italy

2010
Wang Qingsong: Follow Me, Centro Andaluz de la Fotografia, Almeria, Spain
Wang Qingsong – Fotografie, Stadtmuseum, Siegburg, Germany
Wang Qingsong: Three Video Projects, Pékin Fine Arts, Beijing, China

2009
Wang Qingsong, 2009 Hammer Project, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, U.S.A

2008
Caution, PKM Gallery, Beijing, China
Phantom China, Kunsthalle Nexus, Saalfelden, Austria
Wang Qingsong: Temporary Ward, Baltic Contemporary Art Center, Gateshead, UK
Panic, Fear and Violence, Marella Gallery, Beijing, China
Unparalleled Madness, Madhouse Contemporary, Hong Kong, China

2007
China: Past, Present & Future, MEWO Kunsthalle, Memmingen, Germany
Thinker: Wang Qingsong, Chinablue Gallery, Beijing, China
Wang Qingsong, PKM Gallery, Seoul, Korea
Wang Qingsong: Between Nostalgia and Cynicism, Espaço Cultural Contemporâneo (ECCO), Brasilia, Brazil

2006
Wang Qingsong, Albion Gallery, London, U.K

2005
Wang Qingsong in Arras, City Hall, Art Academy and Public Library, Arras, France

2004
Wang Qingsong – Romantique, Salon 94, New York City, USA
Wang Qingsong – Romantique, Courtyard Gallery, Beijing, China (catalogue)

2003-2004
Wang Qingsong: Present-day Epics, Saidye Bronfman Contemporary Art Center, Montreal, traveling to Cambridge Galleries, Ontario, South Alberta Art Gallery, Canada

2002
Golden Future, Galerie LOFT, Paris, France
Wang Qingsong Photographic Works Exhibition, Marella Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy
Wang Qingsong Photography, Foundation Oriente, Macao, China (catalogue)

2000
Glorious Life— The Photographs of Wang Qingsong. Wan Fung Art Gallery, Beijing, China

1997
Expositions des peintures de Wang Qinsong, Chinese Contemporary, Londres, UK

EXPOSITIONS DE GROUPE (Sélection)

2021

Voyages dans le temps, Galerie Loft, Paris, France

2020
Civilization The Way We Live Now, (travelling show), Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, New Zealand.

2019
Civilization The Way We Live Now, (travelling show) Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China.
The ways of Seeing, Chao Art Center, Beijing, China.
180 Years of Photography in China, Yinchuan Museum of Contemporary Art, China.
Turning Points Contemporary Photography from China, National Gallery of Victoria, Australia.

2018
Dangerous Liaisons Revisited: Art and Music Inspired by the Chinese Tang Court, Worcester Art Museum, the U.S.
Motherland in Art, MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow, Poland.
Contemporary Chaos, Vestfossen Kunst Laboratorium, Norway.
Civilization The Way We Live Now, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea.
New Networks-Contemporary Chinese Art, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, New Zealand.
Time Frames: Contemporary East-Asian Photography, Baltimore Museum of Art, USA.

2017
Wide Margins: Chinese Contemporary Photography and Video, Dimona Municipal Art Gallery, travelling to other museums in Israel
Behold Land, People! Contemporary Photography from China：Ramat-Hasharon Geological Museum, Israel
What a Journey- 30 years Commemorating the National Photography Open Contest, Oaktree Photography Gallery, Xi’An, China
Working on History: Contemporary Chinese Photography and the Cultural Revolution, Museum fur Fotografie, Berlin, Germany
The 3Rd Ningxia Biennale, Inner Mongolia Museum of Fine Arts, China.(Sensitive work asked to withdraw)

2016
China Whispers, Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland
12th edition of Dakar Biennale, IFAN African Art Museum
Silk Road of the Images：Tianshui Photography Biennale, Gansu Province, China
“ID”, Seoul Lunar Photo Festival, National Palace Museum of Korea in Gyeongbokgung Palace
Historicode – Scarity and Supply, the 3rd edition of Nanjing International Art Exhibition, Art 100 Lake Museum, Nanjing, China

2015
Sudden Enlightening – Comparative Research Exhibition on Sino-German Conceptual Art, Harmony Museum, Wuhan, China
Fairy Tales, video festival with public delivery, Taipei Moca
Fusion: Chinese Modern and Contemporary Art since 1930s, Wan Lin Museum, Wuhan, Hubei, China
Works in Progress//Photography in China 2015, Folkswang Museum, Essen, Germany
Unveiling Fundamentals in Contemporary Art through Asia, OHD museum, Indonesia
Worlds in Contradiction – Areas of Globalization, Galerie im TaxiPalais, Austria
China 8, Folkswang Museum, Essen, Germany
Interlocking Strategems, Xi’An Art Museum
Dali International Photography Festival, Yun’Nan Confucius Temple, China
From Grains to Pixels – Contemporary Photography from China, Shanghai Center of Photography, China
Unfamiliar Asia: 2nd edition of Beijing International Photography Biennale, CAFA Art Museum
Seeing the Sky from a Fabricated Scenario — 1st Xi’An Photography & Video Literature Art Exhibition, Xi’An Art Museum, China
Re-Imaging – Experimental Field of the Light, Hubei Art Museum, China

2014
Liquid Times, Seoul Art Museum, Korea
China Arte Brasil, Sao Paolo OCA Exhibition Center, Brazil
China-Portugal Contemporary Art Exhibition, Beijing Millennium Art Museum, China
Artists from Binghe Compound Apartments, Songzhuang Art Museum, China
Advance through Retreat, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China
Origins, Memories and Parodies, Daegu Photo Biennale, Korea
Art Festival Watoum Collected Stories #6, About small happiness in times of Abundance, Belgium
Ostrale ’14, Dresden, Germany
Seeing the Unseen: Photography and Video Art in China Now, The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art, State Art Museum of Florida, USA
12th China Art Works Experimental Art Exhibition, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
Contemporary Photography in China from 2009-2014, Minsheng Modern Art Museum, Shanghai, China
3rd Wuhan Art Literatures Exhibition, Hubei Art Museum, China

2013
Transfiguration, Venice Biennale, China
Mum! Am I Barbarian? Istanbul Biennial, Turkey
Cold View-Wang Qingsong, Wang Zhiping, Lu Di and Pan Yue, Guangdong Art Museum, China
Aura and Post-Aura, First Beijing International Photography Biennial, the Altar of Millennium in China, Beijing, China
Spectacle Reconstruction –Chinese Contemporary Art, MODEM Centre for Modern and Contemporary Art, Hungry

2012
Perspectives 180: New Video From China, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH), Houston, USA
2nd Western China International Art Biennale, Yinchuan Art Center, Ningxia, China
3rd Singapore International Photo Festival, Singapore Management University, Singapore
Go Figure ! Contemporary Chinese Portraiture, National Portrait Gallery, Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Canberra, Sydney, Australia
CAPITAL – Merchants in Venice and Amsterdam, Swiss National Museum, Zurich, Switzerland
Beyond the Wall, Jeonju Photo Festival, Korea
The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: Rebirth and Apocalypse in Contemporary Art – First Kyiv International Contemporary Art Biennale, Kyiv, Ukraine

2011
Monanism, Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania, Australia
Living Frontiers of Architecture III and IV, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen, Denmark
42nd Recontres de la Photographie, Arles, France
Surreal versus Surrealism in Contemporary art, Institut Valencia d’Arte Moderna (IVAM), Spain
Towards the Social Landscape, Lianzhou Photo Festival, Guangdong Province, China

2010
The Beauty of Distance: Songs of Survival at a Precarious Age, 17th Biennale of Sydney, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia
Never Equal Distance to the Moon: Power, Politics, and the Environment, Faurschou Copenhagen, Denmark
Never Equal Distance To The Moon, Stiftelsen 3,14, Bergen, Norway
Intimacy! Baden in der Kunst, Kunstmuseum Ahlen, Ahlen, Germany
Daegu Photo Biennale, Daegu, Korea
International Contemporary Art Biennale in China West, Ningxia Contemporary Art Museum, Ningxia, China
Great Performances, Pace Beijing, Beijing, China
History Lessons, Pekin Fine Arts, Beijing, China
Writing: Nanjing Biennale, Nanjing, China
Hereford Photography Festival, Trove Newhall Square, Birmingham, U.K.
Zeitgenössische chinesische Fotografie, Oldenburger Kunstverein, Germany
A Decade Long Exposure: History without Memories, the Museum of Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China
21st Century: Art in the First Decade, Queensland Art Gallery/ Gallery of Modern Art, Australia
Photography from the New China, Getty Museum, Los Angeles, USA

2009
Action – Camera: Beijing Performance Photography, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
Three Decades: The Contemporary Chinese Collection, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia
China: Contemporary Art, 10th Havana Biennial, Centro Hispanoamericano de Cultura, Havana, Cuba
The 3rd Guangzhou International Photo Biennale, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
Christian Dior: 60 Years of Photography, Moscow museum of modern art – MMOMA, Moscow
The Simple Art of Parody, Taipei MOCA, Taiwan

Gextophoto 2009 International Photography Festival, Gexto, Spain
5a Bienal VentoSul – o mundo todo aqui, vai mexer com voce, Bienal VentoSul, Curitiba, Brazil
The Dark Science of Five Continents, Gallery BMB, Mumbai, India
Experimental Cases of Contemporary Chinese Art, the Museum of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China
Mise-en-Scene, Officina, Beijing, China

2008
CINA XXI Secolo: Arte fra Identita’ e Trasformazione, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy
Fabricating Images from History, Chinablue Gallery, Beijing, China
Body Language: Contemporary Chinese Photography, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
55 Days in Valencia: Chinese Art Meeting, Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno (IVAM), Valencia, Spain
China Gold, L’Art Contemporain Chinois, Musee Maillol, Paris, France
Adidas Sport in Art Exhibition, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
Go Game, Beijing!, German Embassy, Beijing, China
Translocalmotion: 7th Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China, Busan, Korea
21: Selections of Contemporary Art at the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA
Christian Dior and Chinese Artists, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
China: Construção – Desconstrução, Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand MASP, São Paulo, Brazil
Variable Capital, Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool, UK

2007
Zhu Yi! Chinese Contemporary Photography, Centro-Museo Vasco de Arte Contemporaneo (ARTIUM), Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
La invención del presente, Casa Asia, Madrid, Madrid
Timer – Intimita/Intimacy, Triennale di Milano, Milan, Italy
Thermocline of Art, New Asian Waves, ZKM Museum of Contemporary Art, Karlsruhe, Germany
Timeline: Human Speed & Technology Speed, Korea Center, Beijing, China
Beyond Icons: Chinese Contemporary Art, Miami Design District, Miami, USA
Mirror Image of Diversity: Six Person Exhibition of Contemporary Art, Beijing Tokyo Art Projects, Beijing, China

2006
The Sixth International Photography Month in Moscow: Photobiennale 2006 – Moscow House of Photography, Moscow, Russia
Bucharest Biennale 2 – Bucharest Biennale for Contemporary Art, Bucharest, Romania
Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
Public Image, Public Project in the City of Liege, Belgium
Acting the Part: Photography as Theatre, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada; Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
The 37th Rencontres d’Arles Photographie, Arles, France
Con Cities: The 10th International Venice Architecture Exhibition, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
News, Beijing Commune, Beijing, China
Made in China, The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
Ecotopia: The Second ICP Triennial of Photography and Video, International Center of Photography, New York, USA
Intersections: Shifting Identity in Contemporary Art, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Wisconsin, USA
Why Pictures Now, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig – MUMOK , Vienna, Italy

2005
Re-viewing the City: the First Guangdong International Photo Biennale, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
Over One Billion Served, Singapore Civilizations Museum, Singapore
1st Biennale Internationale d’Art Contemporain Chinois de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
Follow Me! Chinese Art at the Threshold of the Millennium, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China, Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A), London, England
Die Chinesen: Contemporary Photography and Video from China, Museum Het Kruithuis, Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands
Beyond Delirious: Architecture in Selected Photographs form the Ella Fontanals- Cisneros Collection, Miami, USA
Baroque and Neo Baroque: The Hell of Beauty, Domus Artium 2002, Salamanca, Spain
Always to the Front: Chinese Contemporary Art, Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan
Grounding Reality: Chinese Contemporary Art, Seoul Art Center, Seoul, Korea

2004
Over One Billion Served, Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, USA
Photosynkyria 2004: Photography as Narrative Art, Photography Museum of Thessaloniki, Greece
Grotesque Reality – National Museum of Contemporary Art Korea, Gwacheon
Officina Asia (Asian Workshop), Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Bologna, Italy
Image of History, Photo España, Madrid, Spain
Monument Recall: Public Memory and Public Spaces, SF Camerawork, San Francisco, CA, USA
Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China, Asia Society Museum and the International Center of Photography, New York, USA
Die: Contemporary Photography and Video from China, Wolfsburg Museum, Wolfsburg, Germany
Exposure, Hereford Photo Festival, Hereford, U.K.
Spellbound Aura – MOCA Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan
Past in Reverse: Contemporary Art of East Asia, San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, USA

2003
Prague Biennale 1, Prague, Czech Republic
Fashion and Style, Moscow House of Photography, Moscow, Russia
A Strange Heaven: Contemporary Chinese Photography, Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, Czech Republic
Global Detail – Noorderlicht Photo Festival, Groningen, the Netherlands

2002
Run, Jump, Climb, Walk, Yuanyang Art Center, Beijing, China
Money and Value: The Last Taboo, Exhibition in the Framework of Expo 02, Biel, Switzerland
Falsche Emotionen, Kunstbunker Tumulka, Munich, Germany
Special Projects, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, U.S.A.
Chinese Modernity, Museum of the Foundation Armando Alvares Penteado (FAAP), São Paulo, Brazil
The 2nd Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao, China
Paris-Pekin, Espace Cardin, Paris, France
Chinart: Contemporary Art from China, Museum Küppersmühle, Duisburg, Germany (touring to Rome, Budapest, Poland, Palma de Mallorca)

2001
Constructed Reality: Beijing / Hong Kong Conceptual Photography, Hong Kong Arts Center, Hong Kong, China
Next Generation: Art Contemporain d’Asie, Passage de Retz, Paris, France
Promenade in Asia: CUTE, Art Tower Mito, Tokyo, Japan
Chinese Album, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Nice, France
Cross Pressures, Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki, Finland
Asian Contemporary Art Exhibition, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China

2000
Man and Space: 3rd Gwangju Biennale 2000, Gwangju, Korea
Big Torino 2000: Biennale Arte Emergente, Turin, Italy
China Avant-Garde Artists Documents, Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan
Unusual & Usual, Yuangong Art Museum, Shanghai, China

1999
Ouh La La, Kitsch!, TEDA Contemporary Art Museum, Tianjin, China
Synergi: Fourteen Danish and Foreign Artists Exhibition, Udviklings Center Odsherred, Copenhagen, Denmark

1998
Site of Desire: Taipei Biennial, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

1996
China ! , Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn, Germany
Gaudy Life, Wan Fung Art Gallery, Beijing, China

AWARDS

2006
Outreach Award from Renocontres de le Photographie, Arles, France

COLLECTIONS
Asia Society, New York, USA
San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, USA
Guangdong Art Museum, Guangzhou, China
White Rabbit Collection, Sydney, Australia
Asia Society, New York, USA
San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, USA
Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland, Australia
Denver Art Museum, USA
Institut Valencia d’Art Modern (IVAM), Valencia, Spain
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
Artium, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
J. Paul Getty Museum, USA
National Gallery of Victoria, Australia
Hammer Museum, U.S.A.
San Diego Museum of Art, U.S.A.
Billstone Foundation, Spain
Aspen Art Museum, U.S.A.
MUMOK, Austria
New Orleans Museum of Art, U.S.A.
Philadelphia Museum of Art, U.S.A.
Cisneros Foundation, Miami, U.S.A.
Mori Art Museum, Japan
Smart Museum of University of Chicago.U.S.A.
Brooklyn Museum. U.S.A.
Williams College of Art, U.S.A.
The Moscow House of Photography, Russia
Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP), Paris, France
National Art Museum of Brazil, Brazil
Oriente Foundacion, Portugal
Art Tower Mito: Contemporary Art Museum, Japan
JGS Foundation, New York, U.S.A.
Queensland Art Gallery, Australia
The International Center of Photography, New York, U.S.A.