China Live

China Live: Presentations of contemporary performances, actions and films

13 – 28 October 2005

Download a PDF of the China Live tour booklet.

China Live was a major UK tour of performances and film screenings offering audiences a rare opportunity to experience some of the visceral and challenging performance work being created by the current generation of Chinese artists.  

The live programme involved intimate audience interactions in He Chengyao’s Kiss, live paintings with blood and ink of UK daily life in Yang Zhichao’s Chinese Red, critiques of historical and contemporary trade relations in Wang Chuyu’s Material Files Of Sino- British Cooperation, contemplative physical actions performed within a giant bubble by Zhu Ming, and conversations about modern China conducted under a huge Chinese Communist Party flag in Shu Yang’s Dialogue in Chinese Style.

The China Live film programme included documentation of remarkable site specific performance work by Zhu Ming, Yang Zhichao, Dai Guangyu, He Yunchang, Li Menguang and Wang Wei.

Between 13 to 28 October 2005 China Live toured to Arnolfini, Bristol; Bluecoat Arts Centre, Liverpool; Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff; Chinese Arts Centre, Manchester; Colchester Arts Centre; Warwick Arts Centre in collaboration with Fierce, Coventry; Green Room, Manchester; Baltic, Gateshead; and Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

For further details of the China Live tour schedule visit www.liveartuk.org

China Live: Conversations on performance and documentation
To complement the China Live performances during the V&A’s China Friday Late and the exhibition Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China (shown at the V&A from 15 September 2005 – 15 January 2006), China Live: Conversations on performance and documentation explored issues of performance and its documentation in photography and video. Speakers included the artist and co-curator of China Live Shu Yang, China Live artists He Cheng Yao, Wang Chuyu, Sarah Champion of Chinese Arts Centre, Lois Keidan of the Live Art Development Agency and UK based artists Hayley Newman and Dinu Lu.

China Live is financially assisted by Arts Council England. The China Live publication has additional financial assistance from British Council Artist Links.
 

China Live: Reflections on contemporary performance art is a Chinese Arts Centre and Live Art UK bilingual publication including commissioned essays, artists’ pages and statements, photo documents, and reflections on the experiences of China and its Performance Art scene by British artists who have recently undertaken residencies there. Contributors include Shu Yang, JJ Xi and Yuan Cai of Mad for Real, He Chengyao, He Yunchang, Yang Zhichao, Colin Chinnery, Aaron Williamson, Howard Matthew, Curious and Hayley Newman.

ISBN 0-9545440-3-X.
Available from Unbound.