HU XIANGCHENG
1977 Graduated from the Stage Design Department of Shanghai Theatre Academy; Stayed in the college as a staff and practiced in various fields including visual arts, drama, music, literature, etc., which paved way for his artistic activities in the future.
1978 Taught at the Fine Arts Department of Tibet University for two years; In Tibet the artist who was educated with atheism accidentally touched the indivisibility of Tibetan’s mental and physical world.
1986 Stayed in Japan; was involved in the research of contemporary art, folk craft art and visual art; In the early 1990s, he participated in the establishment of Shanghai Biennial and later on, started his three-year exploration in South Africa for artistic creation.
From Shanghai to Tibet, Tokyo, Africa, New York, Paris and also many villages in China, Hu played a role as a habitant rather than traveler in all these cultural activities, during which he was continuously thinking, developing, sublimating and summarizing. Accordingly, he put forward that contemporary artists from different areas should approach different tasks, and furthermore, they are expected not only to raise social questions, but also to take action to work out their solutions.
Based on the statement above, Hu put it into practice; He returned to China in 2002, positively advocated and improved the state of civilization in rural areas, and worked on the renaissance of Chinese traditional culture; He built his ideal communities in the suburbs of Shanghai including Jin Ze Town in Qingpu District and Zhu Jiajiao etc.
To rebuild the traditional social life, there is a series of case-studies based on mass of social investigation, ranging from paving the antique streets to renovating the architectures by using traditional methods of construction, from the inheritance and organization of traditional handicrafts to the renaissance of Chinese folk festivals established by our wise forefathers, which covering each respect of life including architecture, space, utensils, and rituals. By naturalizing antique and traditional houses into these high-rises, he tried to reserve an image of oriental living among the boundless concrete jungle.
Taking these projects as a starting point, he hopes to rebuild the whole oriental life style and a living world with politeness, rules, sentiment and friendship. Meanwhile, Hu also scaled the heights for his own artistic pursuit.
2000
Selected as the member of academic committee of the 6th Shanghai Biennial; Winner of Japanese Culture Prize in Future Art Exhibition; Travelled around Asia, Europe and Africa, to study on their local cultures and characteristics architecture.
2002
Exhibited in Paris-Pekin Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition; Was the executive member of academic committee of 7th Shanghai Biennial; Designer of the conceptual planning program in Jin Ze Town of Qingpu District; Designer of the Minor West Gate rebuilding project in Qingpu District; In charge of the traditional road-paving construction.
2003
Consultant of academic committee of China Academy of Fine Art; Curator of Shanghai Design and Art Exhibition “Home: from tradition to modern”; Member of academic committee of “Brush, Ink, Sense, Rhyme” International Water-Color Painting Invitation Exhibition in Shanghai Art Museum;
2004
Exhibited in the International Exhibition of Sculptures and Installations in Venice, Italy; Member of academic committee of 8th Shanghai Biennial; Exhibited in the “International Contemporary Ink Art Exhibition” in Fukui City Art Museum.
2005
Exhibited in “YOKOHAMA 2005: International Triennial of Contemporary Art”; In charge of the construction project “One City, Nine Towns” in Shanghai; Consultant of the development of Zhu Jiajiao Town
2006
Curated the show “Yellow Box: Contemporary Art and Architecture in a Chinese Space” in Taipei Fine Art Museum
2007Member of academic committee of 9th Shanghai Biennial; Exhibited in “Open 2007 International Sculpture Exhibition” in Venice, Italy; Exhibited in “Microcosm: Chinese Contemporary Art” in The Macau Museum of Art; Had a solo exhibition in Shanghai Art Museum
2008Exhibited in San Paulo Biennial; Art director of Africa Joint Pavilion of Shanghai Expo
2010
Exhibited in “China - Indonesia Islamic Cultural Expo and Art Show”; Had a solo show “Itinerant Deities” in Shanghai Gallery of Art at Three on the Bund.
