Jin Shanji

essential information

Personal profile

Jin Shanji curated "the elegance of silence: Contemporary Art from East Asia" in 2005 and "mam project 004: Choe u-ram" in 2006. She has been the curator of Gwangju City Art Museum and Gwangju Biennale in South Korea for several years. In 2002, she was officially employed by Sen Art Museum. She has independently or participated in the planning of exhibitions, including "window, inside and outside" in 1998, the first and second women's art festivals held in 1999 and 2002 respectively in Seoul Art Center, "post-1945 Korean artists in Japan Exhibition", the "silence of the city" exhibition in 2001 and the "silence of the city" exhibition in 2002 "Lost cattle in the deep mountain" exhibition held by the City Museum of art.

Personal experience

Birth profile

She was born in South Korea. Just like other Korean families, her parents also hope that her daughter can learn music and art from childhood and become a "Lady". Therefore, since her childhood, Jin Shanji has studied piano and painting with good grades. As early as in high school, Jin Shanji loved history and thought. With excellent grades, she planned to become a lawyer to show her wisdom. But in the end, she failed to meet her parents' expectations and entered the University of the arts. There, although she was still very painful for disagreeing with her parents and reluctantly chose to stay in school as a teacher, she was not satisfied with her lofty ambition and decided to go to the United States alone. Under the influence of free air in the United States, Jin Shanji can finally choose her own future. "I'm especially glad that I'm studying for a master's degree in art history in the United States. In fact, I don't exclude art. I just want to be a mediocre artist in combination with my favorite subjects such as history and philosophy. " after her master's degree, a small University Museum invited her. It was this opportunity that led her to a completely different life path. The curator is undoubtedly a career choice that meets Jin Shanji's ideal. It is a role that needs sufficient art knowledge, including art theory and art history, and also plays a role among artists, buyers and museums. The great work challenges give Jin Shanji unprecedented excitement.

The "silent grace"

Since 1995, Jin Shanji has been involved in the vortex of contemporary art. Whether in Gwangju City Art Museum, Gwangju Biennale or Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, she has started to study and promote Asian contemporary art. In the face of contemporary art rooted in the west, Jin Shanji is struggling to explore the uniqueness of Oriental culture.

Goal

it's this tangled feeling for oriental art that makes her happy to plan an exhibition showing the profound oriental art. In 2005, Jin Shanji's "silent elegance Oriental contemporary art exhibition" was staged at Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, Japan. This is an experimental exhibition, which uses the symbols of "landscape" and "Feng Shui" throughout the Oriental Art. The space is divided into landscape area and Fengshui area. On the whole, the landscape area conforms to all the elements of a landscape painting, with the installation of flowing water, the design of rocks in the foreground, and the setting of mountains in the background. The huge space is like the construction of a landscape painting, and the space is like a blank space, which makes people reverie.

Personal ideal

This love for the East, let Jin Shanji always around in the East, never left. After practicing her artistic ideas in Korea and Japan, China's contemporary art market attracted her attention. "To tell you the truth, Chinese contemporary art is not mature, even chaotic. But in my eyes, order is boring, chaos is interesting. In China's contemporary art circle with mixed ideas, I think I can do something. " Jin Shanji said with a smile. At that time, she seemed to hear a voice in her heart calling for her. She simply followed the guidance of her heart and came to China in 2006. She came to Shanghai and served as the artistic director of No.18 creative center on the Bund.

Artistic creation

Although she wanted to avoid art in her young and frivolous age, and although Jin Shanji had already put down her brush, her unimaginable fate still arranged her to embark on the road of art, but the identity of the curator made her find another way to pay attention to art and contact art. After arriving in Shanghai, Jin Shanji is still busy. The interval period of foreign professional exhibitions is usually 2 years, but in Shanghai, she will not be given so much time. "I think the projects are always one after another. I'm always planning the next exhibition." Such rhythm makes Jin Shanji have no time to feel the shock that this city will bring her. She once suffered from the limitation of her Chinese level. "It makes me have no way to contact the local people in Shanghai," she said. Jin Shanji likes local things and local people, eager to inspire artistic inspiration. this "fake Shanghai" exhibition can be said to make up for Jin Shanji's regret. Although she did not participate as a curator, it is enough to see Jin Shanji's recognition of the exhibition by letting it be located on the 18th of her Bund. The exhibition shows people and events in every corner of Shanghai City, expressing the artist's thinking about life. In Jin Shanji's view, art has penetrated into every breath of human beings and can invade into every pulse of life. Art should not be dissociated from life. What art should grasp is that it may not have the past, and it does not think about the optimistic future. Even if we can cast a glimpse of life in art is so powerless, it is better than nothing after all. Even though the attention of art can hardly have any influence on life, it is warm and reassuring. how to make this kind of attention gradually become practical is the problem that Jin Shanji is thinking about. Jin Shanji said frankly that she wanted art to exert its greatest influence in life, and even save people's hearts from being invisible. Although the process of exploration is very disturbing, but she has started, it will not stop. the Bund is shining in the night, but Jin Shanji has no time to miss her. Her figure is submerged in the crowd and starts her new job. Of course, it's still about art and life. Jin Shanji's busy steps never stop, and her thinking about art never stops. Her curatorial experience in Korea and Japan has given her a more international perspective on the market of Chinese contemporary art, while the current situation of working in China has given her personal experience and unique understanding. "21st century economic report": you said that the Chinese contemporary art is very sinicized, which is not the same as the wave of globalization. How do you understand? Jin Shanji: contemporary art originated in Europe and is certainly deeply influenced by it to varying degrees. Contemporary art, including that of South Korea and Japan, also has a deep western brand, as if it were fixed on the same pattern. However, Chinese contemporary art has its own characteristics, unique and original ideas. In my opinion, it is unique in color and scale. This kind of peculiarity often surprises me. What is the current situation of Chinese contemporary art? What is the future development prospect? Jin Shanji: Frankly speaking, it's chaotic. Although the name of contemporary art is very famous, there are many so-called contemporary artists, but there are many people who make up the numbers. They need sharp artistic appreciation to identify the good and the bad. At the same time, China's exhibition hall system is not mature. The foreign exhibition hall is not only a venue, but also has its own deep accumulation of art research, which is far from enough for the current Chinese contemporary art. Moreover, in today's market, the so-called curators, artists and art merchants are all mixed together, and there is no particularly clear division. There is no standardized market and standardized team to operate. Therefore, the environment for the development of contemporary art in China is not very good, and the lack of professional coordination in all aspects will also cause certain difficulties. Of course, these are unfavorable factors, but I can also see its positive value. It is precisely because the market is young that it will not be conservative and unchangeable. It will have vitality and strong plasticity. Because there are no rules and regulations, the experience of predecessors is constraining the development. In this way, no one knows what Chinese contemporary art will look like in the future. We are all groping for its rudiment. Moreover, the foreign market still highly praises Chinese contemporary art, and they are eager to understand it. 21st century business report: what are your plans for promoting contemporary art in the future? Jin Shanji: as I said earlier, foreign countries highly admire and like Chinese contemporary art, but they don't have many opportunities to contact it, so they don't understand its real value. Although there are successive exhibitions in Europe inviting Chinese artists to show their works, I think the influence is far from enough. As the artistic director of the creative center on the 18th Bund, I want this

Chinese PinYin : Jin Shan Ji