Si Han DO SOMETHING, FOR NOTHING 6 September 2018

Programme

Western audiences have long wondered what significance Taoism has for the Tao Dance Theatre company, as the choreographer's surname Tao is the same as the Latin transcription of the character Dao. The character is the root word in the philosophy of Daoism/Taoism and means, among other things, 'the way'.

Art historian and Doctor of Philosophy Si Han analyses the role of Daoism and individualism in Chinese visual art past and present, and broadens our perspective on how we can understand contemporary art from China in our time. How can it be possible for art as such to grow in the totalitarian state that China is often perceived to be? Tradition and modernity, East and West, Confucianism and Daoism, individualism and collectivism, Yin and Yang, taboo and icebreaking, encounter and balance, are some of the keywords addressed in the lecture.

About the choreographer

Si Han

Fil. Dr in art and visual science and is the China curator at the East Asian Museum.

Si He is Fil. D. in art and visual science and received his PhD from the University of Gothenburg. He is curator of China at the East Asian Museum/World Culture Museums, and has been a visiting professor at the Chinese Academy of Arts in Beijing. His publications include A Chinese Word on Image. Zheng Qiao (1104-1162) and His Thought on Images.

Si Han has been the content manager for popular exhibitions and blockbusters China's Terracotta Army and Secret Love. He is co-curator of the current exhibition Paper Stories at the East Asian Museum.

Since the early 1990s, Si Han has been active in the Chinese 'underground' or 'independent' art scene, and has followed the development of contemporary art forms in China in recent decades.