Exploring repetition in Chinese video art through pleasure and laughter
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Published
2019-12-30
Maite Luengo Aguirre
Abstract
This paper critically analyses the perceptive and emotional side of repetition in contemporary Chinese video art. Nowadays, that post-editing technology has become affordable for most of the artists in China, they are still engaging with repetition as a creative strategy. Nevertheless, as researchers are mostly focusing on the repetitive and almost empirical nature of the content of the 90s, this renewed tendency seems to have gone rather unnoticed. Through the analysis of 4 video artworks. This essay aims to be an attempt to serve as a starting point for further study in the field. For this purpose, the paper investigates how Kan Xuan's and Cui Xiuwen's aesthetic strategies can be linked to pleasure, exploring ideas related to both Zen and voyeurism. Moreover, it also evaluates Zhang Peili's and Jiang Zhi'srepetitive procedures underlying a change of the original meaning that may result on a humorous reaction.
How to Cite
Luengo Aguirre, Maite. 2019. “Exploring Repetition in Chinese Video Art through Pleasure and Laughter”. AusArt 7 (2). https://doi.org/10.1387/ausart.20680.
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Keywords
CHINA, VIDEO ART, REPETITION, PLEASURE, HUMOUR
References
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Deleuze, Gilles & Paul Patton. 1994. "Chapter II: Repetition for itself". In Difference & repetition, 70-128. London: Bloomsbury
Eco, Umberto. 2005. "Innovation and repetition: Between modern and postmodern aesthetics". Dedalus 134(4): 191-207
García, Luis-Manuel. 2005. "On and on: Repetition as process and pleasure in electronic dance music". Society for Music Theory. http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.05.11.4/mto.05.11.4.garcia.html
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Hou, Hanru. 2009. "Objectivity, absurdity, and social critique: A conversation with Hou Hanru". Interviewed by Michael Zheng. Michaelzheng.org [Personal web page], 12 January. https://www.michaelzheng.org/portfolio/documents/interview%20with%20Hou%20Hanru%20Yishu.pdf
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Low, Joni. 2012. "Kan Xuan: Performing the imagination". Yishu Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, 11(3): 42-7. http://yishu-online.com/wp-content/uploads/mm-products/uploads/2012_v11_03_low_j_p042.pdf
Lu, Leiping. 2016. "Beyond objects: Kan Xuan's vídeo art work". In Kan Xuan, edited by Jonathan Watkins & Lu Leiping, 7-27. Birmingham UK: Ikon Gallery
Man, Eva Kit-Wa. 2015. "Contemporary philosophical aesthetics in China: The relation between subject and objects". In Issues of contemporary art and aesthetics in Chinese context. Heidelberg: Springer
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Peckham, Robin. 2011. "In Search of the alluring: The art of Zhang Peili". Leap, 28 Nov. http://www.leapleapleap.com/2011/11/in-search-of-the-alluring-the-art-of-zhang-peili/
Pi, Li. 2009. "Chinese contemporary vídeo art". Media arts: Practice, institutions and histories, 23 (3): 303-7
Ross, Christine. 2006. "The temporalities of vídeo: Extendedness revisited". Art Journal, 65(3): 82-99. http://layoftheland.net/archive/art3959c/readings/20068483.pdf
Schopenhauer, Arthur. (1818) 1969. The world as will and representation. Translated from the german by E.F.J. Payne. New York: Dover
Wang, Jiaxin. 2003. "From the 'Lady's' to 'Underground'". CuiXiuwen.com [Personal web page]. http://www.cuixiuwen.com/EnTextDetails.aspx?id=62&type=
Wu, Hu & Christopher Phillips. 2004. Between the past and the future: New photography and vídeo from China. London: Steidl
Wu, Hung. 2008. "Television in contemporary Chinese art". October Magazine 125: 65-90. https://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/wuhung/files/2012/12/television-in-contemporary-Chinese-Art.pdf
Wu, Hung. 2014. Contemporary Chinese art: A history 1970s-2000s. London: Thames & Hudson
Wu, Meichun & Zhijie Qiu. (2002) 2010. "The rise and development of video art and the maturity of new media art". In Contemporary Chinese art: Primary documents, edited by Wu Hung & Peggy Wang, 232-8. Durham NC: Duke University
Xuan, Kan. 2013. "Kan Xuan interview part 3: 'Looking for…'". Vimeo video, 8:35 min. https://vimeo.com/89586329
Cacchione, Orianna. 2018. "Related rhythms: Situating Zhang Peili and contemporary Chinese vídeo art in the globalizing world". Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art 5(1): 21-39
Cui, Xiuwen. (2013) 2018. "Cui Xiuwen". Interviewed by Monica Merlin. Tate Research Centre Asia, 20 March. https://www.tate.org.uk/research/research-centres/tate-research-centre-asia/women-artists-contemporary-china/cui-xiuwen
Deleuze, Gilles & Paul Patton. 1994. "Chapter II: Repetition for itself". In Difference & repetition, 70-128. London: Bloomsbury
Eco, Umberto. 2005. "Innovation and repetition: Between modern and postmodern aesthetics". Dedalus 134(4): 191-207
García, Luis-Manuel. 2005. "On and on: Repetition as process and pleasure in electronic dance music". Society for Music Theory. http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.05.11.4/mto.05.11.4.garcia.html
Geng, Yang. & Lingling Peng. 2016. "The time phenomenon of Chinese Zen and vídeo art in China: 1988-1998". Cultura: International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology 13(2): 103-24
Hill, Katie. 2016. "Kan Xuan: between thinking and feeling". COBO Social, August 3. https://www.cobosocial.com/dossiers/kan-xuan-between-thinking-and-feeling/
Ho, Louis. 2013. "Yue Minjun: Iconographies of repetition". Modern Chinese Literature and Culture 25(2): 219-48. https://www.academia.edu/7134981/_Yue_Minjun_Iconographies_of_Repetition_Modern_Chinese_Language_and_Culture
Hou, Hanru. 2009. "Objectivity, absurdity, and social critique: A conversation with Hou Hanru". Interviewed by Michael Zheng. Michaelzheng.org [Personal web page], 12 January. https://www.michaelzheng.org/portfolio/documents/interview%20with%20Hou%20Hanru%20Yishu.pdf
Jiang, Jiehong. 2010. Red: the Chinese Cultural Revolution. London: Jonathan Cape
Karetzky, Patricia Eichenbaum. 2016. Cui Xiuwen. Yishu Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, 15 (5): 36-47
Klein, Sheri. 2007. Art and laughter. London: I. B. Tauris
Low, Joni. 2012. "Kan Xuan: Performing the imagination". Yishu Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, 11(3): 42-7. http://yishu-online.com/wp-content/uploads/mm-products/uploads/2012_v11_03_low_j_p042.pdf
Lu, Leiping. 2016. "Beyond objects: Kan Xuan's vídeo art work". In Kan Xuan, edited by Jonathan Watkins & Lu Leiping, 7-27. Birmingham UK: Ikon Gallery
Man, Eva Kit-Wa. 2015. "Contemporary philosophical aesthetics in China: The relation between subject and objects". In Issues of contemporary art and aesthetics in Chinese context. Heidelberg: Springer
Margulis, Elizabeth Hellmuth. 2014. On repeat: How music plays the mind. Oxford UK: Oxford University
May, Ron. 1997. "Voyeurism". Encyclopedia of Feminist literary theory, edited by Elizabeth Kowaleski-Wallace, 590-1. London: Routledge
Peckham, Robin. 2011. "In Search of the alluring: The art of Zhang Peili". Leap, 28 Nov. http://www.leapleapleap.com/2011/11/in-search-of-the-alluring-the-art-of-zhang-peili/
Pi, Li. 2009. "Chinese contemporary vídeo art". Media arts: Practice, institutions and histories, 23 (3): 303-7
Ross, Christine. 2006. "The temporalities of vídeo: Extendedness revisited". Art Journal, 65(3): 82-99. http://layoftheland.net/archive/art3959c/readings/20068483.pdf
Schopenhauer, Arthur. (1818) 1969. The world as will and representation. Translated from the german by E.F.J. Payne. New York: Dover
Wang, Jiaxin. 2003. "From the 'Lady's' to 'Underground'". CuiXiuwen.com [Personal web page]. http://www.cuixiuwen.com/EnTextDetails.aspx?id=62&type=
Wu, Hu & Christopher Phillips. 2004. Between the past and the future: New photography and vídeo from China. London: Steidl
Wu, Hung. 2008. "Television in contemporary Chinese art". October Magazine 125: 65-90. https://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/wuhung/files/2012/12/television-in-contemporary-Chinese-Art.pdf
Wu, Hung. 2014. Contemporary Chinese art: A history 1970s-2000s. London: Thames & Hudson
Wu, Meichun & Zhijie Qiu. (2002) 2010. "The rise and development of video art and the maturity of new media art". In Contemporary Chinese art: Primary documents, edited by Wu Hung & Peggy Wang, 232-8. Durham NC: Duke University
Xuan, Kan. 2013. "Kan Xuan interview part 3: 'Looking for…'". Vimeo video, 8:35 min. https://vimeo.com/89586329
Section
Open AusArt
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