He Yunchang 何云昌
The most committed and challenging performance artist of China, He Yunchang (b. 1967) has performed and exhibited worldwide. In his intimate and cathartic performances, psychological and physical stamina gains existential significance. In Dialog with Water (1999), he attempted over 90 minutes to cut a river into two halves with a knife while hanging upside-down from a crane; in Wrestling: One and One Hundred (2001), he wrestled consecutively with a hundred people over 66 minutes; in Casting (2004), he sealed himself inside a concrete block for 24 hours. Elsewhere, he undertakes journeys of self-discovery and returns psychologically transformed. In The Rock Tours Around Great Britain (September 24, 2006 - January 14, 2007), he carried a rock from Boulmer, on the northeastern coast of England, and returned it there after walking 3,500 kilometers counterclockwise along the perimeter of Britain. In Dream of Traveling—From Fukuoka Asian Art Museum to Mount Fuji (2009), he gradually emerged from a pile of 999 rocks while painting on each of them the imaginary routes of a spiritual ascension.
Some of He's performances have involved immense pain and interventions into his own body, including staring at close distance at 256 light bulbs for an hour, the surgical removal of one of his ribs, and most famously One Meter of Democracy (2010). In the latter work, 25 participants collectively voted to carry out the artist's proposal of having his own body cut with 1-meter-long opening without anesthetics and stayed to witness its fulfillment. While shocking at first glance, these works, like He's oeuvre as a whole, always reveal a deep engagement with both contemporary art discourse and classical Chinese philosophy, as well as a delicate sensitivity towards the salient questions of our time. By treating his own body as both medium and object, he turns abstract philosophical concepts and the amorphous transformations of our times into experiences that are concretely comprehensible and lived. Indeed, He Yunchang refers to his practice in Chinese as xianchang yishu or "live art" in distinction to the sense of "performance" as acting.
Born and raised in western Yunnan near the Myanmar border, He Yunchang graduated from the oil painting department of the Yunnan Arts University in 1991. He has held solo exhibitions at such major venues as the National Gallery of Belgium (2013) and Indonesia National Museum (2008). He has participated in group exhibitions at the Yokohama Triennale (2014); China Pavilion, the 55th Venice Biennale (2013); Fukuoka Triennale (2009); Performa (2007); Sharjah International Art Biennial (2003); and Busan Biennale (2002); as well as Groninger Museum, Gwanju Museum of Art, Seoul Museum of Art, and National Museum of China, among many others. He is the recipient of International Exchange Award of the Macao Museum of Art (2006) and the First Yan Wenliang Art Award (2011). His works may be found in the collections, among others, of the National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China; Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney, Australia; Macao Museum of Art, Macao, China; and in the private collections of Uli Sigg and Jin Hongwei.
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Dream Journey—From Fukuoka Asian Art Museum to Mount Fuji 卧游-从福冈美术馆到富士山, 2009
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Gunman 枪手, 2001
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Golden Sunshine 金色阳光, 1999
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Weather Forecast: Sunny from 1950-2050 天气预报1950-2050,晴, 2002
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Eyesight Test 视力检测, 2003
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Dialogue with Water 与水对话, 1999
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One Rib 一根肋骨, 2008
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Inner Sanctuary 心殿, 2015
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Wrestling:One and One Hundred 摔跤1和100, 2001
Last Updated: June 2016
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EXHIBITION | A CHANG, HE YUNCHANG SOLO SHOW AT THE TODAY ART MUSEUM
July 9, 2016He Yunchang's solo exhibition A Chang opened at the Today Art Museum on July 8, 2016. The exhibition presents comprehensive survey of documents of his...Read more -
Art Fair | He Yunchang, Tao Aimin, and Yang Jiechang at Art021
November 19, 2015At Art021 2015 in Shanghai, INK studio will present works by three highly experimental artists: He Yunchang, Tao Aimin, and Yang Jiechang. Each of them...Read more
Articles, Reviews, and Interviews
Ai Weiwei 艾未未. “Ar Chang’s Persistence” 阿昌的坚持. Ar Chang's Persistence: An Exhibition of He Yunchang's Works 阿昌的坚持:何云昌作品展. Beijing: Beijing Tokyo Art Project, 2004.
Ai Weiwei 艾未未. “Skin and Bone: Sustaining Mortal Wounds” 伤筋动骨. The Wings of Live Art: He Yunchang 行为的翅膀:何云昌. Lucerne, Beijing: Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne, 2009.
Brewerton, Andrew. “Human Scale—He Yunchang in Performance” 人性的尺度——何云昌的行为艺术. The Rock Touring Around Great Britain: He Yunchang. New York: Chambers Fine Art, 2007.
Colonnello, Nataline. “On He Yunchang’s Project ‘One Rib’” 谈何云昌的《一根肋骨》. The Wings of Live Art: He Yunchang 行为的翅膀:何云昌. Lucerne, Beijing: Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne, 2009.
Cui Cancan 崔灿灿. “Revelation of the ‘Bodies’” “众身”的启示录. He Yunchang 何云昌. Brussels: Feizi Gallery, 2012.
Gao Minglu 高名潞. “Conflict with Cement and Machine—He Yunchang” 与水泥和机械抗衡——何云昌. The Ability to Exist: He Yunchang Art Works 存在的尺度:何云昌作品. Jakarta: Vanessa Art Link, 2008.
Gu Zhenqing 顾振清. “He Yunchang’s Redemption” 何云昌的自我救赎. The Ability to Exist: He Yunchang Art Works 存在的尺度:何云昌作品. Jakarta: Vanessa Art Link, 2008.
Guo Guanglin 郭广林. “2014 de chunyao—He Yunchang” 2014 的春·药——何云昌 [Drug of spring, 2014]. Song Ya Feng: That’s Art 颂雅风· 艺术月刊, No. 4 (2014).
He Yunchang 何云昌. “A Fairy Tale for Grown Ups” 成年人的童话. Chinese Artists, Texts and Interviews: Chinese Contemporary Art Awarts (CCAA) 1998 - 2002 中国当代艺术访谈录:中国当代艺术奖1998 - 2002. Hong Kong: Timezone 8, 2002.
Hei Ming 黑明. “He Yunchang he ta de xingwei sheying” 何云昌和他的行为摄影 [He Yunchang and his performance photographs]. Chinese Photographers 中国摄影家, No. 8 (2008).
Huang Bingyi 黄冰逸. “Go with the Flow: He Yunchang's Performance Art at Niagara Falls”. ArtAsiaPacific (No. 48; Spring 2006).
Jiang Ming 江铭. “The Ability to Exist—Diversified Explanations on He Yunchang’s Behavior Art Work” 存在之能——对何云昌行为作品的多元阐释. The Ability to Exist: He Yunchang Art Works 存在的尺度:何云昌作品. Jakarta: Vanessa Art Link, 2008.
Jiang Ming 江铭. “It Feels Like Being Caught by Devils—Interview with He Yunchang” 魔鬼抓住的感觉——何云昌访谈. The Ability to Exist: He Yunchang Art Works 存在的尺度:何云昌作品. Jakarta: Vanessa Art Link, 2008.
Jocks, Heinz-Norbert. “Travels to the Edges of One’s Own Will—A Conversation with He Yunchang” 漫步在自我意志的边缘——对话何云昌.The Wings of Live Art: He Yunchang 行为的翅膀:何云昌. Lucerne, Beijing: Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne, 2009.
Li Xianting 栗宪庭. “A Myth He Yunchang Writes and Directs and Challenge He Poses against Himself—What I Have Learnt from He Yunchang’s Works” 自编自演的“神话”以及自己和自己较劲—看何云昌作品的心得. The Rock Touring Around Great Britain: He Yunchang Art Works 石头英国漫游记:何云昌作品. Beijing: Bounce, 2007.
Rifky Effendy. “He Yunchang: Body as a Zone of Conflict” 何云昌:冲突地带般的镜像. The Ability to Exist: He Yunchang Art Works 存在的尺度:何云昌作品. Jakarta:Vanessa Art Link, 2008.
Stampe, Jonas. “A Dialogue with Life” 与尘世的对话. Worldly Fate: He Yunchang Works 尘缘:何云昌作品. Beijing: China Today Art Museum Publishing House, 2014.
Tang Peixian 唐佩贤. “Body and Consciousness” 身体与意识. Absolute Art 绝对艺术, No.4 (2016).
Tang Xin 唐昕. “For ‘Casting—Written Prior to He Yunchang’s Solo Exhibition” 《为<铸>——何云昌个展之前》. Ar Chang's Persistence: An Exhibition of He Yunchang's Works 阿昌的坚持:何云昌作品展. Beijing: Beijing Tokyo Art Project, 2004.
Yu Jian 余坚. “Body on the Altar” 祭坛上的身体. Fine Arts Literature 美术文献, No. 3 (2013).
Zhang Zongxi 张宗希. “He Yunchang: Rang shenti zai shijian li manyan, huozhe xiangfan” 何云昌:让身体在时间里蔓延,或者相反 [He Yunchang: let the body unfold in time, or vice versa]. Oriental Art 东方艺术, No.7 (2014).
Books, Exhibition Catalogues, and Monographs
Abe, Kenichi 阿部謙一, ChinatsuKuma隈千夏, eds. Yokohama Triennale 2014: ART Fahrenheit 451: Sailing into the Sea of Oblivion ヨコハマトリエンナーレ2014: 華氏451の芸術: 世界の中心には忘却の海がある. Tokyo: Heibonsha, 2014.
Ai Weiwei 艾未未, Zeng Xiaojun曾小俊, eds. Grey Cover Book 灰皮书. Unknown Publisher, 1997.
Ai Weiwei 艾未未. Chinese Artists, Texts and Interviews: Chinese Contemporary Art Awards (CCAA) 1998-2002 中国当代艺术访谈录:中国当代艺术奖1998-2002. Hong Kong S.A.R.: Timezone 8, 2002.
Albertini, Claudia. Avatars and Antiheroes: A Guide to Contemporary Chinese Artists. Tokyo: Kodansha International Ltd., 2008.
Chambers Fine Art 前波画廊, ed. The Rock Touring Around Great Britain 石头英国漫游记. New York: Chambers Fine Art, 2007.
Chen Weiqun 陈卫群, ed. The Rock Touring Around Great Britain: He Yunchang Art Works 石头英国漫游记:何云昌作品. Beijing: Bounce, 2007.
Decrop, Jean Marc, Britta Erickson 林似竹, Zhang Li 张离, Karen Smith, eds. China: Contemporary Art [中国:当代艺术]. Sao Paulo: Fundacao Armando Alvares Penteado, 2002.
Decrop, Jean Marc, Catherine Buci—Glucksmann, Modernites Chinoises [中国的多种现代性]. Milan: Skira, 2003.
Deng Hong 邓鸿, Liu Xiaochun 刘骁纯, eds. Chengdu Biennale 2001 成都双年展2001. Chengdu: Sichuan Fine Arts Publishing House, 2001.
Fan Di’an 范迪安, ed. The State of Things: Contemporary Art from China and Belgium 事物状态:中比当代艺术交流展. Beijing: National Art Museum of China, 2010.
Fok, Silvia 霍少霞. Life & Death: Art and the Body in Contemporary China. Bristol: Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 2013.
Fok, Silvia 霍少霞. Performance Art in China: Site and the Body 中国行为艺术:身体与场域. Taipei: Artist Publishing, 2010.
Frehner, Matthias, Bernard Fibicher, eds. Mahjong: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection[麻将:希克收藏中国当代艺术]. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2005.
Galerie Urs Meile 麦勒画廊, ed. The Wings of Live Art: He Yunchang 行为的翅膀:何云昌. Lucerne, Beijing: Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne, 2009.
Gao Brothers 高氏兄弟. The State of Chinese Avant-Garde Art: A Compilation of Interviews on Chinese Avant-Garde Art 中国前卫艺术状况:关于中国前卫艺术的访谈. Nanjing: Jiangsu renmin chubanshe, 2002.
Gao Minglu 高名潞, Douglas Dreishpoon, Huang Bingyi 黄冰逸. The Wall: Reshaping Contemporary Chinese Art 墙:中国当代艺术的历史与边界. Buffalo, Beijing: Millennium Art Museum, University at Buffalo, 2005.
Chan, Houseng 陈浩星, ed. Inward Gazes: Documentaries of Chinese Performance Art 以身观身:中国行为艺术文献展专集. Macau S.A.R.: Macao Museum of Art, 2006.
Jiang Ming 江铭, ed. The Ability to Exist: He Yunchang Art Works 存在的尺度:何云昌作品. Jakarta: Vanessa Art Link, 2008.
Kóvskaya, Maya. China Under Construction: Contemporary Art from the People's Republic 正在建设中:中国当代艺术. Beijing: Futurista Art Beijing, 2007.
Lu, Carol Yinghua 卢迎华, ed. Foreign Objects 有异物. Nurnberg: Verlag für moderne Kunst, 2007.
Lu Hong 鲁虹, Sun Zhenhua 孙振华. China Performance Art 异化的肉身:中国行为艺术. Shijiazhuang: Hebei meishu chuban she, 2006.
Lu Hong 鲁虹. New Century Illustrated Handbook of Chinese Contemporary Art 2000-2005 新世纪中国当代艺术图鉴2000-2005. Changsha: Hunan meishu chubanshe, 2006.
Luo Yiping 罗一平, Wang Lin 王林, eds. The 1st Project Exhibition of the 4th Guangzhou Triennial: Disenchantment of Chinese Imagination—Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition 第四屆广州三年展项目展第一回: 去魅中国想像 - 中国当代艺术作品展. Guangzhou: Guangdong Museum of Art, 2012.
Lü Peng 吕澎, Zhu Zhu 朱朱, Kao Chien Hui 高千惠, eds. Reshaping History: Chinart from 2000 to 2009—The Theme 改造历史2000-2009的中国新艺术:主题展. Chengdu: Sichuan meishu chubanshe, 2010.
Mao, Christopher W. 茅为清, Zhang Li 张离. Disorientation—Photography and Video in China Today 错觉时态. New York: Chambers Fine Art, 2001.
Mondzain, Marie-Jose. Transparence, opacité? Touming bu touming: 14 Artistes Contemporains Chinois 透明不透明. Paris: Diagonales, 1999.
Sans, Jérôme, ed. Our Future: The Guy & Myriam Ullens Foundation Collection 我们的未来:尤伦斯基金收藏展. Beijing: Zhongguo qingnian chubanshe, 2008.
Shu Yang 舒阳. China's New Photography 中国新摄影. Pingyao: Pingyao International Photography Festival, 2002.
Shu Yang 舒阳, ed. China Revisualized & The Banner of Urban Culture: Xi'an Qujiang International Contemporary Art Festival—Performance & Live Art 中国意象‧都市旗帜:西安曲江国际当代艺术季 - 行为与现场艺术. Xi’an: Qujiang Publishing & Communication Group, 2009.
Tancock, John 唐冠科, Christophe W. Mao 茅为清, Xu Yu 许宇 ed. Net: Re-imagining Space, Time and Culture (Two Volumes) 网:再现空间、时间与文化(两册). Beijing: Chambers Fine Art, 2007.
Tang Xin 唐昕, ed. Ar Chang's Persistence: An Exhibition of He Yunchang's Works 阿昌的坚持:何云昌作品展. Beijing: Beijing Tokyo Art Project, 2004.
Wang Chunchen 王春辰, ed. Transfiguration—The Presence of Chinese Artistic Methods in Venice 变位-中国艺术方式的威尼斯显现. San Marino: Maretti Editore, 2013.
Wang Xiaoming 王小明, ed. Gathering in Shenzhen 缘分的天空:2005中国当代架上艺术(油画)邀请展. Shenzhen: Shenzhen Art Museum, 2005.
Wu Hung 巫鸿, ed. Chinese Art at the Crossroads [十字路口的中国艺术]. Hong Kong S.A.R.: New Art Media Limited, 2001.
Xu Yunyun 徐芸芸, ed. Worldly Fate: He Yunchang Works 尘缘:何云昌作品. Beijing: China Today Art Museum Publishing House, 2014.
Ye Yongqing 叶永青, ed. On Yunnan: A Branch of Chinese Contemporary Art Since the 1990s 出云南记:90年代以来的中国当代艺术之一派. Beijing: Beijing Center for the Arts Publishing House, 2010.
Yamaki, Yuko 山木裕子. The 4th Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale 2009: LIVE and LET LIVE: Creators of Tomorrow 第4回福岡アジア美術トリエンアール2009:共再生ー明日をつくるために. Fukuoka: Executive Committee of the 4th Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, 2009.
Zhu Qi 朱其, ed Chinese Avant-Garde Photography Since 1990 1990以来的中国先锋摄影. Changsha: Hunan meishu chubanshe, 2004.
Zhu Qi 朱其, Susana Iturrioz. Zhu Yi! Chinese Contemporary Photography 注意!. Vitoria-Gasteiz: Atrium de Alava, the Basque Museum Centre of Contemporary Art, 2007.
Zuo Jing 左靖, Carol Yinghua Lu 卢迎华, Dong Bingfeng 董冰峰, Su Wenxiang 苏文祥 ed. Work in Progress: How Do Artists Work? 工作坊:艺术家是如何工作的?. Beijing: Iberia Center for Contemporary Art, Timezone 8, 2009.