daft

dAfT (group) at Shanghai Gallery of Art

It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.

Macbeth Act 5, scene 5, 19–28 Shakespeare

It’s paradoxical that as the world becomes increasingly ‘civilized’, technologically advanced and media savvy, global culture increasingly veers towards the inane. DAFT showcases examples of ‘idiot tendencies’ in contemporary art and asks what our fascination with infantile humor, disgusting behavior and irrationality says about our world today. Popular culture is rife with extreme forays into the ridiculous, from the Jack Ass movie trilogy, to exhibitionist game shows, to reality television and the pervasiveness of pornography. These lowbrow mediums often corrupt social behavior, and the fiction that they portray inadvertently warps our reality. Yet, it seems this is only half the story. Daily observations and outrageous news reports testify that today’s society is increasingly absurd, and that our fiction and reality often mirror one another.

Contemporary artists around the world have reflected this condition by celebrating, critiquing and utilizing sophomoric attributes in their work. Many of the pieces presented in this exhibition refute any pretense that we live in a ‘civilized’ society. Instead these works posit critiques of contemporary culture and our often nonsensical human state. Other works offer a glimpse at raw, human expression, unfettered by the intellect, social mores and civil conditioning reminding us that beneath the layers of our own façade that we are corporeal animals excitable by simple prodding.

‘….. Like Zhou and Ho’s work Marc Lafia’s work is also incomplete without audience involvement. In Art as Invention, Lafia transplanted a summer school program he ran for kids in Brooklyn to the gallery. By having participants make or perform it, the project explores the nature of art. Instructions on the wall are departure points for viewers to engage themselves in the creative act. In dAfT the project goes beyond the usual irreverent fun by breaking down the boundaries between studio and exhibition, viewer and object, in order to convey ideas about myth, ritual and body.’

https://www.cafa.com.cn/en/news/details/8321262

Artists: Paul McCarthy, Rania Ho, Lin Zhipeng, Li Mu, Ouyang Chun, Olaf Brenning, Ryan Trecartin, Liao Guohe, Made In, Mika Rottenberg, Dai Qing, Ma Da Ha, Zhou Xiaohu, Hu Xiangqian, , Marc Lafia, Jean-Christian Bourcart

Duration: September 7th, 2011 – October 1st, 2011 (11 am – 9 pm, Mon-Sun)