Yuz Museum, Shanghai
October 2018
October 11–December 16, 2018
From its very first line, The Artist is Present is an act of appropriation, taking its name from Marina Abramovic’s celebrated 2010 solo show at MoMA. Curated by Maurizio Cattelan, this exhibition explores the complex relationship between image and reality, representation and presentation, which has been one of the most important topics in art. The Artist is Present focuses on artist’s projects that propose simulation and copy as a paradigm of global culture. The title itself aims at demonstrating how the act of copying can be considered a noble act of creation, featuring the same artistic value as the original. Featuring a selection of more than thirty artists, foreign and Chinese, the exhibition will show both site-specific and existing works that question the most hallowed principles of art in the modern era: originality, intention, and expression. In an era where everything is reproduced, nothing truly keeps the aura of originality, suggesting the urgency to overcome an old concept of counterfeit in favor of a new way to conceive copy as an indispensable tool for facing our contemporary society.
In The Artist is Present the nature of the creative process itself results in deconstruction, and with it, the idea of godlike creation: the only belief remains the conviction that originality is overrated. Artists included: John Ahearn (with Rigoberto Torres), John Armleder, Nina Beier, Brian Belott, Anne Collier, Jose Dávila, Wim Delvoye, Eric Doeringer, Sayre Gomez, Andy Hung Chi-Kin, Matt Johnson, Jamian Juliano-Villani, Kapwani Kiwanga, Ragnar Kjartansson, Josh Kline, Louise Lawler, Margaret Lee, Hannah Levy, Lu Pingyuan, Ma Jun, Nevine Mahmoud, Aleksandra Mir, Pentti Monkkonen, Philippe Parreno, Jon Rafman, Mika Rottenberg, Reena Spaulings, Sturtevant, Superflex, Oscar Tuazon, Kaari Upson, Gillian Wearing, Lawrence Weiner, Christopher Williams, XU ZHEN®, Yan Pei-Ming, Damon Zucconi.