The Great Body Has No Shape, the Great Art Is Embodied. Conception of Body in Zhang Huan’s Performance Art Cover Image

The Great Body Has No Shape, the Great Art Is Embodied. Conception of Body in Zhang Huan’s Performance Art
The Great Body Has No Shape, the Great Art Is Embodied. Conception of Body in Zhang Huan’s Performance Art

Author(s): Rafał Banka
Subject(s): Philosophy, Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Visual Arts, Non-European Philosophy, Aesthetics, East Asian Philosophy
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: Zhang Huan;contemporary Chinese art;body;Chinese philosophy

Summary/Abstract: Zhang Huan (b. 1965) can be considered a pioneering contemporary performance artist in China. His position on the Chinese art scene is highly regarded not only from a historical perspective. The use of the artist’s body as a means of expression can serve multiple purposes, which can touch upon, e.g. social or political issues, and seldom re-flects the role of the human body as a vehicle for mediation. Through his artistic activity, the artist tries to discuss this issue based on the Chinese philosophical intuitions of this aspect of human existence. In our paper, we shall try to examine the theoretical founda-tions of the artist’s approaches to performance and illustrate them with selected works.

  • Issue Year: 32/2014
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 67-78
  • Page Count: 12
  • Language: English