Polyphony of Bodies

Polyphony of Bodies 身体的复调 : Practice and Theory

Date: September 16 – October 16 2023

Opening: 16 September 2023, 15:30

Venue: Musson Cattell Mackey, Beijing, China

Academic Director: Chen Zhang

Exhibition Support: Shaofeng Duan

Curator: Qiang Li

Executive Curator: Arthology

Producer: May Xia

Poster of Cloud, Snow, Spring Mountain: Dan Luo’s Solo Exhibition

FOREWORD

The term polyphony, rooted in musical and literary narrative structures, has increasingly found application in contemporary art. Yet, adopting it to frame the body—Polyphony of Bodies—offers a fresh and exploratory perspective. As both subject and medium, the body has long been central in the history of art. In recent years, “body art” has garnered renewed academic attention, notably through the research of Academic Director Zhang Chen.

This exhibition brings together five emerging artists under the theme Polyphony of Bodies, each presenting a unique response to the notion of the body. All five artists are PhD candidates from the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), reflecting both a new generation’s artistic perspectives and the academic foundation shaped by institutional education. The exhibition unfolds within MCM Space, a hybrid platform, through two intersecting narrative threads.

The first thread centers around painting as a medium of personal expression, where artists explore emotional and perceptual states through detailed depictions of the body:

Wu Yanzhen’s works begin with visual images from popular culture, especially film. Through overlapping and layered imagery, she depicts the sensory consciousness residing within the body. Su Na explores her own emotional and psychological states. Her paintings are projections of reality within dreams and vice versa, blurring the lines between concrete and abstract imagery. Zhou Chi draws from everyday experiences with her partner. Her raw, primal brushwork articulates intimacy and connection between individuals.

The second thread shifts from presence to absence, focusing on the relationship between the individual and the collective through installation-based works:

Wang Tunan’s fragmented organ-like replicas express the uniformity imposed by collective discipline, raising questions about bodily identity under conformity. Shi Ziyuan creates a group of onomatopoeic sound installations to evoke the presence of the body through auditory experience, challenging the homogenized sensorial memory of the collective.

Though the works diverge in form and focus, all take the body as a departure point, culminating in distinct yet interwoven narratives—a true polyphonic structure. This exhibition not only brings these artists' theoretical research into physical form, but also serves as a collective presentation of their evolving practices.

Our sincere thanks go to the participating artists, to Professor Zhang Chen for academic leadership, to curator Duan Shaofeng, to executive curator Arthology, and to May Xia and MCM Space for their generous support and dedication. This exhibition would not have been possible without your collective effort.

ARTISTS

Shi Ziyuan, Su Na, Wang Tunan, Wu Yanzhen, Zhou Chi