Enfilade

Press release (12 October 2017) from Mia:

Power and Beauty in China’s Last Dynasty: Concept and Design by Robert Wilson
Minneapolis Institute of Art, 3 February — 27 May 2018

Curated by Liu Yang

The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is collaborating with celebrated theater artist Robert Wilson to organize a first-of-its-kind exhibition highlighting the drama, rituals, and opulence of the Qing Empire, the last imperial dynasty of China. The exhibition will present objects from Mia’s renowned collection of Chinese art, including rare court costumes, jades, lacquers, paintings, and sculpture, to be displayed in an immersive, experiential environment conceived of by Wilson. Power and Beauty in China’s Last Dynasty: Concept and Design by Robert Wilson, curated by Liu Yang, Mia’s Curator of Chinese Art, will be on view February 3 through May 27, 2018.

Manchu Emperor’s Ceremonial 12-Symbol jifu Court Robe, 1723–35, Qing Dynasty, silk tapestry (kesi) (Minneapolis Institute of Art, 42.8.11).

“The staging and storytelling involved in this exhibition speak to Mia’s belief in art’s ability to inspire wonder and fuel curiosity,” said Matthew Welch, Mia’s Deputy Director and Chief Curator. “Through the use of the theatrical elements of lighting, sound, and progression, we examine the layers of imperial life—from the external presentation of the court to the internal, private life of the emperor. We want the visitor to feel as though they are part of this otherworldly, intoxicating, and sometimes even dangerous world.”

During the Qing (pronounced ‘ch’ing’) court’s reign (1644–1912), the arts flourished—rivaling that of Europe’s great kingdoms. This backdrop of opulence served to affirm imperial power and prestige, and acted as stagecraft to enhance the emperor’s leading role as the ‘son of heaven’. Court costume, for example, was heavily embroidered or woven with symbolic designs to represent cosmological order. Roiling waves and faceted rocks around the hem evoke the earth’s oceans and mountains. Stylized clouds hover above, indicating the heavens. Dragons, a longstanding symbol of imperial authority and might, cavort in the clouds, suggesting the emperor’s rule of heaven and earth.

Jade Mountain Illustrating the Gathering of Poets at the Lan T’ing Pavilion, 1790, Qianlong Period (1736–95), Qing Dynasty, light green jade (Minneapolis Institute of Art).

“Mia has one of the world’s great collections of Chinese art outside of China,” said Liu Yang, Mia’s curator of Chinese Art and head of China, South, and Southeast Asian Art. “Our collection of Qing dynasty textiles is one of the most comprehensive in the West, and we have many other important objects associated with the Qing emperors and their courts. It is personally very exciting for me to be able to highlight these objects in an unexpected and fresh manner by working with Robert Wilson.”

“Mia could not be more delighted to work with Robert Wilson on the creation of this exhibition,” said Kaywin Feldman, Mia’s Nivin and Duncan MacMillan Director and President. “His unique approach to exhibition design and his willingness to push the boundaries make him an ideal collaborator. His style often involves dramatic contrasts—brightness and darkness, fullness and emptiness—which bring a new perspective to these historic objects.”

The exhibition progresses through a series of galleries that lead visitors from the performative, external world of the imperial court to the intimate, interior world of the emperor. Each gallery will also feature an original soundscape created by Wilson.

Objects highlights include
• a ceremonial twelve-symbol jifu court robe worn by the emperor
• a formal court robe worn by the empress
• a 640-pound jade mountain commissioned by the Qianlong emperor
• a multi-color lacquered and carved imperial throne
• a meditating Buddha carved from white jade enthroned within a Tibetan-style stupa of green jade
• an imperial portrait of prince Duo Lou
• a carved lacquer box adorned with nine auspicious dragons and bearing the Qianlong emperor’s seal

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Born in Waco, Texas, Robert Wilson is among the world’s foremost theater and visual artists. His works for the stage unconventionally integrate a wide variety of artistic media, including dance, movement, lighting, sculpture, music, and text. His images are aesthetically striking and emotionally charged, and his productions have earned the acclaim of audiences and critics worldwide. After being educated at the University of Texas and Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute, Wilson founded the New York–based performance collective “The Byrd Hoffman School of Byrds” in the mid‐1960s, and developed his first signature works, including Deafman Glance (1970) and A Letter for Queen Victoria (1974–75). With Philip Glass he wrote the seminal opera Einstein on the Beach (1976). Wilson’s artistic collaborators include many writers and musicians, such as Heiner Müller, Tom Waits, Susan Sontag, Laurie Anderson, William Burroughs, Lou Reed, and Jessye Norman. He has also left his imprint on masterworks such as Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, Brecht/Weill’s Threepenny Opera, Debussy’s Pelléas et Melisande, Goethe’s Faust, Homer’s Odyssey, Jean de la Fontaine’s Fables, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, and Verdi’s La Traviata. Wilson’s drawings, paintings, and sculptures have been presented around the world in hundreds of solo and group showings, and his works are held in private collections and museums throughout the world. Wilson has been honored with numerous awards for excellence, including a Pulitzer Prize nomination, two Premio Ubu awards, the Golden Lion of the Venice Biennale, and an Olivier Award. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as the German Academy of the Arts, and holds eight Honorary Doctorate degrees. France pronounced him Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters (2003) and Officer of the Legion of Honor (2014); and Germany awarded him the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit (2014). Wilson is the founder and Artistic Director of The Watermill Center, a laboratory for the arts in Water Mill, New York.

After completing his PhD at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London in 1997, Liu Yang served as the curator of Chinese art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. There he mounted an impressive number of major exhibitions, including shows on Chinese painting, Buddhist sculpture, jades, bronzes, calligraphy, modern prints, and Daoist art. Since joining Mia in 2011, Liu has curated exhibitions on the contemporary ink painter Liu Dan as well as on ancient ritual bronzes and treasures associated with China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang.

Imperial Throne, Qianlong Period (1736–95), Qing Dynasty, polychrome lacquer over softwood frame (Minneapolis Institute of Art, 93.32a-d).

From the National Museum Cardiff:

Ragnar Kjartansson: The Sky in a Room
National Museum Cardiff, 3 February — 11 March 2018

Chamber Organ, 1774, commissioned by Sir Watkins Williams Wynn for his London town house in St James’s Square. The case was designed by Robert Adam (National Museum Cardiff).

Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson will return to Wales to present a brand-new site-specific performance piece, The Sky in a Room, co-commissioned by Artes Mundi and Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales. The performance will see a series of organists performing the 1959 hit song “Il Cielo In Una Stanza” (“The Sky in a Room”) on the 1774 Sir Watkins Williams Wynn organ, and it will run from 3 February to 11 March at National Museum Cardiff.

Developed after Kjartansson’s participation in Artes Mundi 6 in 2015, the exhibition is made possible by the Derek Williams Trust Purchase Prize, which enables Amgueddfa Cymru to purchase work by Artes Mundi shortlisted artists. It is also the first performance piece acquired by the Museum.

As part of the work, all of the paintings, objects and decorative furniture from the Museum’s Art in Britain 1700–1800 gallery have been removed. In the centre of the empty gallery is a solo performer, seated at a chamber organ originally commissioned by the Welsh patron of the arts Sir Watkins Williams Wynn in 1774. Throughout the day, across the five-week duration of the performance, the organist sings and plays “Il Cielo In Una Stanza,” a famous Italian love song written by Gino Paoli in 1959. The lyrics of this song recall the power of love to disappear walls into forests and ceilings into sky. Kjartansson’s work similarly transforms the Museum, dissolving space and time through the hypnotic repetition of the song.

Ragnar Kjartansson was born in Iceland in 1976. Live performance and music are central to his practice which also incorporates film, installation and painting. His film installation The Visitors featured in Artes Mundi 6.

Artes Mundi brings exceptional and challenging international artists to Wales, generating unique opportunities to engage creatively with the urgent issues of our time. Artes Mundi 8 takes place at National Museum Cardiff, 26 October 2018 – 24 February 2019.

The winner of the prestigious £40,000 Artes Mundi prize will be announced in January 2019 following a four-month exhibition of works by the shortlisted artists. The shortlist was selected from over 450 nominations spanning 86 countries and comprises five of the world’s most celebrated contemporary artists, whose works explore what it means to be human. They are: Anna Boghiguian, Bouchra Khalili, Otobong Nkanga, Trevor Paglen and Apichatpong Weerasethakul.