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Lin Yilin is a versatile and internationally significant artist whose
work has been marked strongly by his provocative urban
interventions—an approach with deep resonance given the increasing
attention to the politics of space and insurgent actions in the climate of
the Occupy movement. Golden
Journey documents new performances created for SFAI and with
SFAI students during a San Francisco residency at the Kadist Art
Foundation.
After researching San Francisco in the fall of 2011,
Lin developed a series of site-specific performances that explore the urban
histories of migration and immigration, with particular focus on their
political implications. Working with more than three dozen participants
from SFAI and Kadist, Lin created works in which he undertook actions such
as slowly rolling down Lombard Street, playing cards under an American flag
next to the Golden Gate Bridge, and dragging a costume dragon head through
Chinatown. By disrupting the normal order of daily life, Lin creatively
explores the complex relationships between humans and the built
environment, the materialization of the body, and its social impacts.
Golden Journey is part of two axes of the Walter and McBean
Galleries' multi-faceted programming structure: "Global Figures" and
"Acting Out in the City."
Golden Journey is also featured
in the inaugural Asian
Contemporary Art Week (ACAW) in San Francisco, initiated by the
Asian Contemporary Arts Consortium and running May 12–19. ACAW is a
collaboration among sixteen participating organizations to present
exhibitions, tours, receptions, screenings, and panel discussions that
celebrate the dynamic of Asian contemporary art practice.
Lin Yilin
Born in 1964, Lin is a native of Guangzhou—a
city that was a laboratory of China's modernization, exposed early to the
outside forces of globalization and problems of accelerating
industrialization and urbanization. He studied in the Sculpture Department
of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. In 1990, he co-founded the
Big-Tail-Elephant Group, a Guangzhou-based artistic collaborative with
which SFAI curator Hou Hanru has a long history, including selecting their
work for the 2003 Venice Biennale. After moving to the United States in
2001, Lin's experience as an immigrant shed new light on his ideas of
economic globalization and geopolitical conflicts. Lin was awarded the
Chinese Contemporary Art Award (CCAA) in 2000 and has participated in
numerous important international exhibitions, including documenta 12
(2007) in Kassel, Germany; Target: Solo Exhibition (2008) at Tang
Contemporary Art, Beijing, China; Zero Interface: Brave New
World at Vitamin Creative Space, Guangzhou, China; and the 10th
Biennale de Lyon (2009) at Lyon Museum of Contemporary Art in Lyon,
France.
Kadist Art Foundation
The Kadist Art
Foundation participates in the development of society through contemporary
art, collecting and producing the work of artists, and conducting programs
to promote their role as cultural agents. Kadist's collections include
works that reflect the global scope of contemporary art, and its programs
develop an active exchange between Kadist's local contexts (Paris, San
Francisco) and artists, curators, academics, and art publishers worldwide.
kadist.tumblr.com.
SFAI's exhibitions and public programs are supported in part by
the Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund. Lin Yilin's residency
in San Francisco was hosted by Kadist Art Foundation, which also provided
generous support for the exhibition.
San Francisco Art
Institute
Founded in 1871, SFAI is one of the nation's oldest and
most prestigious schools of higher education in contemporary art. Focusing
on the interdependence of thinking, making, and learning, SFAI's academic
and public programs are dedicated to excellence and diversity. For more
information about SFAI, please visit www.sfai.edu.
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