Left: Gu Xiong, I AM WHO I AM, 2001-06 © 2006 Gu Xiong
Right: Xing Danwen, disCONNEXION, 2002-03 © 2006 Xing Danwen
CONTACT 2006: Imagining a Global Culture
EXHIBITION OVERVIEW
An installation of photographs in the St. Patrick subway station.
CONTACT 2006 focuses on photography that reflects the dramatic increase in global interconnections over the past decade. Through a succession of public installations, exhibitions and programs throughout Toronto in May, CONTACT examines a burgeoning global culture, its impact on the world, and our place within it.
Chinese artists play an important role in the world of contemporary art; their work, often focusing on individual explorations of identity and transformation, influences our understanding of China's emergence as a global force. China's key position in the world economy is increasingly evident, and only the future can reveal how its culture will bear the influences of globalization. The installation of photographs by Chinese artists Xing Danwen and Gu Xiong in St. Patrick subway station, provocatively explores contemporary global culture.
CONTACT 2006: Imagining a Global Culture
10th Anniversary
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
GU XIONG
I AM WHO I AM, 2001-06
A Chinese multimedia artist living in Vancouver, Gu Xiong's work explores the cultural and individual identity shifts that have become prevalent in contemporary life and his photographs of Chinese Canadians encompass the dynamics of globalization.
XING DANWEN
disCONNEXION, 2002-03
Xing Danwen was born in Xi'an, China and lives and works in Beijing. Her photographs document the massive piles of discarded computer and electronic trash in China's Guangdong province. Chinese migrant workers make a meagre living recycling these outmoded objects from industrialized countries, which, ironically, were often manufactured in China before being shipped abroad and then returned as trash.
This installation is copresented by CONTACT and The Art Gallery of Ontario
Curated by Bonnie Rubenstein.