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A Beautiful Disorder
无序之美

A Beautiful Disorder – the first major exhibition of newly commissioned outdoor sculpture by some of the most important young artists from China, opens at the Cass Sculpture Foundation.
 
The historical relationship between English and Chinese landscape aesthetics was the starting point and inspiration for the 18 artists featured in A Beautiful Disorder.  The title of the exhibition refers to an 18th century term used to describe the ability of the Chinese garden to provoke violent and often opposing sensations through a series of theatrical framing devices, which had a huge effect on English garden culture.
 
The result, however, is a series of monumental, site-specific sculptures which respond directly to the Sussex countryside, yet  invite the viewer to reflect on China’s past, present and future relationship with the world at large.  They provide valuable insight into the state of culture, politics and society in Greater China today, from the perspectives of some of its most dynamic and engaging artists.
 
Some of the most provocative works include Movement Field, by Xu Zhen (Produced by MadeIn Company), a maze of chalk pathways which replicate protest routes, adding graphical beauty to the CASS’s green.
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Movement Field, by Xu Zhen
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Identity, by Wang Yuyang, a 6-meter tall installation built by converting Marx’s Capital: Critique of Political Economy – into binary code using 3D rendering and modelling software. The work not only alludes to the collapsing boundaries between art and technology, but also raises pertinent questions concerning the power of ideology in today’s hyper-networked, globalized world.
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Identity by Wang Yuyang
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Why do they never take colour photos? by Song Ta – an enormous grey bust of Chairman Mao, copied from a well-known sculpture, but presented in a painted grey landscape intended to reflect the artist’s hazy relationship with the Great Helmsman.
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Why do they never take colour photos? by Song Ta
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Other impressive works includes Zhang Ruyi’s Pause, which sockets are implanted weirdly over the green that you might miss, reminding us the power that nature is giving all the time, even in a post-industrial society we are living in.
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Jennifer Wen Ma’s site-specific installation Molar for the Main Gallery of Cass Sculpture Foundation merges mythological, spiritual and humanistic notions of paradise, bringing the landscape indoors by creating a work that alludes to both natural and artificial scenery.
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And Wang Wei’s Panorama 2 brings the curved, mosaic walls found in the animal enclosures of the Beijing Zoo.  At the same time, the designed wall with a small doorway, allowing viewers to glimpse the vista beyond and echoing perfectly with the real and fake ‘landscapes’ at CASS.

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Participating artists for A Beautiful Disorder: Bi Rongrong, Cao Dan, Cao Fei, Cheng Ran, Cui Jie, Rania Ho, Li Jinghu, Lu Pingyuan, Xu Zhen (Produced by MadeIn Company), Jennifer Wen Ma, Song Ta, Tu Wei-Cheng, Wang Sishun, Wang Wei, Wang Yuyang, Zhang Ruyi, Zheng Bo and Zhao Yao.
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Cass Sculpture Foundation was established in 1992 by Wilfred and Jeannette Cass. It was conceived as a unique charitable body, profoundly committed to fostering new, as well as established talent. Set within twenty-six acres of West Sussex countryside, the Foundation is composed of exhibition spaces, an educational resource and a commissioning body.  After 23 years of exhibiting and commissioning over 400 works and supporting more than 200 artists, CASS is expanding its model to commission pioneering sculpture from international artists. 
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A Beautiful Disorder
3 July – November 2016
Cass Sculpture Foundation
New Barn Hill, Goodwood, West Sussex, PO18 0QP
www.sculpture.org.uk

                   

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