Computer Solutions

here’s the review of Synthetic Times in Beijing for the art newspaper.Its only on for 3 weeks, really well worth a visit. Timothy Leary’s tomb is the large orange box at the entrance to Namoc. It has some of his ashes mixed with concrete.

A large group of artists landed in Beijing in June with a collection of robots, light installations, interactive mobile plant pots, and various other pieces squeezed into a show under the broad banner of promoting the new media genre to the Chinese public. The show, Synthetic Times, held in the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), saw a glittering opening attended by most of the grandees of China’s art scene, who despite the sweltering temperatures managed to ring in the new media show with more than 1000 guests toasting the show’s success. A bemused local media explored the meandering exhibition through the austere Namoc building, only slightly intimidated by being chased by plant pots on wheels and sensory disorientating installations.

“This is the coming of age show for NAMOC,” Professor Zhang Ga, the curator and organizer told the art newspaper.

With a 50 year history, NAMOC staffers and China’s art scene is very supportive of the new director, Fan Di An, who is leading a new modernist regime there. Besides the Synthetic Times show, the museum is hosting a show of Gerhard Richter’s work on its second floor. “We only hope he (Fan Di An) isn’t promoted upstairs into the Ministry of Culture, there are a lot rumours about it” one staffer said.

Though beset slightly by technical issues, as the Chinese institution was not quite prepared to meet the technical requirements of many of the works, artists worked long hours for seven days to prepare for the exhibition opening. The content of the show, a widely diverse selection of the new media genre, was met with positive reactions from local attendees, though some expressed reservations due to the very strong focus on technology and engineering. One of China’s leading new media artists, Zhang Peili, told attendees on the sidelines of a new media seminar that the show was too focused on technology – not art.

“Spending only a total of Euro 2 million to put on the show, for a project of this scale, Zhang Ga used every penny carefully,” said Sylvia Xu of Prohelvetia, one of the show sponsors.

As the show will only last for just over 3 weeks, the organizers were unable to secure another institutions support to host the show in China for a longer period. “There were discussions with Shanghai, but it was too expensive,” Zhang Ga said.

Some artists wished to donate their work to NAMOC, but negotiations are held up by customs regulations. “The manifest leaving must be the same as what came in,” a NAMOC staffer said.

Highlights of the show included eToy’s virtual tomb of Timothy Leary, a part of the Mission Eternity project, Jeffery Huang and Muriel Walvogel’s Newscocoons, Xu Bing’s Book from the Ground, Stefan Doepner’s Living Kitchen, Marnix de Nijs’ Beijing Accelerator and David Rockeby’s Taken surveillance project. The interactive nature of these projects kept the audience engaged for hours.