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Liu Wei

Video installation — Couvent des Jacobins

liu wei, underneath, 2001

projection vidéo, 12'12"

Born in 1965 in Hei Longjiang Province (China), he lives in Beijing.

 

Like in a dream that turns into a nightmare, Liu Wei’s Underneath (2001) is an attempt to show the ambivalence of the fascinating and yet monstrous city of Beijing. Over the image of a flourishing, bustling modern city, the artist superimposes a more disturbing image of populations climbing over mountains of waste and waiting for the rubbish skips to be emptied so that they can pick out a few things to eat. Liu Wei offers a striking portrait, one that has no need of clarifying commentary, of a consumerist  society stuffed with products and images but blind and indifferent to what is around it. This sad vision, which applies to the planet as a whole, puts the spotlight on our two-track economic and social system.

Video presented in the context of France-China Year.