Crossing Borders: Seven Short Videos from China and India

This program features works by Surekha, Li Ming/Lin Ke/Yang Junling, Gigi Scaria, Li Xiaofei, Jennifer Wen Ma, and Cheng Ran/Item Idem that dwell on the outcome of rapid urbanization since China’s open markets of the 1980s, and India’s globalization in the 1990s. While many of the Chinese artists’ largely conceptual films are dictated by industry, sophistication, and technological prowess, India’s homegrown, low budget modes converge on nature, humanity, and the common man with an emphasis on its earthy, gritty manner. The impact of recent development and mobility is evident from China’s fast-transforming capitalist economy versus India’s slow moving democratic socialism. By combining Chinese and Indian works, one can examine the presentation of reality by artists from both regions. For example, Li Xiaofei’s focus on the Chinese industrial production of salt can be contrasted with Scaria’s poetic rendering of salt farms on the northern border of India. Similarly, Cheng Ran and Item Idem’s literal detonation of mass consumerism in JOSS sparks an interesting dialogue when compared to Scaria’s pithy satirical video POLITICAL REALISM on the demolition of socialist ideologies in India. Such comparisons not only generate an aesthetic discourse but also a socio-political and cultural dialogue.The curators Michelle Y. Loh and Bansie Vasvani will be present for a Q&A after the program.Surekha URBAN F®ICTIONS: ROMEOS AND JULIETS (2009-10, 9.5 min, digital)Li Ming, Lin Ke, Yang Junling THE AFTERNOON OF JUNE 1 (2006, 8 min, digital)Gigi Scaria SALT (2013, 4.5 min, digital)Li Xiaofei ASSEMLY LINE – A PACKET OF SALT (2013, 7.5 min, digital)Jennifer Wen Ma BRAINSTORM (2009, 10 min, digital)Gigi Scaria POLITICAL REALISM (2009, 3.5 min, digital)Cheng Ran & Item Idem JOSS (2013, 6 min, digital)Total running time: ca. 65 min.