Yuan Keru
Moon and Sixpence
Video installation& Performance
Leo Gallery @2017 West Bund Art& Design
ArtReview Asia Xiàn Chǎng Project
Booth: X11
The opposite of West Bund Art Centre toward the northern side(Near the River)
Artist: Yuan Keru
Art work: Moon and Sixpence
11.09 VIP Preview (Invitation olny) 12:00-19：00
11.10 Public Days 12:00-19:00
11.11 Public Days 10:00-19:00
11.12 Public Days 10:00-19:00
Yuan Keru’s three-channel video Moon and Sixpence (2016) is inspired by the 1919 eponymous novel written by W. Somerset Maugham, based on the life of painter Paul Gauguin. In this work, the artist reconsiders the isolated island of Tahiti, where the story is set, as a sci-fi landscape. While architect Yung Ho Chang’s Vertical Glass House, situated close to the West Bund Art Center, is used as a filming location, Yuan also brings in 3D digital special effects to turn the space into an aircraft travelling through the Ice Age. In the aircraft, each floor represents a different plane of existence (the Garden of Eden, the physical and spiritual worlds respectively) with five characters inhabiting the space who embody the creators and the terminators of the world, and communicate with each other through dance.
For this special project at ArtReview Asia Xiàn Chǎng, Yuan Keru brings Moon and Sixpence back to the filming site, expanding the work into an installation which combines moving images and architecture, stories, performances and fashion, bringing the unreal and real together in the Vertical Glass House. On the first floor, image and installation creates a multidimensional space; on the second floor, the three-channel video installationMoon and Sixpence will be shown, alongside its original set; on the third floor, the artist will construct a brand new architectural structure, where a performance by contemporary dancer Qian Ting-ting will bring the video’s narrative to life. Moreover, Yuan has invited fashion designer Dido Liu (founder of the brand deepmoss) to change Qian’s costume and style everyday. The special project as a whole may be seen as a sublimation of the artist’s intent, presented through her innocence, soul, imitation, agitation, pain, fear, passion, obsession and exploration.