WATW is short for We Are The World. The song (written by Lionel Ritchie and Michael Jackson) was originally written for a 1985 campaign against famine in Ethiopia, later hijacked for a multitude of other purposes, focusing on issues of solidarity as well as mutual responsibility. In the framework of this 2009/2010 travelling exhibition, a collaboration between the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre (Beijing, CN) and Paradox (Edam, NL), it is referring to the latter notion: common responsibility for the highly complex, culturally, economically and socially interrelated world we are living in.

We Are The World, curated by Stephanie Tung (Three Shadows) and Bas Vroege (Paradox) in collaboration with Tsai Meng (Guangdong Museum of Art) combines the work of Chinese and Dutch photographers and artists in a travelling show that can be defined as a montage of artistic, journalistic and scientific observations. The works are shown in an experimental, provocative combination with real-time projected statistics and newsfeeds.

The area covered by WATW is vast, ranging from economic growth, the environment, energy production, capital flows, migration, consumption, etc. Most important notion is that all these phenomena are linked and that we have a global, shared responsibility to cope with them. It is an understatement to call this a complex and highly problematic process. WATW has, of course, no answers to this nor does it even want to suggest it has. The world we share is a roller coaster that we have very limited control over.

Authors

Jacqueline Hassink (1966) is a Dutch, New York-based conceptual artist specialising in photography. She is best known for her projects relating to globalisation issues, such as The Table of Power (1995, 2011), Car Girls (2008) and View, Kyoto (2014). Hassink was involved in the project from the start. Initially, her attention was focused on photographing landscapes where there is no mobile phone connection or Wi-Fi.

The collaboration with Bregtje van der Haak and Richard Vijgen directed her towards alternative environments: areas deliberately without internet access, varying from digital detox hotel rooms in Baden-Baden to corporate Wi-Fi-free rooms in Samsung's headquarters in Seoul. Hassink’s Unwired Landscapes were taken using a medium-format analogue camera. The resulting images demonstrate the physical, disconnected side of White Spots. Additionally, underlining our continuous interconnectedness, Hassink used her iPhone in a series called iPortrait to portray subway passengers in Seoul, Tokyo, Moscow, Beijing, Shanghai, Paris, London and New York, all engrossed in their little screens.

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His first work formed the basis of the photo book Passanten, published in 1996. Other photo books soon followed, such as Pasatiempo/Passing Time (1998), Made in China (2002) and Damrak (2005). Niekus received a grant from The Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture (Fonds BKVB) in 2009 to publish his encyclopaedia of street behaviour online. Spectator will be available as a photo book in early 2010. Niekus’ work is represented in several international collections, including the Albertina Museum (Vienna), the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam) and the Special Collections Department of the University Leiden.

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Frank van der SalmFrank van der Salm (b. 1964) studied at Delft Polytechnic and the Willem de Kooning Academy (Rotterdam). He has worked on projects with architects such as O.M.A. (Rem Koolhaas), Herzog & de Meuron, and MVRDV. His work has been shown at the Venice Biennial, Haunch of Venison (Zurich, Switzerland) and the Stedelijk Museum (Schiedam, Netherlands).

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Ad van DenderenAd van Denderen (1943, The Netherlands) has worked as a photographer for Vrij NederlandStern, NRC Handelsblad, GEO and The Independent magazine, among others. He has received a number of prestigious prizes for his work, including the Visa d’Or at the international photo festival Visa pour l’Image in Perpignan in 2001 and The Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts’ (Fonds BKVB) oeuvre prize in 2007/2008. Go No Go, his book on migration in Europe, based on 13 years of work, was published by Actes Sud, Mets & Schilt, Lunwerg Editores, Edition Braus and Paradox in 2003. For the 2008 SteidlMack/Paradox publication So Blue So Blue, Van Denderen photographed the 17 countries around the Mediterranean Sea. Earlier publications include Peace in The Holy Land, a book about Palestine (1997) andWelkom in Suid-Afrika, about apartheid (1991). Ad van Denderen is a member of VU agency, Paris.

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Platforms

From the series: Coal Miners
From the series: Coal Miners
© Song Chao
From the series: Chrysalis
From the series: Chrysalis
© Chen Xiao
From the series: Chrysalis
From the series: Chrysalis
© Chen Xiao
From the series: NATURE
From the series: NATURE
© Frank van der Salm
From the series: Shelters
From the series: Shelters
© Henk Wildschut
From the series: Ah, Shanghai
From the series: Ah, Shanghai
© Jin Jiangbo
From the series: Empty Bottles
From the series: Empty Bottles
© WassinkLundgren
From the series: Spectator
From the series: Spectator
© Theo Niekus
From the series: So Blue, So Blue
From the series: So Blue, So Blue
© Ad van Denderen
From the series: Water
From the series: Water
© Zhao Liang
From the series: Moving Rainbow
From the series: Moving Rainbow
© Xiong Wenyun
From the series: Moving Rainbow
From the series: Moving Rainbow
© Xiong Wenyun
From the series: Cosplay
From the series: Cosplay
© Zeng Han
From the series: Red Telephone Pole
From the series: Red Telephone Pole
© Mo Yi
From the series: Car Girls
From the series: Car Girls
© Jacqueline Hassink
Installation shot of WATW at Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing (2009-2010).
Installation shot of WATW at Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing (2009-2010).
Installation shot of WATW at Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing (2009-2010).
Installation shot of WATW at Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing (2009-2010).
Installation shot of WATW at Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing (2009-2010).
Installation shot of WATW at Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing (2009-2010).
Installation shot of WATW at Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing (2009-2010).
Installation shot of WATW at Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing (2009-2010).
Installation shot of WATW at Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing (2009-2010).
Installation shot of WATW at Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing (2009-2010).
Installation shot of WATW at Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing (2009-2010).
Installation shot of WATW at Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing (2009-2010).
Installation shot of WATW at Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing (2009-2010).
Installation shot of WATW at Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing (2009-2010).
Installation shot of WATW at Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing (2009-2010).
Installation shot of WATW at Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing (2009-2010).
Installation shot of WATW at Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing (2009-2010).
Installation shot of WATW at Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing (2009-2010).
Installation shot of WATW at Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing (2009-2010).
Installation shot of WATW at Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing (2009-2010).
Installation shot of WATW at Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing (2009-2010).
Installation shot of WATW at Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing (2009-2010).
Opening WATW at Dutch Cultural Centre, Shanghai on 3 April 2010
Opening WATW at Dutch Cultural Centre, Shanghai on 3 April 2010
WATW at Dutch Cultural Centre, Shanghai (2010)
WATW at Dutch Cultural Centre, Shanghai (2010)
WATW at Dutch Cultural Centre, Shanghai (2010)
WATW at Dutch Cultural Centre, Shanghai (2010)
WATW at Dutch Cultural Centre, Shanghai (2010)
WATW at Dutch Cultural Centre, Shanghai (2010)
WATW at Dutch Cultural Centre, Shanghai (2010)
WATW at Dutch Cultural Centre, Shanghai (2010)

Exhibition

The exhibition WATW looks at various aspects of our globalised, consumption driven world and combines the works of Chinese and Dutch photographers and artists in a travelling show. Participating artists are: Chen Xiao, Jin Jiangbo, Mo Yi, Song Chao, Xiong Wenyun, Zhao Liang, Zeng Han, Jacqueline Hassink, Theo Niekus, WassinkLundgren, Henk Wildschut, Frank van der Salm, Gerald van der Kaap and Ad van Denderen.

The works of the artists/photographers in the show have not been chosen to merely illustrate this idea. Taken separately, they express the artists’ personal concerns, passions and interests. Yet they also interact with one another as well as with the real-time quantitative data and newsfeeds projected on large billboards. These infographics translate the abstract data representing the economic, social and environmental processes taking place 24/7 into a seemingly concrete moving sculpture. Thus new meanings are generated, depending, of course, on the viewer’s own perceptions.

 

  • 22.06.201018.07.2010Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou (CHI)

    03.04.201026.04.2010800 Show / Dutch Cultural Centre, Shanghai (CHI)

    28.11.200928.01.2010Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing (CHI)

  • Video Installation
    7 x 2 x 0.5 m, 9 monitors with DVD player (Zhao Liang)

    Video Projection
    200 x 112 m screen with DVD player (Jacqueline Hassink)

    Video Projection and Monitors
    ca. 400 x 300 wall, 5 22″ LCD monitors with MacMinis (Theo Niekus)

    Monitor and Print
    42″ LCD TV with DVD player and print (Gerald van der Kaap)

    Prints
    73 prints, mounted / unmounted, framed / unframed

    Projection Infographics 
    600 x 4.50 m screens (2)  with XGA DLP projectors and MacMinis
    ca. 900 x 200 screen with 2 XGA DLP projectors and MacMini

  • Stephanie Tung (Curator)
    Tsai Meng (Curator)
    Kummer & Herrman (Graphic Design)
    Yvo Zijlstra (Web Design and Animations)
    Jeroen de Vries (3D Design)

Book

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Supported by

  • Mondriaan Foundation
  • Fonds BKVB

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  • Netherlands China Art Foundation
  • TNT

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