PRESS RELEASE

Shadow of the Spectacle: Urban China in Ni Weihua's Conceptual Photography

Curator: Meiqin Wang
Date: November 17 - December 12, 2015
Opening Ceremony: Friday, November 20
Artist Talk: 11am
Reception: 4 - 7pm

Through photographs and video works, this exhibition presents contemporary Chinese artist Ni Weihua's two major series Keywords and Landscape Wall. Keywords, an ongoing project that the artist began in 1998, addresses the promulgation of official ideologies in urban public spaces and documents the increasingly spectacular visual presentations adopted by the government propaganda agencies. Landscape Wall, another multiple-year project that he started in 2008, captures the penetration of the spectacular consumerism in Chinese cities through street billboards and addresses the rising inequality in the country at both material and symbolic levels. Together, they represent Ni's artistic effort to simultaneously document and deconstruct China's official discourses of economic development and consumerist urbanization.

A full color exhibition catalog will accompany the exhibition. The exhibition is supported by the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication and Instructionally Related Activities.

West Gallery hours are Mon-Sat 12-4pm, Thurs 12-8pm. For further information, please contact us at 818-677-2156. Visit us at www.csun.edu/artgalleries and www.facebook.com/CSUNArtGalleries.

RELATED EVENTS:
Wednesday, November 18 2-4:45pm
Artist's Documentary Photography Workshop @ Art and Design Rm 332/334
Saturday, November 21 7:30-9:30pm
Artist Lecture hosted by Cultural Enrichment Coalition