Ruins to Renewal: Works by RongRong & inri June 5, 2008

Guest curator Britta Erickson, a well-known expert on contemporary Chinese art, brings together a moving exhibition of the works of renowned contemporary Chinese photographer RongRong and his Japanese wife inri in Ruins to Renewal: Works by RongRong & inri.

In the long river of time, we are always blank, but the photos are pieces of evidence, memories, and everything. Chinese photographer RongRong made this statement in reference to a large group of photographs that date from 1994 through 2008 entitled the Liu Li Tun series. On display at SF Camerawork, this series of photographic works were made around RongRongs former home in the Beijing neighborhood of Liu Li Tun. The photographs document the neighborhoods transformation and destruction, from the artists daily life with the 1990s avant-garde art movement, to his collaborations with his Japanese photographer-wife inri, to their creation of the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre in Beijing.

Together, RongRong & inri created photographs depicting the nurturing environment of Liu Li Tun and the formative role it played in their life together before it was demolished as part of the citys massive redevelopment program. They also memorialized the destruction of Liu Li Tun in a series of photographs of its ruins, often posing singly or together in many of the images. The poignant and romantic drama that runs as a thread through much of their collaborative oeuvre finds a somber and elegant expression in this series that signifies the end of an era.

Three Shadows, Beijing, their most recent series of works, represents a stage of renewal. It records the process of building the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, allowing the viewer to witness the results from the point of view of the artists. Founded by RongRong & inri, Three Shadows is the first arts center of its kind in China, with an ambitious mission to promote the development of contemporary Chinese photography.

This exhibition is funded by grants from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Columbia Foundation.

WHEN:
June 5 August 23, 2008
Opening reception: Thursday, June 5, from 5 to 8 p.m.

HOURS:
Tuesdays Saturdays 12 - 5 p.m.

WHERE:
SF Camerawork, 657 Mission St., Second Floor, San Francisco 94105

ADMISSION:
$5.00; $2.00 for students and seniors; free to Camerawork members

INFORMATION: http://www.sfcamerawork.org
415.512.2020;
[email protected]

Event submitted by Eventful.com on behalf of nina911.