The “Symbiosis: The Intertextuality of Art and Poetry” exhibition, featuring contemporary artworks and poems created by 28 Chinese poets and artists, is being held at OCAT Shenzhen in OCT-LOFT. Entry is free.
A painting with a poem named "crow and girl" by Chinese poet Ouyang Jianghe. Photos from OCAT Shenzhen.
As a follow-up of OCAT Shenzhen’s research project “Text and Visual” launched in 2018, the exhibition attempts to examine and explore the history of the relation between Chinese poets and artists since the 1970s, the artists’ practices based on poetry and the poets’ practices in art. The exhibition title “Symbiosis” implies complex interactivity between poetry and art, along with a shared social background.
An exhibit in a form of video installation named "love poems" by Liu Shiyuan.
According to curator Zhu Zhu, at the juncture of the 1970s and the 1980s, when the tide of Western modernism triggered the birth of Chinese avant-gardism, poets and artists were closely connected in the course of this cultural movement. The Star Painting Group and the Today Poetry Group represent a classic instance of cultural symbiosis in their journals and exhibitions.
A painting with a sentence of Chinese contemporary poet Gu Cheng, reads "I want to paint windows all over the ground."
The exhibition is divided into two parts: “Textual Zone” in Hall A and “Artifacts Zone” in Hall B. Sixteen artists are presenting contemporary works with poems or poetic themes in “Textural Zone,” while old magazines, books, photos, documentaries and paintings are exhibited in “Artifacts Zone.”
Dates: Until Nov. 10
Hours: 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m., closed Mondays
Venue: OCAT Shenzhen, South Area, OCT-LOFT, Nanshan District (南山区华侨城创意园南区OCAT深圳馆)
Metro: Line 1 to Qiaocheng East Station (侨城东站), Exit A