On the afternoon of August 14, 2016, the “Inaugural Show and Press Conference of Ivy Art 2016” was held in Beijing Ullens Center for Contemporary Art. The project is themed “Release”, it will hold a series of events in Beijing and Tianjin, and it synchronizes with the start of the first show of the “Ivy Art 2016 Young Curator Project” – “Social Reality Theater” planned by the young curator Wang Lin.

Initiator of “Ivy Art” Jiang Dafang, Academic Director of “Ivy Art” Sheng Wei, curator Kang Jianfei, Deputy Curator of UCCA You Yang and curator of the first show of the young curator project Wang Lin attended the conference.

“It is the 837^th Day after Ivy Art was established.” Jiang Dafang said, the “development, growth and dialogue” is as the slogan of “Ivy Art” since it was established, and it has established a platform for youth development since 2014, taking the “young artist annual exhibition” as an important carrier, as an ongoing concern and topical discussion, gradually enriching and deepening: in 2014 the exhibition recommendation system which realized the overview of the artistic youth ecology; in 2015 it applied the exhibition recommendation and acquisition, a division based on the geography, taking data as line, to showcase the lateral development of the youth art ecology, to have an in-depth exploration of the special style for the localization in the youth creation under the background of diversification. In 2016 Ivy Art hopes to explore new forms of young art at more levels, taking the system of the “thematic exhibition” and integrating the “special exhibition”, located in both Beijing and Tianjin, and innovatively increasing the“Young Curator Project” and “Young Creator Plaza”, to focus on the broader young art groups. The exhibition applies the acquisition system, and the young artists independently register, comprehensively upgrading the registration system, to build a foundation for a young artists’ database.

Ivy Art 2016 exhibition first uses the theme – “Release” in the exhibition publicity. The theme was proposed by the Academic Director of “Ivy Art” Sheng Wei, who said that, “In this year, we will invite more critics, curators, and the public to participate, so it is a compound process of many participants.” And the theme “release” has a certain degree of “pertinency”, while it hopes that young artists can break some kind of art production system, to release a different young art.

Kang Jianfei mentioned that Ivy Art specially started the “Young Curator Project”after a discussion, abandoning the previous seminar process, the change is aimed at effectively promoting the young art as much as possible; Deputy Curator of UCCA You Yang thought that, art museums gradually evolved into a “social theater”, the public could participate in the live project as implemented by the artist, which is the development trend of contemporary society.

After the conference, part of the “Ivy Art 2016 Young Curator Project” – “Social Reality Theater” planned by the young curator Wang Lin immediately opened. The exhibition is unfolded around the large-scale art theater by Mamala Art Foundation, to totally feature more than 30 works by 6 artists including Chen Qiqu, Dai Jaro, Dai Chenlian, Fu Genli, Yamamoto lianlian, Werner Heisenberg.

“Mamala Art Foundation” is a virtual foundation created by the artist Dai Chenlian, taking the production of contemporary artists and contemporary artworks as the core, sponsoring the productive artists to undertake academic exhibitions and discussions. The productive artists become actors in the theater,and they produce works of art at the same time. These create questions of art and society, and there are a simulation and the second simulation, that includes the realities and illusions of fiction and post fiction, as well as the second performance after the simulation.

In this huge art theater, the curator is both the independent planner and a part of the creation by the artist. The curator tries to go together with artists to break the established rules, and prompts the gradual stern system of “contemporary art”, the mechanism of the exhibition, art and capital, as well as the problems that appear in the creation. Curator Wang Lin said that, “I want to present an exhibition that is able to cause a spectator to think.”

This exhibition project will last until August 21. Since then, other exhibitions of “Ivy Art 2016 Young Curator Project” will also be on show in Beijing and Tianjin in August going through to September.

Photo and text by Lin Jiabin/CAFA ART INFO

Translated by Chen Peihua and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO