By Wang Kaimei

The history of zoo can be traced back to the 17th century French court. Animals from near and far were kept inside the royal garden to fulfill the longing for nature and the imagination of rural lifestyle of the nobles. The artificial stage of a zoo with fake rocky mountains, caves, creek and bridges host the animals in captivity also divide the spectators from the animals. From both sides of the iron bars, between gazes and to be gazed, the modern zoo has become a metaphor of the anxious human condition in a world that is more and more detached from the nature. If the origin of the zoo has fulfilled our desire of taming the wild and persisting wish for the nature, today, people in modern cities are more like the tamed animals in the zoo wondering back and forth behind constantly passing bars. The nature has become a projection of idealism and a spectacle existed only in our longings.

That is why art is still important. In this exhibition on the spectacle of zoo we ask the artists to reveal the part of the world that may still be worth of our fascination. Here at the legendary West Lake, a cold winter night after the snow reunites the history with the contemporary; animals gather in forests wake up in the colorful dream of city sparrows; lights caught by artist’s eyes through camera lens reshape the order of cosmos with microscopic vision; the wonder of life with the interference of animals is both cynical and insightful. Artists give us their unique point-of-views and different observations on life. Art take ordinary things extraordinary, add dramatic into everyday life and twist lines between the real and the imaginative, between facts and dreams. Art give us a reason to reflect on our choices.

In 1902, the Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke wrote his famous poem THE PENTHER after his visit to the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, in which he described the zoo panther:

“ As he paces in cramped circles, over and over

the movement of his powerful soft strides

is like a ritual dance around a center

in which a mighty will stands paralyzed”

Don’t forget! We all once possessed a mighty will."

About the exhibition

Dates: Jan 10, 2015 - Feb 10, 2015

Opening: Jan 10, 2015, 15:00, Saturday

Venue: Himalayas Art Museum Shanghai

Artists: Cai Bing, Chai Mi, Hu Rang, Huang Bingyin, Wang Kuokuo, Xu Xinlang, Yang Guowei, Yu Xuhong, Zheng Tianming

Courtesy of the artists and Himalayas Art Museum, for further information please visit www.himalayasart.cn.