Contemporary Chinese Art- another kind of view
DSL Collection
Chien man
More information on the works
More information on the works
?The first sequence of this work introduces us to a half-dog half-man creature: Chienman.
When the viewer chooses to skim over certain parts of Chienman?s body on the touch screen, Chienman doubles and begins to fight ferociously against himself.
13 postures are presented; all of them consisting of hand-to-hand combat between two identical shadows belonging to Chienman?s doubled body.
The viewer can indefinitely manoeuver, play, and bounce from one assault to another, from one ?evil? to another
One particularly disturbing installation of Mr. Du's, called "Chienman," or dog-man, is now on display at the Three on the Bund gallery as part of Shanghai's biennale. The video screen lies dormant until the viewer presses a pedal. Then, the humanoid figures begin snarling at each other like dogs. Encouraged thus to participate, I could not help thinking that the word "Chienman" was not merely an obvious play on the word Chinaman. It also sounded to an outsider's ears a little like the word Tiananmen.?
By ELEANOR RANDOLPH The New York Times November 7, 2004
interview of Du
"'At first I was tired of the old mediums: photography, installation, mediums that are too old. At the same time, there were lots of video artists but I found nothing that interested me, that I could correspond with. And then the digital arrived: finally a contemporary language, finally a tool with which to evoke the actual reality, the contemporary world.'
-Du Zhenjun
Bruno Lathuliere??How did you enter the world of digital art?
Du Zhenjun: I underwent an art experience spanning from the Middle Ages to the end of the 19th century with the impressionists, while of course passing by abstract art of the 60s and photography and installations of the 80s to come to the irreversible conclusion: all these artistic forms are languages that are pass?
I was teaching traditional Chinese painting at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, thus I originally had a very classical training. After that I was very much engaged in plastic art: first with abstract paintings, then installations and photography in the 80s. It took me almost twenty years, with a strong classical education and a practice oftraditional paintings with techniques that date back to the Renaissance, before I took up digital art. Twelve years ago when I arrived in France, I was still working a lot with the medium of painting, and it was equally that time that I started working with photography And the digital media.
It was only in 1997 that I acquired my first computer. A Pentium, 176 MGH, a baby today's terms... at this period, I suddenly felt that a new language would finally emerge. Another interesting thing happened during this time: I felt it was the madness that characterizes this universe, the addiction that is shared by the group of people who have the equipment. The people of this era are in front of the screen all the time and no longer leave the computer: it's like the arrival of the television as a media: suddenly people modify their behaviour and no longer go out of the house or have discussions with each other, and the world is changed irreversibly. This was the same case with the arrival of the computer: society was changed. And so was my lifestyle, my artistic expression.
Lathuliere??And you, are you a victim of this dependence, or are you able to keep a critical distance?
Du: This is inevitable: if you are passionate about new technologies, you cannot avoid becoming dependent. It's precisely this relationship between man and the machine that interests me: it is always impossible to separate what arises from the positive or the negative. It's an actual phenomenon; it exists.
Lathuliere??How should this relationship be critiqued while using new technology?
Du: My latest work is called Cover. It was exhibited at the Gaite Lyrique in November 2003 and will be shown in the Lille 2004. It is presented like this: all the information, all the images in this work are extracts from the universe of the television. If you are not in front of it, it doesn't move; only when you are present will it begin to shake, and starts the animation.
It consists of different images from television that have been edited and sequenced so that they are animated only when exposed to the viewer; and at this moment I emerge. I aim to 'cover' the news and I'm only there when the viewer is present, if not I remain hidden. I always stay between the viewer and the images, if the visitor moves, I move as well and always stay in front of you.
The role of the journalist is thus to 'discover' the truth. As for me I'm doing the contrary, because this is not the truth. My role
is then to 'cover' this, in the real sense of the word and of course figuratively speaking as well.
Lathuliere??What does the multimedia as an art form mean to you specifically, as an artist, is it something that you would not find anywhere else?
Du: At the moment, what interests me the most is still interactivity; interactivity not for playing but which obliges the visitor to
integrate with the device and to function in the 'work'. It's a way of trapping, it's for me as much as for the visitor a way of
working on the dimension of power inherent to a society of information and new technologies. we are in a dictatorship of information and new technologies, it's exactly what it is today.
Lathuliere??You like the theme of manipulation a lot, there are tracking, chases, scenes with people chased by the police or with people being filmed by a camera in public spaces...
Du: Yes, it's only with these tools, in these devices, that one can present this phenomenon, that one can talk about the life of today. A painting cannot do this, at least that's what I believe. In the digital domain, even if there aren't a lot of finalized works at this time, the activity itself is on the other hand in constant reproduction, the dynamic is actual.
What I want to say is that, it's very difficult to express a sentiment of today's living conditions with paintings. The digital arts, on the other hand, allow these personal sentiments to 'evacuate' and 'emerge', but at the same time they are shared collectively.3
Visual productions magazine
When the viewer chooses to skim over certain parts of Chienman?s body on the touch screen, Chienman doubles and begins to fight ferociously against himself.
13 postures are presented; all of them consisting of hand-to-hand combat between two identical shadows belonging to Chienman?s doubled body.
The viewer can indefinitely manoeuver, play, and bounce from one assault to another, from one ?evil? to another
One particularly disturbing installation of Mr. Du's, called "Chienman," or dog-man, is now on display at the Three on the Bund gallery as part of Shanghai's biennale. The video screen lies dormant until the viewer presses a pedal. Then, the humanoid figures begin snarling at each other like dogs. Encouraged thus to participate, I could not help thinking that the word "Chienman" was not merely an obvious play on the word Chinaman. It also sounded to an outsider's ears a little like the word Tiananmen.?
By ELEANOR RANDOLPH The New York Times November 7, 2004
interview of Du
"'At first I was tired of the old mediums: photography, installation, mediums that are too old. At the same time, there were lots of video artists but I found nothing that interested me, that I could correspond with. And then the digital arrived: finally a contemporary language, finally a tool with which to evoke the actual reality, the contemporary world.'
-Du Zhenjun
Bruno Lathuliere??How did you enter the world of digital art?
Du Zhenjun: I underwent an art experience spanning from the Middle Ages to the end of the 19th century with the impressionists, while of course passing by abstract art of the 60s and photography and installations of the 80s to come to the irreversible conclusion: all these artistic forms are languages that are pass?
I was teaching traditional Chinese painting at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, thus I originally had a very classical training. After that I was very much engaged in plastic art: first with abstract paintings, then installations and photography in the 80s. It took me almost twenty years, with a strong classical education and a practice oftraditional paintings with techniques that date back to the Renaissance, before I took up digital art. Twelve years ago when I arrived in France, I was still working a lot with the medium of painting, and it was equally that time that I started working with photography And the digital media.
It was only in 1997 that I acquired my first computer. A Pentium, 176 MGH, a baby today's terms... at this period, I suddenly felt that a new language would finally emerge. Another interesting thing happened during this time: I felt it was the madness that characterizes this universe, the addiction that is shared by the group of people who have the equipment. The people of this era are in front of the screen all the time and no longer leave the computer: it's like the arrival of the television as a media: suddenly people modify their behaviour and no longer go out of the house or have discussions with each other, and the world is changed irreversibly. This was the same case with the arrival of the computer: society was changed. And so was my lifestyle, my artistic expression.
Lathuliere??And you, are you a victim of this dependence, or are you able to keep a critical distance?
Du: This is inevitable: if you are passionate about new technologies, you cannot avoid becoming dependent. It's precisely this relationship between man and the machine that interests me: it is always impossible to separate what arises from the positive or the negative. It's an actual phenomenon; it exists.
Lathuliere??How should this relationship be critiqued while using new technology?
Du: My latest work is called Cover. It was exhibited at the Gaite Lyrique in November 2003 and will be shown in the Lille 2004. It is presented like this: all the information, all the images in this work are extracts from the universe of the television. If you are not in front of it, it doesn't move; only when you are present will it begin to shake, and starts the animation.
It consists of different images from television that have been edited and sequenced so that they are animated only when exposed to the viewer; and at this moment I emerge. I aim to 'cover' the news and I'm only there when the viewer is present, if not I remain hidden. I always stay between the viewer and the images, if the visitor moves, I move as well and always stay in front of you.
The role of the journalist is thus to 'discover' the truth. As for me I'm doing the contrary, because this is not the truth. My role
is then to 'cover' this, in the real sense of the word and of course figuratively speaking as well.
Lathuliere??What does the multimedia as an art form mean to you specifically, as an artist, is it something that you would not find anywhere else?
Du: At the moment, what interests me the most is still interactivity; interactivity not for playing but which obliges the visitor to
integrate with the device and to function in the 'work'. It's a way of trapping, it's for me as much as for the visitor a way of
working on the dimension of power inherent to a society of information and new technologies. we are in a dictatorship of information and new technologies, it's exactly what it is today.
Lathuliere??You like the theme of manipulation a lot, there are tracking, chases, scenes with people chased by the police or with people being filmed by a camera in public spaces...
Du: Yes, it's only with these tools, in these devices, that one can present this phenomenon, that one can talk about the life of today. A painting cannot do this, at least that's what I believe. In the digital domain, even if there aren't a lot of finalized works at this time, the activity itself is on the other hand in constant reproduction, the dynamic is actual.
What I want to say is that, it's very difficult to express a sentiment of today's living conditions with paintings. The digital arts, on the other hand, allow these personal sentiments to 'evacuate' and 'emerge', but at the same time they are shared collectively.3
Visual productions magazine
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Du Zhenjun
Multi media interactive installation
Multi media interactive installation