One Hundred Names is the first Australian solo exhibition by Chinese artist Chen Qiulin. Chen belongs to a generation of Chinese artists whose work articulates the social repercussions of China’s ongoing process of political and economic reform. Her work explores the many contradictions inherent within the conditions that frame contemporary life in a country where myriad tensions and conflicts between tradition, progress and appearances are constantly tested. Raised in Wanzhou City, located in the municipality of Chongqing in western China, Chen’s home city was partially submerged by the construction of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River since 2001 and her work responds to this lived experience of natural and urban landscapes in flux.

4A’s exhibition includes a survey of the artist’s practice from the last ten years. Included are key works such as The Garden (2007) and Farewell Poem (2007), which through performance explore and document the physical and psychological upheaval caused by the comprehensive expansion of the city and the construction of the dam, which forced more than one million people from their ancestral homes. Also exhibited are new works such as City Manager (2015), a single-channel video which focuses on three archetypal figures and their role in the urban expansion and development of a new kind of architecture and class system within China. Playful and irreverent, City Manager speaks to immense influence of a small group of people in shaping the physical and social landscapes of contemporary China.

Commissioned especially for 4A is One Hundred Names for Kwong Wah Chong (2015), the latest iteration of Chen Qiulin’s ongoing One Hundred Surnames in Tofu(2004 – ) project that presents the one hundred most common Chinese family names carved from tofu, slowly decaying over a period of weeks or months. For Chen, tofu is not only one of China’s oldest and most commonly used ingredients but also an apt artistic medium that symbolises the material transformation through intensive labour. One Hundred Names for Kwong Wah Chong has been produced to commemorate Sydney’s iconic Haymarket district and, in particular, Sydney’s first Chinese-owned and operated shopfront business, Kwong Wah Chong, whose location at 84 Dixon Street which was an economic and social cornerstone for the Chinese community in the early decades of the twentieth-century.

As one of China’s foremost artists, Chen Qiulin represents a new voice in contemporary Chinese art which is at once highly personal and universal, speaking to broader politics of migration and identification. One Hundred Names presents a dynamic platform across an exhibition, performance and public programs that showcases the conceptually and technically diverse practice of Chen Qiulin that articulates past experiences and future potentials of social and urban landscapes of our region.

Access the Media Release in English here.

Access the Media Release in Chinese here.

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《陈秋林：百家姓》是中国艺术家陈秋林在澳大利亚的首次个展。作为中国年轻一代的优秀艺术家，其作品关注中国不断推进的政治和经济改革所带来的社会影响，把现代生活不断挑战传统价值体系所产生的种种矛盾与现状进行归纳、视觉化。艺术家自幼生活的重庆市万州城在2001年始修建的长江三峡水电工程建设中被大部分淹没，这样的成长经历使其创作紧密围绕自然与都市环境巨变带来的种种不确定性。

4A当代艺术中心此次展览将呈现部分艺术家十年来的艺术探索成果。主要作品包括系列摄影 作品《花园》（2007）、《别赋》（2007 摄影）等，该作品纪录了三峡工程导致的百万居民背井离乡的现实和疯狂扩张的城市给生活带来的魔幻和迷惘，通过行为表演的艺术手段表现了这一过程造成的生活和心理的双重影响。单屏幕录像作品《城市管理者》（2015）以三类真实人群为原型，表现了他们在城市建设及扩张过程中扮演的角色，探讨了中国社会中正在形成的新型等级关系。该作品荒诞滑稽的镜头折射出中国当代生活中个别人群可能带来的巨大而深远的社会影响。

陈秋林为此次在悉尼举办的展览专门创作了新作《广和昌的豆腐百家姓》（2015），其创作构思延续了2004年起不断实践积累的《豆腐百家姓》系列作品。豆腐是中国古老而又常用的食材，艺术家借用其象征意义，通过大量亲身实践将这一素材转化为绝佳的艺术表现媒介。此次新作着眼于悉尼城市地标性地区禧市，突出了悉尼第一家华人店铺“广和昌公司”的经济及社会意义，旨在纪念二十世纪初期第一批华人移民群体所作的巨大社会贡献。

陈秋林代表了一批为中国当代艺术发声发力的优秀艺术家，《陈秋林：百家姓》集展览、行为表演和公众项目于一体，展现了艺术家敏锐而广泛的思考和灵活运用多种媒介的艺术实践，既传达了艺术家作为个体的独特思考，又关照了移民集体身份的社会政治环境，兼顾探讨了悉尼的华人移民的过往与未来。