The work of Chinese artist Jia, a trained architect who has also studied Chinese literature and calligraphy, comprises painting as well as photography and performance. In her painting series The Chinese Version, Jia juxtaposes industrial typography with painterly skill, meaning with appearance, and a memory of literature’s flamboyance with formalistic visuality. On large-scale canvases she […]
Jia’s work The Chinese Version adresses the simplification of Chinese characters imposed by the Communist Party in the 1950s, which she considers the most far-reaching destruction of the Chinese language ever to occur.
A Cultural atrocity might not be just the systematic destruction of cultural heritage by Isis; according to Jia ‘ s The Chinese Version, currently on view at the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe as part of the exhibition Infosphere, the simplification program, which targeted the more than 3.300 years old Chinese […]
Curated by Peter Weibel with Daria Mille and Giulia Bini. The cultural atrocity of Chinese character simplification that began in the 1950s and remains, by force of law, in the People’s Republic of China through the present day, has not only degraded the aesthetic properties of the Chinese written character: the program has also gravely […]
Die Malerin Jia kopiert industriell gefertigte Schriftzeichen, chinesische Typographie. Was nach beliebigen Texten aussieht, ist durchsetzt von “verlorenen”, nach Maos Schriftreform von 1955 verbotenen traditionellen Zeichen. Damit zeigt die Architektin und gelernte Kalligraphin ein sehr besonderes China-Bild im ZKM Karlsruhe.
The language of art is universal. When artists migrate, this experience brings a creative energy that is an essential element of art production in the 20th and 21st centuries. A young Chinese artist has settled in Berlin in order to practice calligraphy, providing her with the necessary distance from the destruction of traditional Chinese characters […]
There are no limits to the interior dialogue of the soul with itself. With this thesis, I would oppose the suspicion that language is an ideology. Gadamer, Truth and Method In her own written statement on The Chinese Version paintings, Jia (b. Beijing, 1979) leaves no doubt that the series arises from her outrage over […]
Jia (b. 1979) is an artist who lives and works in Berlin. She was born in Beijing in the People’s Republic of China where she studied architecture, performance and literature. In this interview she reflects on her development as an artist, the problems of translating artistic practice between differing cultural contexts and the intended critical […]
Until the trip that is the point for departure for The Road Series, the artist had lived her entire life in Beijing, where, while she was an architecture student, her first installation was selected for the Shanghai Biennale. These years coincided with the culmination of the period of the birth of Contemporary Chinese Art— a […]
THE CHINESE VERSION | “O FAN OF WHITE SILK, CLEAR AS FORST ON THE GRASS-BLADE” SURFACE AND SEMANTICS IN THE CHINESE VERSION | by Oona Lochner
/0 Comments/in Uncategorized /by jiaThe work of Chinese artist Jia, a trained architect who has also studied Chinese literature and calligraphy, comprises painting as well as photography and performance. In her painting series The Chinese Version, Jia juxtaposes industrial typography with painterly skill, meaning with appearance, and a memory of literature’s flamboyance with formalistic visuality. On large-scale canvases she […]
Interview: Superior Magazine by Wayra Schübel
/0 Comments/in Uncategorized /by jiaJia’s work The Chinese Version adresses the simplification of Chinese characters imposed by the Communist Party in the 1950s, which she considers the most far-reaching destruction of the Chinese language ever to occur.
Interview: EX_POSURE Magazine by Eleni Zymaraki Tzortzi
/0 Comments/in Uncategorized /by jiaA Cultural atrocity might not be just the systematic destruction of cultural heritage by Isis; according to Jia ‘ s The Chinese Version, currently on view at the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe as part of the exhibition Infosphere, the simplification program, which targeted the more than 3.300 years old Chinese […]
e-flux | Jia. The Chinese Version Part of the GLOBALE exhibition Infosphere
/0 Comments/in Uncategorized /by jiaCurated by Peter Weibel with Daria Mille and Giulia Bini. The cultural atrocity of Chinese character simplification that began in the 1950s and remains, by force of law, in the People’s Republic of China through the present day, has not only degraded the aesthetic properties of the Chinese written character: the program has also gravely […]
WDR | Die Schönheit der Schrift | “The Chinese Version” von Jia im ZKM Karlsruhe
/0 Comments/in Uncategorized /by jiaDie Malerin Jia kopiert industriell gefertigte Schriftzeichen, chinesische Typographie. Was nach beliebigen Texten aussieht, ist durchsetzt von “verlorenen”, nach Maos Schriftreform von 1955 verbotenen traditionellen Zeichen. Damit zeigt die Architektin und gelernte Kalligraphin ein sehr besonderes China-Bild im ZKM Karlsruhe.
ifa CULTURE REPORT | Made in Europe | by Jia
/0 Comments/in Text /by jiaThe language of art is universal. When artists migrate, this experience brings a creative energy that is an essential element of art production in the 20th and 21st centuries. A young Chinese artist has settled in Berlin in order to practice calligraphy, providing her with the necessary distance from the destruction of traditional Chinese characters […]
TEXT | Notes on Jia’s Painting Series: The Chinese Version | by Drew Hammond
/0 Comments/in The Chinese Version, Uncategorized /by jiaThere are no limits to the interior dialogue of the soul with itself. With this thesis, I would oppose the suspicion that language is an ideology. Gadamer, Truth and Method In her own written statement on The Chinese Version paintings, Jia (b. Beijing, 1979) leaves no doubt that the series arises from her outrage over […]
EYELINE | Track Changes — Jia in Conversation with Paul Gladston | by Paul Gladston
/0 Comments/in Uncategorized /by jiaJia (b. 1979) is an artist who lives and works in Berlin. She was born in Beijing in the People’s Republic of China where she studied architecture, performance and literature. In this interview she reflects on her development as an artist, the problems of translating artistic practice between differing cultural contexts and the intended critical […]
The Road Series | The Road to Accumulation and the Road to Loss | by Drew Hammond
/0 Comments/in The Road Series, Uncategorized /by jiaUntil the trip that is the point for departure for The Road Series, the artist had lived her entire life in Beijing, where, while she was an architecture student, her first installation was selected for the Shanghai Biennale. These years coincided with the culmination of the period of the birth of Contemporary Chinese Art— a […]