Agorà
permanent sound installation
OPENArchival Platform
Guo Jie Cai
Global Identity
The Impossible Black Tulip, third episode of the GLOBAL IDENTITIES Postcolonial and cross-cultural Narrative cycle, is a project that finds its reason in the exploration of the concept of belonging. The exhibition is named after the earliest known Chinese world map that unites western and eastern cartographic views and style. Maps and identities have a deep connection: As a crucial visualization of national borders, mapping has been linked to the political construction of national identity. However this map, symbol of cultural hybridity, confuses our concept of identity and, along with its rarity and exoticism, it was called the Impossible Black Tulip. Through this exhibition and participatory actions, this event wants to contribute to the post-colonial debates on hybridity, decolonization and fluid identity. In this reagard Macau represents an unique case-study: a Portuguese colony for 400 years, after the return to China in 1999 as a special administrative region (SAR) , identity mak
The Impossible Black Tulip, third episode of the GLOBAL IDENTITIES Postcolonial and cross-cultural Narrative cycle, is a project that finds its reason in the exploration of the concept of belonging. The exhibition is named after the earliest known Chinese world map that unites western and eastern cartographic views and style. Maps and identities have a deep connection: As a crucial visualization of national borders, mapping has been linked to the political construction of national identity. However this map, symbol of cultural hybridity, confuses our concept of identity and, along with its rarity and exoticism, it was called the Impossible Black Tulip. Through this exhibition and participatory actions, this event wants to contribute to the post-colonial debates on hybridity, decolonization and fluid identity. In this reagard Macau represents an unique case-study: a Portuguese colony for 400 years, after the return to China in 1999 as a special administrative region (SAR) , identity making in Macao has been a process of incorporating instead of repressing or eliminating the identities of “the other”. How is the concept of hybridity related to belonging? Together with the local Chinese community (one of the biggest communities in the EU) and three artists from Macau, Eric FOK, Gue Jie CAI, and Ka Long WONG we will investigate the different ways we can reflect on these concepts. We will inquire as to the legitimacy of basing an identity on only certain specific aspects of local colonial history, the relationship between belonging and ownership, and finally, the relationship between the memory of an area and the “modern” capitalist appropriation of the landscape. The various anti-migratory events and the increasing success of souverainiste parties have brought to light an urgent need to analyse the historical racialised constructions of identity in order to foster contemporary debate on a more fluid concept of identity. How can we define an “identity” today?
Artistic Direction: Valentina Gensini Curating: Livia Dubon Organization: Mus.e, Le Murate. Progetti Arte Contemporanea Coordinator: Sandy Chan Interpretation Panels: Veronica Gabriele e Livia Dubon Graphic Design: Athos de Martino Sponsor: Instituto Cultural do Governo da R.A.E. de Macau (I.C.M.), the Institute Confucio Florence, Macau Visual Students Art Zone Supporters: the Camões Institute of Lisbon, the Department of Languages, Literatures and Studies Interculturali of the University of Florence and the “Fernando Pessoa” Chair Contributions: Association Chì-na, Dragon Film Festival, Permanent workshop for the Peace – District 5, Florence.
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Installation artist, painter, curator
Guo Jie Cai is an installation artist, teacher and curator. Born in Hsin Chu, Taiwan, he moved to Macau in 2011. Cai was awarded a BA in Painting and a MFA in Installation at National Taiwan University of Arts. He now focuses on painting, art installation, art curating and teaching. He is currently lecturer at the School of Arts of Macau Polytechnic Institute; Art instructor at Institute for Tourism Studies; Visual-Art instructor at Macau Art Museum; Youth member of Macau Artists Society; vice director of Art For All Society; and art consultant at Wind Box Community Development. The most recent solo exhibitions include “As Memory Whispers”, Nan Vam Lake Art Gallery , Macau Artists Society , Macau; “Between States of Mind –Cai Guo Jie Solo Exhibition”, New Tile House, Innoart, Taiwan; “Cores da cidade de Macau”, Rui Cunha Foundation Gallery, Macau, China
Guo Jie Cai is an installation artist, teacher and curator. Born in Hsin Chu, Taiwan, he moved to Macau in 2011. Cai was awarded a BA in Painting and a MFA in Installation at National Taiwan University of Arts. He now focuses on painting, art installation, art curating and teaching. He is currently lecturer at the School of Arts of Macau Polytechnic Institute; Art instructor at Institute for Tourism Studies; Visual-Art instructor at Macau Art Museum; Youth member of Macau Artists Society; vice director of Art For All Society; and art consultant at Wind Box Community Development. The most recent solo exhibitions include “As Memory Whispers”, Nan Vam Lake Art Gallery , Macau Artists Society , Macau; “Between States of Mind –Cai Guo Jie Solo Exhibition”, New Tile House, Innoart, Taiwan; “Cores da cidade de Macau”, Rui Cunha Foundation Gallery, Macau, China
This content is avaiable only in this archive.
