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MF ProgrammeYang Fudong (China) – the russian premiere of the “Seven intellectuals in the bamboo forest” polyscreen installation (full version).The asian multi-media art, must have won the viewers sympathy not by exotic faces or high-tech landscapes, but by the transformation of the 1000-years old philosophic tradition. Its ideas are skilfully embodied by the artists in highly technological forms, not losing the poetical clarity or depth. That's what happened with shanghai artist Yang Fudong, who retells the story about IIIrd century seven sages and rakes. They abandoned the suffocating life at the court which had been full of intrigues and fuss, and found the refuge in the bamboo forest, where they could play music, feast and lead scholarly discussions. Fudong follows the iconography, which was formed in chinese and japanese painting years ago, and makes a film about... future
Fudong was deeply impressed by the story of the Seven Sages in the bamboo forest when he was still training at the China Academy of Fine Arts in Hangzhou. He "felt that they were open minded, free spirited, and genuine. They acted based on their emotions. They were idealists and thinkers". After graduating in the city, full of the ancient monuments and historical reminiscences, the artist moved to swift Shanghai where he taught himself experimental photography and film. He saw young educated ambitious people who were confused because they could not make their aspirations come true and understand why does it happen so. Suddenly an old tale about philosophic escape from the society turned into the story about the estrangement and frustration. In Shanghai Yang Fudong produced a work which he called "The first intellectual" (2000). This photographic tryptich represents the perplexed young man wearing spectacles. He stays in his suit and with his briefcase on the center mall, all alone in the middle of the road. He is looking around, his face is covered with blood. And there's a brick in his hands. "I touched on a concept" - says the author - "that still preoccupies me: One wants to accomplish big things, but in the end it doesn't happen. Every educated Chinese person is very ambitious, and obviously there are obstacles--obstacles coming either from "out there," meaning society or history, or from "inside," from within oneself. In this work you could see that "the first intellectual" has been wounded. He has blood running down his face and wants to respond, but he doesn't know at whom he should throw his brick; he doesn't know if the problem stems from himself or society". That was the beginning of the work which is presented now for the first time by the X Media Forum. - "The seven sages in the bamboo forest". It's a meditative road-movie, imbued with film noir and ambient aesthetics; it tells about seven contemporary young persons travelling in the pursuit of something, maybe Utopia. Each part of the movie reveals the nature of one of the characters, but the questions raised by the artist and legend remain unanswered. "Their future is not foreseeable" - says Fudong - "and this film is about future". The heroes climb the mountain and see the pines and cypresses, plenty of lakes, brooks and hundreds of big and small peaks... |
MF Winners 2008 Organized by:
MediaFest |
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