A History of Chinese Photography Exhibition

The Paris-Beijing Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of its new exhibition space in Brussels, rue de l’Hôtel des Monnaies, on October 13, 2012.

Since 2005, Flore and Romain Degoul, the founders of the gallery, have dedicated it to the discovery and promotion of a new generation of Asian photographers, renowned artists and promising young talent, in order to create an aesthetic bridge between East and West. After Beijing and Paris, this new facility within the Saint-Gilles district of Brussels is by far their most ambitious project yet.

The choice to open a third gallery is related, among other things, to the discovery of the Hotel Winssinger built in 1897 by renowned architect Victor Horta. The recent restoration of this magnificent mansion preserves the elements of Art Nouveau architecture, while transforming it into a modern exhibition space provifind an exceptional setting for the artists.

Paris-Beijing Gallery - Hotel Winssinger, covers a total area of 800m2 divided into two luminous buildings. Separated from the house by a garden, the second space is in the form of a "white cube" of 300 m² and this versatile space is freely adapted to the needs of artists, providing the opportunity to exhibit very large sized photographs and artworks.

Originally chosen for its unusual design and historic architecture, it will also host performances, concerts, films, lectures and documentary records in order to attract a wide audience and make this facility a place of cultural encounters.

The Paris-Beijing Gallery will develop a rich program, offering exceptional exhibitions, inviting art lovers to discover new horizons. For this inaugural exhibition, Hotel Winssinger hosts a retrospective of Chinese contemporary photography. Thus, with this first group exhibition, the galery wants to put forward some choices but also provide a two way expérience between the exhibition and the viewer.

The exhibition "A History of Chinese Photography" will present thirty artists and trace, in a thematic, two decades of contemporary Chinese photography.

The experience of the alternative community of Beijing East Village (1994-1998), where artists have experimented with performance art away from the conservatism of Chinese cultural and political institutions, will be presented through the works of six major artists: Zhang Huan, Rong Rong, Li Wei, Zhu Ming, Hei Yue and Cang Xin.

The photographs of Chen Jiagang, Liu Zheng, Shao Yinong & Mu Chen, Wang Ningde, Zhang Dali, Sheng Qi and Jiang Pengyi confront the viewer with the legacy of tradition and historical memory, on the one hand, and on the other, the momentum and progression in the race for economic development of modern China, urbanized and open to world markets.

Through their staging, Ai Weiwei, the Gao Brothers, Liu Bolin, Jiang Zhi and Wang Qingsong grow these questions to a challenge and a harsh critic of the social consequences of globalization.

Finally, a new generation emerges. By exploiting the possibilities of new media and digital techniques, Yang Yongliang, Miao Xiaochun, Liu Ren and Yi Yang reinvent photographs that go beyond the limits of reality.

All these artists - photographers were born under Mao became adults in a changing China. They each provide an original point of view, with portraits of a fascinating land of many contradictions, both inward on itself and open to the outside world. They cast a critical and ironic perspective of current Chinese society through works which are very often provocative. The exhibition, consisting of approximately ninety works provides an overview of the exciting richness, originality and vitality of contemporary Chinese photography.