[artinfo] National Art Museum of China to Launch "Translife: International Triennial of New Media Art"

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TransLife: Media Art China 2011
International Triennial of New Media Art
Organized by the National Art Museum of China

Opening: July 26, 2011
Venue: National Art Museum of China  No 1 Wusi Street  Dongcheng District
On view from: July 27 - August 17, 2011

Following the groundbreaking international new media art exhibition 
Synthetic Times, a 2008 Beijing Olympics Cultural Project, the 
National Art Museum of China presents TransLife, the next installment 
of the Media Art China series, now instituted as a triennial, slated 
to open on July 26, 2011, in Beijing.

Amidst the global challenges of climate and ecological crises that 
threaten the very existence of humanity, the exhibition TransLife 
reflects on the whereabouts of humankind in relationship to nature 
through an unique perspective and philosophical speculation, calling 
for citizen participation in facing these imminent challenges with 
artistic imagination to advocate a new world view of nature and a 
retooled humanist proposition.

The exhibition is structured by three thematically related components 
that gradually progress from the discovery of new sensorial 
potentials that extend our cognitive capacities to the emergence of 
multiple life forms to biodiversity and an exploration of the 
symbiosis of cohabitation, revealing emerging concepts of life and 
provoking contemplation on the biosphere. In doing so, the exhibition 
also strives to reassess the historical roots and epistemological 
foundation of the current ecological and environmental predicament, 
interrogating the notion of subjectivity inherent in the project of 
modernity and the anthropocentrism derived from that tradition.

"Sensorium of the Extraordinary," the first section of the 
exhibition, reveals and amplifies subdued and muted sensorial 
experiences through technological intervention and augmentation to 
bring awareness to otherwise imperceptible human capacities as well 
as the dynamic exchange between the self and its vibrant, sentient 
surroundings. The revelation of a new sensorium beyond our biological 
limits implicitly complicates our understanding of embodiment and the 
body's newly acquired significance in mediated social spaces, 
broaching the visual-auditory dominant perceptual paradigm, freeing 
us from the hierarchy of sensory systems and opening up new 
possibilities for the imagination of bio-equality.

The second part of the exhibition, "Sublime of the Liminal," takes 
artificial life, intelligent objects and transgenic hybrids as 
natural objects, exploring the liminal states of these emergent life 
forms and their unique manifestations of vitality, extending the 
concept of life from the biological to the informatics, from the 
natural to the artificial, thereby delineating a new domain in which 
the organic interchanges with the inorganic and the biological with 
the artificial. In defying conventional taxonomy, it extends the 
notion of life, preparing for a contract of biodiversity that relies 
on mutual respect and the interdependence of all species and things.

TransLife's third section, "Zone of Impending," brings into focus 
concerns about ecosystems and environments upon which all life 
depends, calling attention to the plight of ecological disruption 
through creative inspirations via artists' great imaginations and 
ingenious strategies to engage us actively in environmental 
protection and in the reconstitution of a healthy ecosphere, thereby 
advocating for a new consciousness of shared responsibility and 
citizen participation.

Within "Zone of Impending," a special project named "Weather Tunnel" 
composed of contributions from multiple art schools in China and 
around the world will be an architectural spectacle. "Weather Tunnel" 
acts as a presentation of an immediate and intuitive revealing of 
complex and otherwise incomprehensible environmental data, 
epitomizing the living conditions humanity faces and highlighting 
concerns about the Earth on which life depends as a prominent focus 
of the exhibition.

The exhibition's architectural design starting with the first floor 
of the museum and extending to the third and the uppermost floors 
resonates with exhibition's thematic construct in which the 
progression from the sensorial experiences of the individual to the 
recognition of the multitude of life phenomena and, finally, to the 
attention to life-sustaining ecosystems echoes with the emotional and 
perceptual evolution from micro-worlds to a macro-universe, making 
the curatorial concept an organic and symbolic physical presence.

TransLife will bring to the Chinese audience an unparalleled roster 
of 53 artworks by over 80 artists and artist collectives from China, 
Korea, Japan, Singapore, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, 
Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, The 
Netherlands, Latvia, Ireland, UK, Finland, Belgium, Norway, Serbia 
and Australia. 40 works will be included in the theme exhibitions and 
10 works will be installed in the "Weather Tunnel" special project.

The exhibition will occupy three galleries on the museum's first 
floor and the entire space of the museum's 3rd and 5th floors, 
totaling over 4000 square meters.

The cutting-edge Chinese architect MA Yansong will design a large 
installation for "Weather Tunnel" in collaboration with artists from 
many countries in an open area of the museum.

The exhibition catalogue will consist of a collection of scholarly 
texts contributed by world-renowned authors to elaborate on the 
exhibition's themes and their philosophical ramifications. The 
catalogue will be co-published by NAMOC, The Liverpool University 
Press and the Foundation for Art and Creative Technologies and 
distributed globally.

Official website: http://www.mediartchina.org


Exhibition Director: FAN Di'an
Artistic Director / Curator: ZHANG Ga
Architectural Design: MA Yansong, I-MAD

Design Partner:
Parsons the New School for Design (New York)

Technology Collaboration
TASML | Tsinghua University Art and Science Research Center Media 
Laboratory (Beijing)