Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China

2006-10-26 until 2007-02-18

Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University

Durham, NC, USA United States of America

"Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China," which examines photo and video art from China produced since the mid-1990s, will be on view at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University from Oct. 26 through Feb. 18, 2007.The upcoming exhibition will conclude an international tour that has included showings in New York, Chicago, Seattle, London and Berlin. The Nasher Museum of Art is a major new arts center on Duke's campus that serves the university, Research Triangle area and surrounding region with exhibitions and educational programs.
The exhibition includes more than 100 works by 60 young artists and focuses on artists' responses to unprecedented economic, social and cultural changes that have swept through China. The show provides insight into the forces shaping modern Chinese culture. "Between Past and Future" is ambitious in scale and experimental in nature; it contributes to a new understanding of the different ways that younger Chinese artists have come to perceive themselves and their communities.
"After two years on tour, this groundbreaking exhibition is still the benchmark for contemporary Chinese art," said Kimerly Rorschach, the Mary D.B.T. and James H. Semans Director of the Nasher Museum. "This show was the catalyst that achieved wider acceptance for Chinese photography and video in the international art world, and I am tremendously excited about sharing it with our local audiences."
"Between Past and Future" won second place in the International Association of Art Critics/USA's 2003-2004 AICA Awards, in the category of "best thematic museum show in New York City." The New York Times called the exhibition an "impressive survey" and "perspective-altering," noting Zhang Dali and Liu Wei among the show's "bright artists."
"Between Past and Future" was organized by the International Center for Photography, New York, and the David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, in collaboration with the Asia Society, New York, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. The exhibition is co-curated by Wu Hung, professor of art history at the University of Chicago and consulting curator at the Smart Museum, and Christopher Phillips, curator at the International Center of Photography. Rorschach helped organize the show while she was director of the Smart Museum; she joined the Nasher Museum as director in August 2004.
"Between Past and Future" will be accompanied by programs at the Nasher Museum that include a conversation with curators Wu and Phillips on Oct. 25, an artists panel discussion on Oct. 26, and a film series in the spring featuring contemporary film from mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated 232-page catalogue published by the Smart Museum of Art/ICP/Steidl. It includes essays by curators Wu and Phillips and artist biographies and interviews.
"Between Past and Future" and related programs are supported in part by The Smart Family Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, The Henry Luce Foundation, W.L.S. Spencer Foundation, Jeffrey A. and Marjorie G. Rosen, Marilynn Alsdorf, American Center Foundation, The Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, Fred and Stephanie Shuman, Artur Walther, The Blakemore Foundation, Helen and Sam Zell, Salvatore Ferragamo Italia S.P.A., Richard and Mary L. Gray, Rosenkranz Charitable Foundation, Illinois Humanities Council, Virginia W. Kettering Fund of The Dayton Foundation, The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation, Inc., Dorie Sternberg, Sarina Tang, Mrs. Catherine G. Curran, Joy of Giving Something, Inc., Jennifer McSweeney and Peter Reuss and Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn. The cultural media sponsor is Museums Magazines.