In 2012, a group of artists founded the Yangdeng Art Collective in Guizhou Province in China, mobilizing local residents, tourists, students, faculty, and alumni from the Sichuan Fine Art Institute, and guests to the “Vernacular Yet Curious” county fair. The collective claims that its primary interest is a different kind of art-making and organizing rather than subscribing to traditional definitions of rural construction, cultural nonprofit, and charity. Because of their forward-looking mentality and optimism, members traverse and transcend art and art history: They embrace local conditions to shape participatory projects, such as “A House Within A Cabinet,” “Chatting in A Place to Discuss,” “6 pm Bilingual Poetry Broadcast,” etc. At the same time, a variety of art museums emerge in the village, such as the Yangdeng Art Museum, Feng Tofu Brain Art Museum, Bakery Art Museum, Chun Family Hall, etc. In essence, as Jiao Xingtao, a co-founder of the Yangdeng Art Collective, has declared, “art is boxing with life, art is the needle that pierces reality, and art is action.”

Organized by the University of Chicago Center in Beijing, Sichuan Fine Art Institute, and Yangdeng Art Collective, this exhibition project is currently orchestrated by Tongji Philip Qian at the University of Chicago. This presentation aims to showcase the group dynamics as well as individuality within the Yangdeng Art Collective. The exhibition will have three parts, gradually evolving and overlapping during the run of the show. Part 0: Annotated is on view from October 2024 to March 2025; Part 1 from December 2024 to March 2025; Part 2 from January to March, 2025.