Automatic Writing — Automatic Reading

September 5, 2020 – October 31, 2020

Opening: September 5, 2020, 3:00 PM

Artist: Duan Jianyu

Curator: Peter Pácskó

Opening hours: Tuesday–Sunday, 11:00 AM–5:00 PM

Address: Chi She 1, No. 555-4 Longteng Avenue, Xuhui District, Shanghai

For a European curator, looking at Duan Jianyu’s paintings invariably sparks questions about the very possibility of understanding. Her works themselves are steeped in mystery—but that’s only one layer; on another level, they communicate with viewers in countless ways, posing a profound question: In today’s globally interconnected visual world, how much meaningful exchange can truly occur between images from different cultures? Chinese painting today exists at the crossroads of diverse artistic and visual traditions—embracing not only China’s rich cultural heritage but also bold appropriations from Western and modernist traditions, as well as emerging Eastern paradigms. Indeed, the contemporary visual landscape feels like a shattered mirror, and painting only amplifies its enigmatic allure. When I encounter Duan Jianyu’s work, it reminds me of the poetry of my compatriot Paul Celan—both are deeply layered with riddles. Celan masterfully transformed personal, even intimate experiences into universal, timeless poetics. Perhaps this is precisely why we should embrace the challenge of reinterpreting the images and metaphors before us through entirely new contexts—approaching each puzzle not just as a standalone enigma, but as part of an ever-expanding web of meaning.

Duan Jianyu was born in 1970 in Zhengzhou, Henan Province. She graduated from the Oil Painting Department of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in 1995 and currently teaches at the Fine Arts Department of South China Normal University in Guangzhou. Duan Jianyu was awarded the CCAA (China Contemporary Artists Award) 2010 Best Artist Prize. Her recent solo exhibitions include "Kill, Kill, Kill Mart," held at Mirror Garden, Guangzhou, in 2016, and "Dharmas: A Two-Person Show by Duan Jianyu and Hu Xiaoyuan," presented at the Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai in 2013. Among the international group shows and biennials she has participated in recently are "Clapping with One Hand," exhibited at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, USA, in 2018; "The 8th Asia-Pacific Triennial," hosted by the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane in 2015; and "CCAA15: Fifteen Years of Chinese Contemporary Art," showcased at the Power Station of Art in Shanghai in 2014, among others.

Many thanks to the Beijing Contemporary Art Foundation, Shanghai Chi Society Space, and the artists.

We offer the following services for this exhibition:

- Domestic transportation