We are very excited to announce the fifth anniversary celebration of Chronus Art Center in 2018. Following the duo solo exhibition Jim Campbell & ZHANG Peili: The Flickering Uncertain that kicks off the celebration, we will launch a series of new programs and thematic exhibitions to fete our 5th birthday and share our thoughts, creativity, and exploration in media art with the public.
5 Years in a Glimpse
CAC was founded in 2013 by the entrepreneur Dillion ZHANG, independent curator LI Zhenhua, and artist HU Jieming, and presented pioneering projects such as Extra Time with Raqs Media Collective and Jeffrey Shaw & HU Jieming Duo Solo Exhibitions, among others. Since 2015, under the artistic direction of ZHANG Ga, curator and professor of media art, and with the support of a newly established international advisory board of leading scholars, artists and museum professionals, CAC has restructured its programming by launching a series of interdisciplinary projects and solo exhibitions, which include: Psychoprosa by the Austrian artist Thomas Feuerstein; Haptic Field by the American artist Chris Salter; Closed Circuit – Open Duration by the Finnish artist Terike Haapoja. CAC also presented and co-presented several thematic group exhibitions such as: Folklore of the Cyber World, a parallel online project of the Chinese Pavilion @ la Biennale di Venezia 2015; Three Rooms, a touring exhibition by young media artists from China, South Korea and Germany; unREAL:The Algorithmic Present, co-presented by House of Electronic Art Basel (HeK); and Datumsoria: The Return of the Real, co-presented by ZKM | Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe.
Among these, the exhibition series Datumsoria presents the achievements of Chronus Art Center’s special program "Art&Technology@” (A&T@). Inspired by the rich tradition of interdisciplinary, experimental synergy between art, science and technology, the program pairs leading Chinese artists working in traditional media with technicians and industry professionals, giving the artist access to advanced programming and production equipment. Together, they develop works that are unique and differ from the artist’s long-established vocabulary and formal strategies, thus opening up new horizons and furthering the artists’ experimental potential. The works are also important outcomes of the <CAC_Lab> and exhibited alongside other international artists. This exhibition format creates an exchange and dialogue between different cultural and historical approaches to technology and reflects on the nature of technology and its impact on contemporary consciousness.
Chronus Art Center co-organized a public program entitled LEONARDO ART, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY LECTURE SERIES with Leonardo/The International Society of the Arts, Sciences and Technology (Leonardo/ISAST) and Central Academy of Fine Art (CAFA). CAC also launched a wide range of public education programs including workshops, readings, and lectures, in conjunction with CAC’s annual exhibition plan.
CAC 5th Anniversary Celebration
In 2018, Chronus Art Center will establish the following programs:
- CAC Editorial
CAC Editorial will serve as a new platform for scholarly writing and publishing. Based on the previous collaboration with Leonardo/The International Society of the Arts, Sciences and Technology (Leonardo/ISAST), and together with Central Academy of Fine Art - Center of Art & Technology (CAFAcat), the program probes into the intersection of philosophy, philosophy of technology, science studies, sociology, anthropology, ecology, literature, media studies, art history and art criticism from the perspective of media art and establishes a professional platform for the discussion of media theory in the global context. The program will select outstanding essays and texts from a rotating open call. The selected essays will be published both online and offline.
CAC Editorial will be announced in Summer 2018. Please follow the official Chronus Art Center WeChat account to stay updated on the latest information.
- CAC Atelier
CAC Atelier will be a monthly series of workshops to introduce the basics of media creation technology to participants of all ages with no prior experience. It will cover programming, web design, music production, video-game development, and even gadget exploration. CAC Atelier will not only offer cutting edge technological knowledge to curious participants, but it will also offer a hands-on and innovative experience.
- CAC Tools
CAC Tools is an opensource community to share knowledge, research and tools in the disciplines of art, science and technology. Through Chronus Art Center’s official website and WeChat account, CAC Tools will publish relevant resourses and outcomes from CAC Research/Creation. This will include the tools developed by the Research/Creation fellowship winners during their residency at CAC, the outcomes of <CAC_Lab> and work related to the special program “A&T@“ at Chronus Art Center.
2018 Exhibition Highlights
Jim Campbell & ZHANG Peili: The Flickering Uncertain
2018.3.17 – 2018.6.17
Chronus Art Center
Chronus Art Center (CAC) will present Jim Campbell & ZHANG Peili: The Flickering Uncertain, a duo solo exhibition by two pioneers of media art, as the very first exhibition in 2018. It will be the first solo exhibition for the San Francisco based artist Jim Campbell in China. Although strikingly heterogeneous, the affinity between the two artists lies implicitly in their shared interest in invoking an aesthetic experience by employing “low resolution” both as a visual device and as a perceptual agent, rendering an embodied looking / seeing, seeking to grasp the technological and psychological intricacies of reality.
Machines Are Not Alone
Device Art Triennial 2018
2018.7.7– 2018.10.21
In this summer, CAC will present the group exhibition Machines Are Not Alone. Exposing machines as systems, networks, milieus, natures of many orders and cultures of different kinds, this exhibition will investigate and discuss the symbiosis and reciprocity between natural and cultural machines.
The exhibition will begin as a prologue to the Device Art Triennale 2018. It will launch at Chronus Art Center in Shanghai in the summer of 2018, and then continue to the Zagreb Contemporary Art Museum in the winter, finally concluding at the Queens Art Museum in New York the following year. Each traveling iteration will situate itself in the local milieu and create interconnections with its immediate surroundings.
“Art&Technology@”(A&T@) Research Program, 2nd Edition of International Touring Exhibition @CAC
2018.11.10 – 2019.1.20
Chronus Art Center Gallery 1
In the fall of 2018, Chronus Art Center will present a duo solo exhibition by the Chinese artist YAN Lei and the French artist Laurent Grasso. The program extends the concept of Datumsoria: The Return of the Real presented at ZKM | Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe. It also reflects the outcomes of the 2nd edition of the “Art&Tech@” series.
Three Rooms, International Touring Exhibition @CAC
2018.11.10– 2019.1.20
Chronus Art Center Gallery 2
In the spring of 2017, Chronus Art Center launched the program A Nomination Exhibition of Three Rooms: International Touring Exhibition of Young Media Artists. After last year’s exhibition and several months of selection, the three institutions -- Chronus Art Center (China), ZKM | Center for Art and Media (Karlsruhe, Germany) and Nam June Paik Art Center (Korea) – nominated three artists: YANG Jian (China), Verena Fridrich (Germany), and Kim Heecheon (Korea). The group exhibition featuring the three artists will be devised as a touring show with multiple themes circulating between the three organizations between 2018 and 2019. Three Rooms at CAC will continue to support the generation of emerging artists through the organization of exhibitions and public programs. We welcome young artists starting out in the field of media art practice to join us in considering issues surrounding the potential of contemporary media technology and artistic production.
In addition, Chronus Art Center will organize a thematic symposium to complement CAC’s research agenda and accompany the Fall 2018 events as a two-way communication platform for both professionals and the public.
Please follow Chronus Art Center on WeChat to get updated with more information about our latest exhibitions and the public programs for our 5th anniversary celebration!
