The Revolution Has Not Yet Succeeded: New China/Middle East

An installation based project combining sculptural forms and video performances. The exhibition addresses issues relating to activism in contemporary China and the Middle East through the experiences of Diaspora artists. Within the art world, nothing has been more censored than art coming out of China and the Middle East. Only in the last decade and a half has there been opportunity for new art ideas to come from Chinese and Middle Eastern contemporary artists (where these artists’ ideas are not recognized in their homeland, they are instead censored.)

"In the circumstances of crises, art is made out of frustration. Not always for commodity, or to be sold, but to just make sense of things." - Shahriar Asdollah-zadeh

Diaspora artists involved:

Leonard Kai Fung So:
Leonard is a colonist born in Hong Kong in the late '80s, who has been educated in New Zealand for over half of his life. Although he is without a Chinese or Hong Kong passport, Leonard still identifies himself as Chinese. During his life in Hong Kong Leonard witnessed the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong from the British to the Republic of China on the1st of July 1997. Leonard has lived in New Zealand since 1998 but frequently travels to Hong Kong to do his public performances.

Shahriar Asdollah-zadeh:
Shahriar came to New Zealand at the age of four. He is the son of a Persian father and Filipino mother whose relatives were executed in Iran in the 1980s for their belief in the Bahá'í faith. His artwork marries contemporary art and Web Culture to examine issues of social and human injustices experienced globally, particularly in relation to the Declaration of Human Rights. Shahriar has lived and travelled to and from the Middle East in the last several years. His experiences during this period have greatly influenced his practice.

Event listed by melaniebell

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