Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center is pleased to announce the exhibition “An Estranged Paradise. Chinese contemporary art from the DSL Collection”. It includes works of iconic artists such as Ai Weiwei, Cao Fei, Liu Jianhua, Liu Wei, Sun Yuan & Peng Yu, Yang Fudong, Yang Jechang и Zhang Huan. The DSL Collection, founded by Dominique and Sylvain Levy, is one of Europe's largest collections of contemporary Chinese art. Painting, sculpture, photography, video and installation from the DSL Collection will be on view in Russia for the first time. Curated by Ami Barak.
The exhibition reflects the basic principles of the DSL Collection – openness, dynamism and commitment to cultural dialogue. Globalization has accelerated processes that change the meaning of technology and media in contemporary art. Currently, communication links and art exchange overcome geographical boundaries. Despite the fact that the collection carries the idea of an authentic national tradition, it aims to establish a cross-cultural relations.
The first Chinese contemporary art collections were at the beginning collected by Westerners. The desire to share this passion with an international audience led Dominique and Sylvain Levi to exhibit the best examples of the collection at the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow.
The title echoes Yang Fudong’s video work from 2002, which reflects the ideals and anxieties of the generation born during and after the Cultural Revolution, struggling to find its place in the rapidly changing society of the new China.
“Contemporary art in China went out in the open 20 years ago thanks to the change of the political regime. Since then, the artistic avant-garde had the opportunity to express ideas and to think and act freely. There are similarities and interesting parallels with the situation in the Russian Federation but also valuable cultural differences. That is why this exhibition in such context will be a major event symbolically speaking”, – says Ami Barak.
DSL Сollection
Founded by French collectors Dominique and Sylvain Levy in 2005. It currently represents more than 100 leading Chinese avant-garde artists that have a prominent place on the art scene in China. Dominique and Sylvain Levy along with Uli Sigg from Switzerland and Guy Ullens from Belgium, were the pioneers in this area of collecting, and still confidently maintain their leading position. Mission of the DSL Collection – to extend interest in contemporary Chinese art.
Ami Barak
Ami Barak is an independent curator and art critic based in Paris. Former Director of the FRAC (Regional collection of contemporary art) Languedoc-Roussillon from 1993 to 2002. Former President of the IKT (International Association of Contemporary Art Curators) from 2002 to 2005. Former Head of the Visual Art Department at the City Council of Paris from 2003 to 2008. In 2003 and 2004, hе was the Artistic Director and Coordinator of ‘Nuit Blanche’ (“Sleepless Night” Contemporay Art Festival) in Paris. Over the past twenty years, he has curated numerous international exhibitions. In 2011, he was the co-curator of the Romanian Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale. He is currently a Lecturer at the Paris Sorbonne I University and works as an art adviser