Zhao Liang: Heavy Sleepers

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More About

• Zhao Liang
• Beijing
• 2008 Summer Olympics
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media
• Documentaries

Construction plays an important role in the video installation works of Zhao Liang. For most of his projects the documentary filmmaker follows the working class and miserably poor, highlighting their class conflicts through the juxtaposition of themes, including rural and urban, modern and traditional, work and home, and occupied and unoccupied space. In 2006's Heavy Sleepers, he utilized two screens to document the small shared living quarters, struggles, and mentality of the migrant workers who traveled to Beijing during the construction boom leading up to the 2008 Olympics. In Narrative Landscapes, Liang recounts the history of the Great Wall of China while also detailing the giant structure's decomposition over many years. The filmmaker will be in Minneapolis later this month to introduce a screening of Petition—the Court of Complaints (7:30 p.m. Friday, January 29) as well Crime and Punishment, his award-winning documentary following Chinese guards as they work along the North Korean border (Saturday, January 30).
Dec. 17-March 14, 2009