20 13 another grand event in the art circle
20 13, 10 10/20, The Power of Body-Han Xiao's Scalpel, planned by the famous curator Guan, was held in Beijing Ullens Center for Contemporary Art. This performance art exhibition was held by artist Han Xiao following Surgery: Han Xiao Performance Art Exhibition, Plastic Surgery: Han Xiao Performance Art Exhibition and Today.
Han Xiao's performance art should be expressed by surgery. Or cross-border, or surgery, or related to the body, different from the previous breast enhancement surgery, he changed the subject from someone else's body to his own body. But which part of his body needs surgery? Prior to this, Han Xiao kept his mouth shut about this key issue, which aroused the appetite of the audience and triggered various speculations. What kind of shocking move will Han Xiao make? Is it cosmetic surgery, rhinoplasty or liposuction? What's more, I feel bolder. Maybe he'll kill himself? 10/0 On October 20th, Han Xiao finally unveiled the mystery of this solo exhibition-planting hair for himself.
As a rare art form in the domestic art world, Han Xiao's efforts are very noticeable. Physical strength is no exception. A large number of top domestic and foreign critics, artists and independent curators gathered here early, and it is hard to hide their excitement. A large number of social and artistic media all over the country are also scrambling to aim their guns at Han Xiao's operating table to see what kind of shock Han Xiao will bring this time. This is the first time in the history of plastic surgery in the world that a plastic surgeon has done plastic surgery for himself, which unexpectedly triggered a new round of topic craze in the 20 13 art world.
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For the first time in the history of human plastic surgery, plastic surgery was performed on oneself.
In the afternoon 14:30, after a simple opening ceremony, the event officially began. The exhibition site of Ullens Center for Contemporary Art is covered with a large white curtain. There is an operating table, two specially customized mirrors, shadowless lamps, microscopes and other surgical instruments on display.
I saw Han Xiao dressed in black, walking on a 30-meter-square white booth, adding a sense of mystery and sacredness to the exhibition. 14:45, Han Xiao began to cut his hair in front of the mirror. According to the staff, for this art exhibition, Han Xiao has done many experiments with her hair, and it is still very stylish after being cut. After cutting the hair, mark the hair donor area and hair transplant area of the head with a pen, and write down the number of hair plants in the hair transplant area.
Han Xiao went into battle in person, integrating the performer and the subject, and regarded his body as a work of art. With the previous attempt of breast enhancement performance art, Han Xiao was at home this time. Hair transplantation has high precision and difficult operation, and each hair has a specific direction and different thickness and density distribution; Doing it by yourself is undoubtedly a challenge to the limit of human operation skills. With dozens of media cameras focusing on long guns and short guns, surrounded by nearly 100 journalists, Han Xiao, as always, calmly and skillfully operated the art at his fingertips. Disinfect, wash hands, wear gloves, change clothes, prepare anesthetic, prepare equipment, and everything is ready. The operation was performed under local scalp anesthesia. When Han Xiao was holding a syringe for anesthesia, the audience at the scene looked dignified and worried about him. After Han Xiao anesthetized himself on the back of the head (occipital protuberance), the assistant went to the stage to get the hair from the donor. Separated under a microscope, with the help of a mirror, Han Xiao gradually implanted more than 200 hairs into his forehead, hairline and bun horn. There was no bleeding during the whole process.
The hair transplant lasted for two hours and the operation was successfully completed. Before the operation, Han Xiao had a small scar on his right hairline. This operation has played a role in repairing scars, preventing the hairline from aging and retreating, and keeping the hairline neat and beautiful. Han Xiao, the artist and subject, waved to his media friends easily. This slightly scary hair transplant performance art is different from the cruelty and blood of foreign artists' performance art, and it brings perfect and exquisite visual enjoyment to the audience. Viewers can't help but offer all these beautiful words full of humanistic breath, such as "elegance" and "beauty" without reservation.
Body art about the flesh has always been a forbidden area in China. At the beginning of the development of civilization, from the taboo point of view, it is a series of bondage to the body, and the strangeness of the body lies in its powerful power, which comes from the suppression of it by "civilization". In addition, there has been an unwritten rule since ancient times that "doctors do not treat themselves". Therefore, the appearance of Han Xiao's cosmetic art for himself is a challenge to taboos. Han Xiao, born wild and unruly, naturally became the first person to eat crabs.
At the press conference, Han Xiao was called the most handsome plastic surgeon in China by reporters because of his handsome appearance, gentle temperament and clean smile. In this regard, Han Xiao said: I have always believed that it is human nature to pursue and appreciate beauty, so it is understandable to make yourself more beautiful through plastic surgery. I am more beautiful and live more confidently. Why not? With the development of society, more and more people pursue perfection, people pay more and more attention to themselves, and the requirements for appearance have gradually reached a paranoid and harsh level. Perfectionists infinitely magnify their trivial problems, such as a tiny scar on their calves, which outsiders hardly notice, but keep them awake. Even as a plastic surgeon who transforms other people's bodies, he can't resist the alienation of this value: pursuing the ultimate perfection of the appearance of a certain part. Many practitioners in the plastic surgery industry are more concerned about this, including myself. The unremitting pursuit of beauty is a very hard thing, which always makes people very tired, just like a punishment imposed on them. So my performance art exhibition was launched under this background.
French artist Orlan used his body to make art from the patient's point of view very early. From a historical perspective, this is a contextual relationship. The theme of "body" runs through the history of human speculation. Socrates, Plato, Nietzsche, Foucault, Deleuze, Melo-Ponty, Bourdieu, etc. all promoted the process of human thought by thinking about "body" from different aspects. The existence of the body is not only owned by the body, but also the object of all humanistic care and social concern. The collective anxiety formed by the social environment eventually became a kind of punishment, which was implemented on the meat. In the history of art development, there have been many painters who painted self-portraits in front of the mirror, such as the well-known masters Diu Lei and Van Gogh, not to mention making self-portraits into wordless biographies of Rembrandt. They use their own images to show an undisguised understanding and interpretation of life. By examining themselves, they talk to time and space and seek recognition. And doing surgery in front of the mirror is my most suitable selfie.
The new solo exhibition expands the connotation and outer edge of contemporary art.
Last year, these two performance arts achieved unprecedented success and aroused great social repercussions. The major media have talked about it so far, and the waste heat has not diminished. Han Xiao's series of performance arts, whose ideological depth and artistic ideas are a comprehensive surgical analysis and reorganization of domestic contemporary art, have made Han Xiao famous in the art world, which is likely to surpass his influence in the plastic surgery field. The strength of the body is more avant-garde in contemporary art, once again passed the test of the art world and was fully affirmed.
Today, with the development of contemporary art becoming more and more open and penetrating into social practice, the understanding of what art is is becoming more and more profound. Art is no longer a traditional form of art, but an expression with new rich connotations and methods, and has become an open concept. Under the cultural background of China, the previous artists always had a great limitation, that is, they always paid attention to a kind of "China", that is, a traditional mode of thinking, lacking a kind of humanistic care and a kind of deep concern for individuals, while Han Xiao did it. With his scalpel, his own body, his detachment and boldness, he surpassed the limitations of other artists expressing his thoughts in other media and set off a profound contemporary art.
In the development of human body art, there has long been a change from taking the body as the object of aesthetic expression to taking the body as the carrier of artistic concept. "The Power of Body" further explains my thinking about body objects and expands the connotation and outer edge of contemporary art. For Han Xiao, surgery is a transition to thinking about the existence of body. Through plastic surgery, the body strongly tells us all the problems it contains: body and society, body and identity, society and art, etc. The existence of the body is not only owned by the body, but also the subject of all our humanistic care and social concern.
In the academic seminar after performance art, curator Guan, critics and others participated in the discussion, which opened the dialogue and confrontation between art and contemporary China, and triggered the discussion of many issues such as body and society, body and identity, society and art by critics.
Curator Guan commented that Han Xiao's so-called "physical strength" means abandoning cultural stereotypes, moral stereotypes, discourse hegemony and the burden of civilization, returning to the thing itself, returning to the "body" itself, starting from fresh and keen personal experience and "body experience", starting from China, starting from the body, not from the west, starting from the brain. But this "departure" is not the beginning, so arrival is not important. It tends to state facts, ask questions and questions, but refuses to answer them. The Power of the Body presents the free creative state of the individual mind and the concrete, daily, keen and vivid physical experience produced by the artist in various experiences.
Wang Min 'an, a famous scholar, also commented: "This is a special experience. I experience the trace of the knife as my own object. This is not a painful experience, but a selfie experience. People have picked up brushes to draw their own bodies countless times, and people have picked up knives to cut other people's bodies to draw others countless times. However, this may be the first time they painted themselves by self-cutting. Although many people cut it themselves, they didn't finish their portraits, but finished their special experiences. In this regard, Han Xiao's self-cutting technique has returned to the ancient tradition of self-portrait in a strange and circuitous way. "