A breeze is blowing on Birdhead’s world

Author : Lucille Enel
Published on : September 19, 2018 | Last modified on : January 7th, 2019 at 9:53 am

“Welcome to Birdhead World again Beijing 2018” exhibition view at Shanghart Gallery Beijing. Photo courtesy of Birdhead.

For their solo exhibition “Welcome to Birdhead World again Beijing 2018” at Shanghart Gallery, Birdhead have created “Dreamed-Breeze” a series of installations in the gallery’s main space consisting of windmills with still-life photographs. They also presented recently produced works from their series: “For a bigger picture” (2018); “Crazy Bird”; “Saecula Saeculorum” and “Birdhead world 2018-1”.

In the installation titled “Breeze”, the: “Images on the transparent blades and the pinwheels themselves constantly cast shadows on the wall like a slideshow, which get blurred in high winds, or, conversely, become clear when the wind blows slowly. The artists contrast the past moments documented through images with the present uncertainty in a lyrical way, and body the freedom and power of wind through the playful pinwheels.”

Birdhead is a collective consisting of Song Tao (b.1979) and Ji Weiyu (b.1980), working together since 2004. They have been participating in many exhibitions nationally and internationally. More notably at: Tate Modern, London (2017); The 6th Moscow Biennale, Russia (2015); MoMA, New York, U.S.A. (2012); The 9th Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai(2012) and The 54th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (2011). Birdhead were also nominated for the inaugural Hugo Boss Asia Art Award in 2013.

Their artistic practice is based on photographs and beyond. They use photomontage, calligraphy, drawing, crafted frames, particular mounting techniques, photo-based installation and so on to create their own world. They use cameras to tell stories and express their feelings. “The members of Birdhead believe that the action of pressing down the shutter is to take a slice out of time and space, thus a moment of self-reﬂection.”

The show at Shanghart Beijing is on view until 16th October 2018.