Chen Qiulin
Migration - Peach Flower Orchard / Color Lines, 2005/2006

Installation view: THIS IS NOT FOR YOU. Sculptural Discourses, Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna, 2006-2007
Photo: Michael Strasser | © Bildrecht, Vienna, 2020 | TBA21

Installation view: THIS IS NOT FOR YOU. Sculptural Discourses, Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna, 2006-2007 Photo: Michael Strasser | © Bildrecht, Vienna, 2020 | TBA21

Collection

Chen Qiulin

Installation with interior of a beauty salon, sliding glass doors, light boxes, fluorescent light, props, video on monitor (color, sound), video projection (color, sound)
23 min 8 sec (video)
Overall dimensions variable

Qiulin Chen's Migration – Peach Flower Orchard is an installation work originally presented in Xinsheng Town, Zhongxian County, Sichuan Province, which has been “migrated” and completely restored. Xinsheng Town is one of the areas affected by the construction of the Three Gorges Dam, as a great majority of the town will be submerged by the rising water level. Migration – Peach Flower Orchard, which is modeled after a massage parlor, represents the Chinese service industry. The work records the process whereby a reality that has disappeared is restored and migrated to a different location.

Real life experiences have always been the basis of Chen's work. As such, over the past few years, her work has been closely connected with changes in the urban environment. When the construction of the Three Gorges Dam began, Chen’s hometown was directly affected and as a result, the familiar sites of buildings, streets and friends have slowly faded from her memory. As the artist commented, “My hometown has already become a giant construction site, but perhaps it is only a small snapshot of the urbanization process occurring throughout China. I am just a witness and observer, using my own eyes and experiences to record this period in history which I have once experienced.”

*1975 in Sichuan China | Living and working in Chengdu, China

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Artists

Chen Qiulin

Chen QiulinMigration - Peach Flower Orchard / Color Lines, 2005/2006

Chen Qiulin
Migration - Peach Flower Orchard / Color Lines, 2005/2006