about
de Sarthe Gallery is pleased to announce Wang Xin’s second solo exhibition with the gallery, entitled The Must-See Art Show Where You Can Find 10,000 Artists. The show opens on October 21st, and will continue through November 18th, 2017. This is Wang Xin’s first solo exhibition in Hong Kong and new work will be showcased.
Wang Xin has a penchant for challenging the archaic structure of the art world, as she often takes its institutions, systems, and dogma as her material. Wang Xin is also a certified hypnotist, and uses her work to alter a viewer’s perception and affect their subconscious. Her signature use of rose pink adds to the hypnotising effect, and imbues a sense of fervency within her work.
The Must-See Art Show Where You Can Find 10,000 Artists is comprised of multiple interactive, site-specific installations in which Wang Xin challenges the status of the artist as well as the art world’s current ecosystem. In particular, Wang’s most ambitious installation encourages participation as soon as audiences walk into the gallery. Upon entering, visitors are asked to purchase a ticket imprinted with a QR code at reception. The symbolic act of purchasing a ticket is part of Wang’s ongoing “No Starving Artists” project, in which she reaffirms the significance of artists’ work, as their labor is often undervalued. Subsequently, viewers scan their tickets at a turnstile to enter the installation. Once inside audiences follow a carpeted path lined with headsets that leads to a ball pit filled with more than 10,000 rose pink balls, a VR environment, an artist agency office, and a large advertising board.
As the exhibition title suggests, 10,000 unknown artists’ contact information are stored in the balls. The purchased ticket entitles audiences to take (and keep) one of the rose pink balls, open it, and unravel an unknown artist’s information. In the middle of the ball pit lies a virtual experience, A Virtual Land Where Stored an Artist’s Past, Present and Future Artworks and Related Information, where ticket holders can view all of Wang Xin’s past artwork strown and in decay across a deserted landscape. Adjacent to the pool of pink balls is an office stationed in a corner. This is the Unknown Artists Agency where agents continue to search for more unknown artists. Once more information on unknown artists has been gathered, the new pink balls are carried over to a playful miniature slide that is used to transport the balls from the agency office to the ball pit. The slide emerges from a large LED board advertising the “Unknown Artists Agency.”
The show features another interactive installation, We Will Change the Art World. The audience can read aloud manifestos strewn across the area solicited by Wang Xin. The manifestos echo sentiments about transforming the art world. Furthermore, Wang Xin unveils a new series in the show entitled An Artist’s Portfolio, in which a transparent box features small replicas of her previous works.