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2022.10.26-2023.5.14

Speakers in The Square

Plug us to the power And begin the lingering of your body Listen to me Listen to him Nothing is new under the sun ‍ ——Tao Hui, Speakers in The Square, 2022 Commissioned and supported by Aranya Art Center and The Chapel of Sound, Aranya Jinshanling

Introduction

Aranya Art Center and the Chapel of Sound, Aranya Jinshanling are delighted to present the solo exhibition Speakers in TheSquare by Chinese artist, Tao Hui, featuring his latest eponymous sound installation commissioned by the two institutions. This is the first presentation of a long-term contemporary art exhibition program focusing on the medium of “sound”, curated by Aranya Art Center and held at the Chapel ofSound, Aranya Jinshanling.

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Seven speakers are placed in the audience seating area of a semi-open-air amphitheater in an irregular and yet orderly manner. They are bestowed with the ability to converse, whispering intermittently in the cacophony of the storm and music their sentiments of being tools. In the square, just like how human beings employ their bodies and movements to establish their stage, the speakers mobilize their physical presence and utterance to expand their frontiers. In city life, the square has always been an indispensable space for emotional display, where people communicate and interact with each other. In contemporary Chinese society, speakers often play a prominent role in activities happening in the square, from square dancing to street performances. Granting these tools a first-person voice and perspective, the work disrupts the conventional dichotomic relationships between the subject and the object, between the stage and the auditorium, to conjure up a brand-new emotional experience and social bond.


The architectural design of the Chapel draws on the myth of a celestial stone falling upon the earth, generating tension between nature and artificiality as it seeks to balance the two. Speakers in The Square brings “the square” into the valley in the form of sounds. City and valley, performance and audience, these entities constantly transform within the realm delineated by sound waves. The instrumental music in this work is composed by Li Daiguo, a pioneer in Chinese contemporary experimental music, with the vocals and dialogues performed by Wang Jiayi, Zhi Hui, Hou Yu, Jiang Ruoyu and Luo Yudan.


Speakers in The Square is open to public from October 26th, 2022 through May 14th, 2023. Reservations are required. This exhibition is organized by Damien Zhang, Director of Aranya Art Center, along with curatorial assistant Jiaming Wang. In the meantime, Tao Hui’s first retrospective solo exhibition, Searing Pain, is currently on view at Aranya Art Center, Beidaihe New Area, Qinhuangdao through February 5th, 2023.

MOre
Virtual TourExhibition Booklet (PDF)

List of Artists

Commissioned Artist*
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Installation Views

Ding Yi

Three Flags

2023

Flag, air blower

Dimensions variable

Commissioned and produced by aranya plein air art project 2023

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of aranya plein air art project

Chen Ruofan

Botanical Bank: 54 Objects Transplanted

2023

Stainless steel, LED, video

400 × 400 × 400 cm

55:92 min.

Commissioned and produced by aranya plein air art project 2023

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of aranya plein air art project

Tom Friedman

Hazmat Love

2017

Stainless steel

150.5 × 118.1 × 107.3 cm

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of the artist, Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong,

Seoul, London and aranya plein air art project

David Zink Yi

Washingtonia

2017

Stainless steel

520 × 100 × 100 cm each

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of the artist, KÖNIG GALERIE, Berlin / Seoul

and aranya plein air art project

Prinz Gholam

Stone Faces (Jin Shan Ling)

2023

Stone

Dimensions variable

Commissioned and produced by aranya plein air art project 2023

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of aranya plein air art project

Haegue Yang

Migratory DMZ Birds on Asymmetric Lens - Duiitt Duiitt Vessel (Gray-Backed Thrush)

2020

Soapstone, 3D printed resin

158 × 89 × 147 cm

Installation view, aranya plein art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of the artist, Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris

and aranya plein air art project

Robert Mapplethorpe

Self Portrait

1981

Silver gelatin print

58.5 × 61 × 3.2 cm (framed)

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of aranya plein air art project

© Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Used by permission.

Courtesy Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, London · Paris · Salzburg · Seoul

Richard Long

Four Ways

2014

Delabole Slate from Cornwall

490 × 498 × 58 cm

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi© Richard Long

Courtesy of Lisson Gallery and aranya plein air art project

Charles Ray

School Play

2014

Painted fiberglass

193 × 58 × 39 cm

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

© Charles Ray

Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery and aranya plein air art project

Liang Shuo

Little House

2023

Mosaic tiles

Dimensions variable

Commissioned and produced by aranya plein air art project 2023

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of aranya plein air art project

Alina Chaiderov

Phoenix

2023

Stainless steel, cable protection tube

512 × 300 × 100 cm

Produced by aranya plein air art project 2023

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of aranya plein air art project

Vivian Suter

Untitled

Undated

Mixed media on canvas

Dimensions variable

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of the artist, Gladstone Gallery

and aranya plein air art project

Christine Sun Kim

A Permanent Tourist In A Foreign Language

2023

Inkjet printing on stainless-steel sign post

225 × 150 cm × 7 parts

Commissioned and produced by aranya plein air art project 2023

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of aranya plein air art project

Sylvie Fleury

Giant Mushroom

2008

Fiberglass, metallic car paint

260 × 250 × 250 cm

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of the artist, Almine Rech

and aranya plein air art project

Nabuqi

We

2023

3D printing resin, paint

235 × 146 × 75 cm

Commissioned and produced by aranya plein air art project 2023

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun ShiCourtesy of aranya plein air art project

Su Chang

Intersect

2023

Plaster, aluminate, hemp and other mixed materials

Dimensions variable

Commissioned and produced by aranya plein air art project 2023

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of aranya plein air art project

Michelle Wang Yiyi

Red Berries

2023

Hawthorn berry, aluminum wire

Dimensions variable

Commissioned and produced by aranya plein air art project 2023

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Zaiye Studio

Courtesy of aranya plein air art project

Isabelle Cornaro

Untitled (column #2 & column #3)

2014

Steel structure with black resin castings

66 × 274 × 66 cm each

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of aranya plein air art project

Chen Xiaoyi

Invisible Liquid

2023

UV print on aluminum plate

Dimensions variable

Commissioned and produced by aranya plein air art project 2023

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of aranya plein air art project

Katinka Bock

Parasite Fountain

2019

Bronze, transparent PVC tube, water pump

Fish: 85 cm

Column: 300 × 30 cm

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of aranya plein air art project

Tony Cragg

Accurate Figure

2011
Carrara Marble
206 × 83 × 91 cm

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of aranya plein air art project

Installation Views

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About

Artist

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Tao Hui was born in 1987 in the mountain village of Yunyang near Chongqing, China, and now lives and works in Beijing. Drawing inspiration from personal memories, television, and popular culture, Tao distills and weaves them into experimental visual narratives and film styles. Running throughout his practice is a sense of misplacement, explored through such subjects as social identity, gender, ethnicity, and cultural crisis. He sets up absurd, paradoxical, and melodramatic scenes with characters brimming with metaphor. Tao reveals our shared contemporary experiences and prompts us to face our own cultural histories, living conditions, and subjectivities.


Solo exhibitions include: OCAT Xi’an, Xi’an, China, 2017. UCCA, Beijing, China, 2015. Selected group exhibitions include: re-IMAGE-n, The 4th Vancouver Biennale, Vancouver, Canada, 2019. 11th Shanghai Biennale, PSA, Shanghai, China, 2016. Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France, 2016. In 2015, Tao received the grand prize of the 19th Contemporary Art Festival Sesc Videobrasil; in the same year, he won the grand jury prize of Contemporary Art Archive from Art Sanya & Huayu Youth Award.

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The Chapel of Sound, Aranya Jinshanling


Aranya Jinshanling is located between Miyun, Beijing and Chengde, Hebei Province, about 120 kilometers away from downtown Beijing. This represents the perfect distance from the city, neither too far nor too close, and the proper distance between commotion and tranquility, between materialism and spirituality. The Chapel is designed by OPEN Architecture, with a total surface area of 775 square meters and a height of 13 meters. The main structure is constructed with massive stones in the shape of a reversed cone, including an indoor semi-open-air amphitheater, an outdoor stage, a mountain view terrace, and an underground service area. The open-cave design merges the acoustic system with natural resonance, blending scenic views of the sky and surrounding valleys, and subtle sounds of nature into the Chapel’s space.

Selected Press