NL Imagined
2022.08.06 - 2022.10.09
Introduction
“NL Imagined” features works from Marwan Bassiouni, Johannes Bosgra, Hans Eijkelboom, Marvel Harris, Erik Kessels, Dana Lixenberg, Corinne Noordenbos, Erwin Olaf, Paulien Oltheten, Viviane Sassen and Gilleam Trapenberg. Through a wide array of creative approaches, the participating artists capture the architecture of sacred spaces, look at nature, community and everyday life, together with topics of colonization, personal identity, and kinship, as topics for reflection. These combine to a newly current dialogue between history and the present, between today’s reality and what local audiences might imagine about the Netherlands.
Promoting deeper communication between China and the Netherlands is one of the main motivations for this exhibition project. This year marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and the Netherlands. “NL Imagined” is an essential cultural component of a broader program that has been conceived in celebration of this anniversary. The Netherlands is a global center for art publishing, with a long history of design excellence, including photo books. “NL Imagined” includes examples of award-winning books published by six leading Dutch publishers and other institutions on loan from the cultural section of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in China. The exhibition will also be accompanied by a range of online and offline sharing and discussion on practices in Dutch photography.
Participating Artist
Marwan Bassiouni
Johannes Bosgra
Hans Eijkelboom
Marvel Harris
Erik Kessels
Dana Lixenberg
Corinne Noordenbos
Erwin Olaf
Paulien Oltheten
Viviane Sassen
Gilleam Trapenberg
About the Curators
Yining He (b.1986, China)
Yining He is a researcher and curator in photographic art. In terms of curatorial practices, she specializes in uncovering contemporary photographic practices and weaving them within a dual vision of politics and visual culture. Yining has curated more than 40 cross-cultural exhibitions for museums, art institutions, and photography festivals in China and Europe, many of which have gained international reputations, including "Imaging Our Futures", "China Imagined", "Between Mountains, Hills and Lakes", "The Abode of Anamnesis", "The Port and The Image" and "A Fictional Narrative Turn".
On an academic level, Yining has written, edited, and participated in numerous books, includingUne Historie Mondiale des Femmes Photographies (2020), The Port and the Image (2017/2019), Photography in the British Classroom (2015), among others.
Ruben Lundgren (b.1983, the Netherlands)
Beijing-based photographer and curator Ruben Lundgren received his masters’ degree photography from the China Central Academy of Fine Arts. He made a name within the conceptual photography duo WassinkLundgren with award winning publications as Empty Bottles (2007) and Tokyo Tokyo(2010). He now works as a photojournalist for Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant, and as an independent curator of Chinese photography.
Together with British photographer Martin Parr, he co-edited The Chinese Photobook (2015). As guest curator of BredaPhoto he curated China Imagined (2020) offering contemporary photography projects from China including the sticker album Wow Taobao. He edited Ellen Thorbecke: From Peking to Paris (2021), and published Real Dreams (2021) presenting his photography works made all over China.
About the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Shanghai
The Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Shanghai was established in 1994. It aims to facilitate Dutch companies to do business in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui. It provides consular services to Chinese citizens that want to travel to the Netherlands and to Dutch citizens. The Consulate general also engages in people to people exchanges, fosters constructive debate and promotes cultural exchange. This year the Netherlands and China celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations at ambassadorial level.
Thanks
SCoP would like to thank Zeng Xiaolian and his family, Nie Rongqing, Jeff Crosby and Zhu Zijia from Contemporary Gallery Kunming, staff at National Geographic, and HLiiC for their great assistance in the preparation of this exhibition.
We would also like to thank VANKE Shanghai and Dior for their continuous support to SCoP.