survey_04 — Chinese actionism of the 1990s
1. Zhang Huan — 张洹 (b. 1965, Anyang (Henan))
Graduate: Central Academy of Fine Arts (MFA), 1993
The most famous figure to come out of the «East Village»: the body as material, pain and endurance as method. Since 1998 he has worked in New York, later returning to Shanghai, where he makes monumental sculptures from incense ash.
- «12 Square Meters» (12平方米, 1994)— an hour in an outdoor latrine, smeared with honey and fish innards, among flies.
- “65 kg” (1994) — suspended on hooks above burning incense on his 29th birthday.
- “Family” (家谱, 2000) — nine portraits: a face painted over with ink until it is entirely black.
- “Temple” (2000s) — sculptures and paintings made from incense ash collected in temples.
2. Ma Liuming — 马六明 (b. 1969, Huangshi (Hubei))
Graduate: Hubei Academy of Fine Arts, 1991
He created the character “Fen Ma Liuming” — a feminine double of his own body that became one of the defining images of Chinese performance art.
- “Fen Ma Liuming” (芬·马六明, since 1993) — performances in the guise of a female double: naked body, make-up, long hair.
- “Lunch with Fen Ma Liuming” (1994) — invited viewers are photographed with the character at a table.
- “30 Minutes for 1/2 a Person” (1995) — he lies on a table while visitors examine the body up close.
3. Zhu Ming — 朱冥 (b. 1972, Changsha (Hunan))
He worked with extreme risk to the body; he is known for performances in water and in sealed containers.
- “Water” / underwater performances (1990s) — breath as a measure of time.
- The “65 kg” circle — participation in the collective actions of “East Village”.
- “To Add One Metre to an Anonymous Mountain” (为无名山增高一米, 1995) — a collective work by ten artists: naked bodies arranged in a pyramid on Mount Miaofeng.
4. Rong Rong — 荣荣 (b. 1968, Zhangzhou (Fujian))
Photographer and witness of “East Village”: his photographs are the main visual archive of 1993–1998. Founder of the Three Shadows (三影堂) gallery in Beijing.
- “East Village” series (1993–1998) — a chronicle of the group's everyday life and actions.
- “Fish Pond” / 为鱼塘增高水位 (1997) — a collective action, filmed by him.
- “Three Shadows” (2007) — a private photography gallery and award that defined the institutional frame of Chinese photography.
5. Cang Xin — 苍鑫 (b. 1967, Xilin Gol (Inner Mongolia))
Graduate: Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, 1989
He works with shamanic practices, the exchange of energy and the body as a mediator between cultures.
- “Exchange” (交流, since 1996) — an exchange of bodies: the artist lies down beside an object, an animal or a person and takes on its “essence”.
- “Exchange with the Earth” (1993–1996) — lying on the ground by the wall of a house.
- “Totemism” (2000s) — series of photographs with animals and ritual masks.
6. Duan Yingmei — 段英梅 (b. 1969, Daqing (Heilongjiang))
The only woman at the core of “East Village”. Since the 2000s she has lived in Germany, where she works with participatory performances.
- “Bed” (床, 1995) — twenty-four hours in a bed displayed in a gallery.
- “To Add One Metre to an Anonymous Mountain” (为无名山增高一米, 1995) — participation in the collective action on Mount Miaofeng.
- “On the Way” / “With a Bag” (2000s) — long walks with strangers that demand trust and time.
7. Wang Jin — 王晋 (b. 1962, Taiyuan (Shanxi))
Graduate: Zhejiang Academy of Arts, 1987
A master of 1990s social sculpture: forgery, access and conversation with the institution as material.
- “Ice · 96 Zhongyuan” (冰·96中原, 1996) — a wall of ice in the centre of Zhengzhou with consumer goods frozen into it (toys, jewellery); passers-by broke up the ice to get the objects out.
- “Knives on the Wall” (墙上吊刀, 1998) — an action with bladed weapons and physical risk.
- “Chinese Move” / series with fake porcelain (2000s) — work with replicas and forgeries.
8. Zhu Fadong — 朱发东 (b. 1960, Kunming (Yunnan))
Graduate: Yunnan Academy of Arts, 1985
The author of one of the first Chinese performances to enter the canon: the search for and sale of himself.
- “Wanted” (寻人启事, 1993) — pasting up missing-person notices about himself with a photograph: 12,000 prints and a series of sheets.
- “Selling Myself” (出售自己, since 1994) — advertisements offering himself for sale; continued in the 2010s (“继续出售”).
- Paintings and objects of the 2000s — a continuation of the theme of the human being as commodity.
9. Datong Dazhang (Zhang Shengquan) — 大同大张 (1955, Hebei — 2000, Datong)
A radical of northern performance art: the rejection of painting, work with energy and death. He took his own life on 1 January 2000.
- “To Awaken” / actions of the 1990s — long-durational actions in Datong and Beijing.
- “Exhibition with a Zero” / anonymous group actions — minimal gestures documented in photographs.
- Archive and legacy — posthumous retrospectives and the publication of the artist's archive.
