Mushroom Mantra, 2009, Installation for 6th Asia Pacific Triennial
Brisbane, Australia 5 December 2009 ~ 5 April 2010
Exhibited Works: – Mushroom Mantra, 2009, Installation – Circle I, 2009, Video – Hand Washing Project, 2009, Installation – Water Project, 2009, Installation
Mushroom Mantra, 2009, Installation for 6th Asia Pacific TriennialMushroom Mantra, 2009, Installation for 6th Asia Pacific TriennialMushroom Mantra, 2009, Installation for 6th Asia Pacific TriennialPreparation for Mushroom Mantra, 2009, Installation for 6th Asia Pacific TriennialArtist’s talkHand Washing Project, Installation,
Collection of Queensland Art GalleryHand Washing Project, Installation,
Collection of Queensland Art GalleryWater Project, 2009,
Installation for 6th Asia Pacific Triennial, Collection of Queensland Art Gallery
Press Release: ‘The 6th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ (APT6) was held from 5 December 2009 – 5 April 2010 and occupied the entire Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) as well as the iconic Watermall and adjoining galleries at the Queensland Art Gallery (QAG).
APT6 included the work of more than 100 artists from 25 countries, including collaborations and collectives, which reflect the diversity of practices across Asia, the Pacific and Australia.
APT6 had a number of specific focuses and thematic links while considering recent shifts in contemporary art in communities that had not been represented in the APT before, including works by artists from Tibet, North Korea (DPRK), Turkey and Iran, and from countries of the Mekong region such as Cambodia and Myanmar (Burma).
APT6 also acknowledged the innovation that exists in performance and music in Asia and the Pacific. To this end, the Pacific Reggae Project looked at this musical genre as it has developed in Hawai’i, the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu and New Zealand.
The major thematic cinema program for APT6 looked west to explore cultural constellations across the Indian subcontinent (Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Kashmir,Pakistan) to West Asia and the Middle East (including Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Armenia, Lebanon, Israel and Palestine).
A solo exhibition by Charwei Tsai Casas Riegner Gallery, Bogota, Colombia 25 November ~ 22 December 2009
Exhibition titleMeat Map I~IV, 2008, PhotographsFish Project, 2008, InstallationEarth Mantra I, 2009, PhotographSea Mantra, 2009, VideoIce Explorations I~IV, 2009, PhotographsGutter, 2009, VideoUntitled V and Untitled I,
2009, Photographs, 72 x 90 eachLovely Daze Complete SetCharwei Tsai, Antonio Caro,
and Catalina Casas
Press Release: La Galería Casas Riegner se complace en presentar por primera vez en Colombia la obra de la artista taiwanesa residente en Paris, Charwei Tsai.
La muestra, compuesta por video-instalaciones y fotografías, es una revisión de su obra reciente. Desde el 2005, la artista lleva desarrollando series y proyectos alrededor de la idea de la impermanencia, en los cuales incluye distintos materiales y técnicas, quienes a su vez se encuentran en constante cambio.
En la serie del Sutra del Corazón,la primera operación de la artista consiste en la escogencia de materiales orgánicos vivos (y por ende, perecederos) para crear piezas de arte. Con esto alude al inevitable paso del tiempo y de los ciclos naturales sobre los cuerpos, en contraposición a la idea del arte como algo que debe ser preservado y almacenado, procurándose las mínimas alteraciones posibles en su presencia física. Elaborando sobre esta primera inquietud, sobrepone la escritura del Sutra del Corazón, texto sagrado de los Budistas Mayahana, en estos materiales (hongos, pulpos, ranas, flores de loto, tofu, conchas), para observar su posterior degradación natural. Siguiendo el mensaje del Sutra, Tsai propicia que los textos se fundan con sus superficies, para en este momento anular la dualidad de materia y pensamiento. Así se evoca el entendimiento de la irrevocable interdependencia de todas las cosas del universo para existir, esto es, para transformarse permanentemente.
Otra variación de las series de la escritura es la pieza “Meat Map”, en la cual la artista reproduce el mapa de China con carne cruda y escribe sobre él con sangre de cerdo.
El texto es la “One China Policy”, la propaganda del gobierno chino que aboga por la unificación de la nación. Con este gesto, Charwei busca reflexionar sobre las consecuencias de la búsqueda del nacionalismo en una potencia mundial emergente.
En una perspectiva mas amplia, Tsai señala al nacionalismo como síntoma del alejamiento de la idea de unidad indisociable universal predicada por el budismo y expresada en el Sutra del Corazón.
Por medio de la exploración de la espiritualidad en su práctica, la artista nos hace pensar los eventos de la realidad con un filtro específico, pero buscando transmitir mensajes universales.
Charwei Tsai nació en Taiwan en 1980 y actualmente reside entre París, Nueva York y Taipei. Aparte de su práctica artística, publica una revista bianual de arte contemporáneo
Llamada Lovely Daze. Su obra ha sido expuesta en Osage Gallery en Hong Kong, en Sora Gallery en Tokyo, en la 6a Bienal de Arte del Pacífico Asiático en Queensland, Australia, en la Fundación Cartier en París y en el Centro Pompidou en París, entre otros.
A solo exhibition by Charwei Tsai Curated by Suhanya Raffel Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation (SCAF), Sydney, Australia 23 October ~ 19 December 2009
Water, Earth, and Air, 2009, Exhibition EntranceLotus Mantra, 2009, Ephemeral installationLotus Mantra, 2009, Ephemeral installationA Dedication to Saint Ursula, 2009, Ephemeral installation for exhibitionBaptism, 2009, VideoBonsai Project, 2009, Ephemeral installation Bonsai Project, 2009, Ephemeral installation Numbers, 2009, InstallationIce Explorations, 2009, Photographs, 90 x 110 cm eachSea Mantra, Earth Mantra, and Sky Mantra, 2009, 3 VideosLovely Daze PresentationComplete set of Lovely DazeArtist’s talk with Dr. Gene Sherman and Margaret ThrosbyArtist’s talk with Dr. Gene Sherman and Margaret ThrosbyDr. Gene Sherman, Margaret Throsby,
Charwei Tsai, and Anna Waldmann
Press Release: Buddhist mantras written on ice, tofu and lotus leaves that wither and fade achieve a heightened state of quiet reflection in Charwei Tsai’s work. This most accomplished 30-year-old’s video, photomedia, and performance works function as a meditation on life and death, on the ephemeral nature of existence and on art-making as a process.
The exhibition encourages viewers to take a moment out of their busy lives so as to ponder the relentless passage of time. All materials are sustainably sourced and renewable. Her approach is holistic and delicate, refined and reflective.
Dr. Gene Sherman, Executive Director of SCAF says, “Charwei achieves great simplicity in her work, yet delivers a sophisticated aesthetic. Tsai’s mantras free us from the tyranny of time, albeit for the briefest of moments. We meditate on life and death and experience the redemptive power of art as the tofu crumbles, the ice inevitably melts and the lotus flowers lose their bloom.”
Charwei Tsai’s series of intimate installations is presented in partnership with the
Queensland Art Gallery (QAG/GOMA) and is co-curated by the artist and Suhanya Raffel, Curatorial Manager, Asian and Pacific Art, QAG. Tsai will be artist-in-residence at Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation throughout October during which time she will develop and realise the body of work for exhibition. Tsai will also show in the celebrated and star-studded Asia-Pacific Triennial, Brisbane from 5 December, 2009 to 5 April, 2010. A full colour catalogue published by Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation will accompany the exhibition. In addition, Charwei Tsai’s limited edition artist’s periodical, Lovely Daze, will be available for purchase through Words Etc., SCAF’s dedicated bibliotheka.
Photographs
89×127 and 127x81cm
Photographed in Sydney, Australia
Commissioned by Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney, Australia This is part of a series of work that I am developing, Sky Mantra, Earth Mantra, and Sea Mantra, where I write the Heart Sutra onto a mirror reflecting changes in various environments. I try to capture the movements in the clouds, in the mountains, and in the sea. The element of the ephemeral found in nature reflect the core teaching of the Heart Sutra – emptiness.
Commissioned by Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney, Australia This is part of a series of work that I am developing, Sky Mantra, Earth Mantra, and Sea Mantra, where I write the Heart Sutra onto a mirror reflecting changes in various environments. I try to capture the movements in the clouds, in the mountains, and in the sea. The element of the ephemeral found in nature reflect the core teaching of the Heart Sutra – emptiness.
