Three Artists: Guo Gai, Meng Tang, Slinko

Comments (0) By Scott Donaldson Wednesday, Aug 24 2011

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The Soap Factory

514 2nd St. SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414

Category: Galleries

Region: University

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Between last fall's censorship of David Wojnarowicz's short film A Fire in My Belly and Ai Weiwei's three-month detainment by the Chinese government earlier this spring, artists and those in power have had much public clashing in the last year. The Soap Factory's upcoming exhibition, "Three Artists: Guo Gai, Meng Tang, Slinko," continues the conversation by addressing several issues concerning government, society, and art. The show's Chinese and Ukrainian artists are no strangers to countries with histories of censorship and contentious relationships with art. Slinko, who grew up in a "giant bleak Soviet residential complex," brings Make-Believe, work-in-progress sculptures that explore visual and consumer culture. For Meng Tang's contribution, Impression: Babel (first exhibited at the University of Minnesota's Nash Gallery), visitors hear "oppositional truisms" by five recorded voices in different languages. Lament, by Beijing artist Guo Gai, is a choral piece listing the natural and economic disasters of the past decade in China. It is accompanied by photography inspired by contemporary Chinese culture. Gai, like Weiwei, was arrested and held in prison by Chinese authorities this March and April. "Three Artists" is co-curated by Ben Heywood and the University of Minnesota's Thomas Rose, in association with the Nash Gallery. The opening reception is from 7 to 11 p.m. Saturday, August 27. (Wronged, Guo Gai)
Aug. 27-Oct. 23, 2011