• Rose Tang • Heungman Kwan • Steve Messam • Romain Hostal •
• Bob and Roberta Smith • Jessica Voorsanger • Arnaud Bianquis •

• curated by Thomas Charveriat •

Forward/Backward and Reloading

History: past, present, future. We were, we are, we will be. Island6 Arts Center opens the debate. The cards are on the table - NOW is the time. With the opening of its new exhibition, Forward/Backward and Reloading we bring to light the conundrum of the present, the interrelation between the tenses and the inexistence of past, present or future as independent entities. Perception augmented: are we here or there, or are we swaying between times and spaces?
The velocity of the present has corroded all mythical associations with the past into a famished appetite for a constructed and predictable future. Yet this very speed, rapidity and debauchery with which we project the future, has brought us to a standstill: we linger in a misunderstood present. We must now look back, not in order to dwell in the nostalgia of the past, but to reconcile ourselves with the present; the present as a space of recursive transformations between the past and the future. We must return from the past, only to run back to the future. We must revive memory as a rebuke to a present sandwiched between ineffectual moments, between worries, anxieties and anticipation. It is time to wind down. Or not?
Forward/Backward and Reloading seeks to open a contentious dialogue on the different realities and perceptual layers of the timeline. Through a wide range of pieces and installations, the artists corroborate in a series of studies that conjure different times and different moments, each sustaining an argument of its own. The show looks to evoke the transient nature of the past and the future in a present that dwindles in a confined space of uncertainty.
If in Hindi, the word for "yesterday" and "tomorrow", "Kal" is the same, but only "today" has its own word, "Aaj", then perhaps there is a lesson to learn. It may be said that the present is in itself conceptually different from the past or the future, and therefore we must question the passing of time as well as the present moment. The I Ching, the book of changes and the oldest oracle in history on the other hand, deals with the dynamic balance of opposites, with the evolution of events as a process, and the acceptance of the inevitability of change. So change, opposites and the present, past or future will be themes running through the work presented at this exhibition.
Lewis Carroll says in his book Through the Looking Glass, that "It is a poor sort of memory that only looks backwards". The artists comprised in this show play with the idea of past and future as a source of identity and with indeterminate space-time as the present location in memory. In many of the pieces, the present purports a frameless existence that seeks to understand itself through the study of its past or future, sometimes moving forwards, while others backwards. One example is the artist Rose Tang. In her work, Rose projects herself by means of a photomontage onto a portrayed past of herself and then back again to the present, as a means to understanding her sexuality. In his work, Heungman Kwan attempts to discover answers to the present moment in Chinese history by establishing a visual discourse with the past.
The exhibition will focus on the different aspects of the concept of time, and how these have influenced the works presented here. While some artists deal with issues of identity or of a confounded past, others like Steve Messam or "The Family Project" team seek through their work to be catalysts for change and call for active participation and, or reaction by the audience. Some are rebellious, while others delicate and subtle. (Yasmin Sabet, Madrid 2006) [ ↑ ]

People

Rose Tang
Rose Tang was born twice; first as a boy on the beautiful hills surrounding Taichung (Taiwan) in 1967, and then, in Shanghai, at the turn of this century as the most promising Chinese artist of her generation. Rose is extravagant, rebellious and fearless, and she indiscriminately touches on all aspects of Chinese culture. In Forward/Backward and Reloading, Rose tries to understand the impact and influence that culture, relationships and family values had on the development of her sexual identity. Rose Tang's work captures much of the essence and uniqueness of her identity journey by presenting a delicate balance of sociological analysis, social perception, facts, style and history.
[ ↑ ]

Heungman Kwan
Heungman Kwan was born in China, brought up in Hong Kong and currently lives in Shanghai. He studied at the California State University (BA) and then later studied photography at the Art Center College of Design in California. In this show, using the naked body as "eternal truth" and the Cultural Revolution as the "recent past," Heungman attempts to discover answers to our present moment in Chinese history. Heungman has been working as a photographer in New York for 12 years. His work has been published in RollingStone, Spin and WallPaper magazine, amongst others. He is currently working on two photography projects: 100women 100motors 100yrs of Harley-Davidson and TeaAfterMao. Both books are being published in the United States. [ ↑ ]

Steve Messam
Steve Messam's primary interest lies in the crossover between popular culture and contemporary arts practice, with a particular emphasis on the way it relates to isolated rural communities. "Souvenir", a site-specific installation made from 96 umbrellas across the wasteland, surrounding Island6, leads the visitor to an alternate view of the Orient Pearl Tower. By day, the umbrellas form red balls that emphasize the contrast between two individual architectural structures: Island6, a preserved remnant of Suzhou Creek's industrial past and the Orient Pearl Tower, a symbol of the new 'New China'.
Messam is a co-founder of Fold, an artist-led organisation based in England at Kirkby Stephen on the Cumbria, North Yorkshire and County Durham borders. Established in 2001, Fold aims to provide and promote access to contemporary art in the rural environment and challenge the preconceptions of work by rural artists. Messam is also co-founder and Director of FRED, an annual art event in Cumbria. It consists of installations and interventions in non-gallery environments. FRED has become Europe's largest festival of site-specific work. "Souvenir" was supported by Artist Links, a two-way artist development and exchange opportunity funded by Arts Council England and operating within the British Council in China. [ ↑ ]

Bob and Roberta Smith
Patrick Brill, better known by his pseudonym Bob and Roberta Smith (London, 1963) is a British contemporary artist. After studying at Reading and Goldsmiths College, Brill launched his career. The possibly apocryphal story is that Brill devised a number of artist personas and types of work and then sent them to commercial galleries; the first to gain a positive response was Bob and Roberta Smith. Patrick Brill paints slogans in a unique brightly colored lettering style on banners and discarded boards of wood and exhibits them in galleries of contemporary art across the world. The slogans are usually humorous musing on art, politic, popular culture, Britain and the world in general and they often support his activist campaigns, such as his 2002 amnesty on bad art at Perogi Gallery, New York. As well as sign painting, Bob and Roberta Smith also makes sculpture using cement, as in his 2005 Cement Soup Kitchen at Beaconsfield Gallery, London. "[Patrick Brill] grew attracted to postures of amateurism and failure. His more recent work has suggested an interest in the utopian impulse of art as an agent for social change, although this often seems hedged with doubt or irony". Bob is co-founder of The Family Art Project. [ ↑ ]

The Family Art Project
The Directors of The Family Art Project are Etta age ten and Fergal age six. The aim of the project is to radically assert the value of Art in family life. The project embraces Globalization. "In New Global Concept Art (NGCA) all national boundaries are obsolete and all human activity is Art" (Etta 23-4-2006) and "We are all one big family" (Fergal 24-6-2005). Technical assistance comes from Bob and Roberta Smith and Jessica Voorsanger. This is the fourth manifestation of The Family Art Project which has previously promoted its ideals in Finland, Germany and Britain. For Island6, The Family Art Project have produced six banners and some short films which show the results of their many researches. The banners promote the values of the project to the people of China. The Family Art Project also suggests to the public that they make airplanes from vegetables and draw popstars and sportsmen. The Family Art Project was supported by Artist Links, a two-way artist development and exchange opportunity funded by Arts Council England and operating within the British Council in China. [ ↑ ]

Jessica Voorsanger
Jessica Voorsanger (New York, 1965) is an American artist living in London. She makes work exploring celebrity through obsession, fans and media representation. This is achieved through video, performance, mail art, installation and painting. She studied at the Rhode Island School of Design (BFA) and Goldsmiths College (MA). She's had solo shows in London, New York, Edinburgh, Berlin and Turin. She is currently showing at Gallery-33 FON in Berlin. In September 2006, she will be doing a performance at the Hayward Gallery in London and will be showing at the Serpentine Gallery as part of the project 'Hearing Voices Seeing Things'. Jessica is co-founder of The Family Art Project.[ ↑ ]

Arnaud Bianquis & Romain Hostal
As a cultural icon in Chinese society, the barbershop of old has become a relic of the past. Most of them have been replaced by trendier and fancier hair salons. The shantyesque, poorly-equipped spaces unable to upscale to the 'beauty salon' aesthetic have had to adapt to the changing society by incorporating depraved operations. The three-color swirling electrical barbershop pole has come to represent something entirely different than the pleasant greetings and friendly smiles of the past. They have become a lure towards carnal desire. Graffitist Arnaud Bianquis (Metz 1980) and photographer Romain Hostal (Lyon 1981) have captured the nostalgia and secrecy of Shanghai's barbershop in creating Candy , a large photographic installation. About the barbershop, Arnaud remarks that it "shows a point of view about an aspect of sexuality in China. Taboo or not, the barbershop is where Chinese or Lawai turn around. Illegal sexual activity is a problematic point in every society and particularly in ours where leisure and entertainment rule. This work is an "état des lieux", a place where Rose Tang, sometimes without letting anyone know, goes to spend a few hours..."[ ↑ ]

Special thanks to all who have helped to make this exhibition a reality.
Especially: Christopher Charveriat, Phil Dorman, Lola Genoves, Ophelia Huang, Simon Kirby, Oussama Laftimi, Yang Longhai, Amanda Nicolaidis, Yasmin Sabet, Margherita Salmaso, Ben Shipley, Zheng Guo Yang, Zhu Yumei, friends and families.