The Xijing Men: Tsuyoshi Ozawa, Chen Shaoxiong and Gimhongsok
Overview
The H&R Block Artspace and the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas present the first North American exhibition by the Xijing Men, the internationally renowned, project-based collaborative team of Tsuyoshi Ozawa (Japan), Chen Shaoxiong (China) and Gimhongsok (Korea).
The Xijing Men hail, conceptually, from the fictitious city of Xijing, an imaged political entity in East Asia. The term Xijing is composed of Chinese characters meaning "western capital" (the city's name would be saikyō in Japanese and suhkyung in Korean). The word play has roots in the names of real cities: Beijing ("northern capital"), Nanjing ("southern capital") and Tokyo, known in Chinese as Donjing ("eastern capital").
Since 2006, the Xijing Men have used humor, satire, sarcasm and absurdity to create elaborate performances, drawings, photographs and objects that explore the imagined history, politics, economics and culture of this legendary place. The exhibition will survey previous work by the Xijing Men and unveil a new work created during the artists' 10-day residency in Kansas City.
The exhibition survey's previous work and unveils "I Love Xijing: The Xijing School", new work created during the artist in residency in Kansas City
January 23 thru February 3, 2013. Select Kansas City Art Institute students were chosen to collaborate and create with the Xijing Men culminating in an installation and video.
This exhibition is generously funded by the Richard J. Stern Foundation for the Arts, the William T. Kemper Foundation, the Japan Foundation, and the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency.
about the residency.