Fraternité Passagère

Among the young Chinese artists, LIU Xinyi is recognized for his political approach of particular sensitivity. This sensitivity allows him to go beyond the strategies and forms of “Political Pop” or “dissident criticism” often practiced by Chinese artists of previous generations.

The fruit of his reflection comes from his incessant investigation of individual autonomy in today’s world and, from his questions on the social ladder, cultural differences, human inequalities in a larger context. He always tries to deposit his works in a concrete environment by promoting a precise dialogue. He trusts his subjective perception while remaining aware of his limitations.

Artist invited by DawanArt as part of the residency program in Paris, Liu Xinyi offers us the exhibition entitled “Fraternité Passagère”, directly inspired by the place of the residence near the Place de la République – a highly symbolic monument of France. For three months, he spent almost every day there.

By comparing the reality and the imaginary of the place, he finds the place of the Republic, in winter, rather quiet. Except for militant rallies and small-scale commercial activities, the place is rather frequented by people who go out daily, sharing the public space.

The artist realized that the basis and the goal of contemporary politics is to bring together the multitude, despite the strong differences in economic status, cultural identity or political position. People from the same city gathered for various reasons, live together, involved in public affairs and participate in it.

However, the peaceful appearance does not imply that a society that practices the idea of ​​”republic” is without concern. The effect of influx and regroupment of men is constantly forming the new conditions, while the established order and codes aim for a certain constancy.

How to maintain the effectiveness of such a system? The artist multiplies these observations on the ground by paying attention to banal objects in the street, first of all material equipments with a public functioning, then of the ideal design behind these objects. In the eyes of the artist, this equipment and the ideas behind it are two kinds of “fundamental components” in an urban space.

Focusing his research on these two components, his work is elaborated in a synthetic way through the works of installation: for the first he represents Paris infrastructures transforming them, such as the milestones, the ATMs, the sewers ; for the second he tries to visualize certain problems, such as “the appropriate distance between people”.

Through distortion, symbolization, the release of meaning from original objects, the artist interprets the unspeakable concerns of a present being in the public space. This exhibition will take place simultaneously in the space of the DawanArt’s artist residency project and the project partner Liusa Wang Gallery.

It emphasizes the instant emergence of in situ reflection in Paris by maintaining a coherence with the constant questioning of the artist, in this case, how the conception and imagination of “living together” can be assigned to at any moment by the accelerated renewal of urban infrastructures and collective ideas in China.

The expression “Fraternité Passagère”, which includes a French word of high value, is not an indiscriminate choice; On the contrary, it results from an intentional imprudence that a stranger uses outside the system of the French language.

“Passagère” carries a kind of self-deprecation. On the one hand, the artist in his work cared about the world and the crowds but often forgetting that he himself is a passenger through various social backgrounds. On the other hand, in contemporary society, desires and acts of self-help that go beyond selfish interest are often due to chance and caused by a momentary human passion outside rationality and norms. The word “passenger” simultaneously includes both of these meanings.