The University of Pittsburgh's University Art Gallery will host the exhibit "Materializing Memory: Contemporary Video Art from China" from September 5 through October 11.
Exhibited in Pittsburgh for the first time, Materializing Memory presents the work of five young Chinese artists, all born after 1980. These artists are part of China’s balinghou and jiulinghou (post-1980 and post-1990) generations. Unlike earlier practitioners, they came of age following the dramatic economic and cultural reforms of 1978. Through the medium of video art, these artists explore contemporary Chinese society during a period of profound technological and urban transformation. Their work is deeply informed by the Internet, rapid economic development, international communication and exchange, as well as opportunities to earn advanced degrees abroad. These videos document personal and collective experiences. Some record individual feelings of boredom and isolation, while others investigate broader social contradictions and complexities within China and beyond. Together, these works illustrate the plasticity of contemporary experience, and ask what it means to remember during a time when progress accelerates the urge to forget.The exhibition's opening reception is scheduled from 5:00 to 7:00 pm on September 5; the gallery is open from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm weekdays in the Frick Fine Arts Building in Oakland (map).
