Wenhua Shi, assistant professor of art and art history, is co-curator of Revolutions per Minute, the first survey exhibition of Chinese sound art in the world.
“Revolutions per Minute,” an innovative Chinese sound-art exhibition being organized at Colgate by Wenhua Shi, assistant professor of art and art history, was featured today in the New York Times Arts Beat blog. The post also will appear on Mar. 4 in print as an Arts, Briefly, item.
Last spring, Shi proposed organizing the show when he interviewed for his teaching post. His specialties include digital art, fine art animation, sound art, interactive art, and Chinese cinema and art.
One year later, Revolutions per Minute is the first survey exhibition of Chinese sound art in the world.
The exhibition will run from March 26 through April 26 and feature 35 installations across campus and in the village of Hamilton. Co-curated by American-trained sound artist Dajuin Yao, it will feature works by more than 30 Chinese artists who work with sound, including Wang Changcun, Yan Jun, Samson Young and members of the Shanghai noise band Torturing Nurse
According to the Times, the sound-art genre has become popular in China in recent years, thanks to “a new generation of avant-garde artists [who] are pushing its boundaries.”
Shi said that despite the popularity of sound art in China, few Western institutions have researched or presented the medium.
“Colgate’s faculty and students have been instrumental in providing the expertise and energy required to organize an interdisciplinary exhibition of this nature,” said Shi. “With help from the art history, physics, music, theater, IT, and other departments, Revolutions Per Minute will be a truly campus-wide celebration of Chinese sound art.”
Revolutions per Minute is funded in part by the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation Artist-in-Residence endowment at Colgate.
Information on related events and specific installations can be found at the exhibition’s website.