MAAP 2001 was curated under the theme of ‘excess’, the first official theme for a MAAP festival.
The theme of excess considered extremes of aesthetics and ideas.This pertained on the one hand to baroque, indulgent and wasteful tendencies and on the other to the severe limits of minimalism.
Curator Wu Meichun responded to the festival’s theme with the new video program
Chinese EXCESS, with 21 video works by contemporary Chinese artists.
The program included:
Zhang Peili
Yang Zhenzhong
Wang Gongxin
Wang Pang
Liu Wei
Wu Ershan
Zhao Liang
Yang Fudong
Zhou Xiaohu
Chen Shaoxiong
Gao Shiming
LuLei
Gao Shiqiang,
Liang Juhui
Qui Zhijie
Wang Wei
FM3
Feng Jiangzhou
8gg
Post-Sense Sensibility: SPREE 2001 pushed this notion even further. Documentation of this wild underground performance event in China was edited by the original show’s director, Qui Zhijie, for the MAAP Experimental Screening Program. Post-Sense Sensibility now represents a major shift in a underground and experimental Chinese art, displaying a shocking transgressive sensibility, and exploring the tensions of individuality in a communist state. The one night performance event event was filmed in Beijing March 2001 and screened at MAAP in Brisbane just over six months later.
The screening program continued the examination of excess with a focus on Korea, Thailand and the work of Oh Sang Gil.
The Missile Web Launch saw 2 weeks of artists online projects launched daily. Other highights include two new video installations by Wang GongXin: My Sun 2001, the three channel HD video, synchronized panoramic installation was presented in partnership with the Institute of Modern Art at the Judith Wright Centre for Contemporary Arts, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane. Wang GongXin also presented a single channel projection installed in the Turbine Hall titled The Prayer, created specifically for the Powerhouse site.
In 2001 the festival expanded into an extensively networked and partnered programming including multi-location events and collaborations. Organisations linked with the festival included the Digital Media Festival (Manilla), Art Centre Nabi (Soeul), the Loft New Media Centre (Beijing), Videotage (Hong Kong), Experimenta (Melbourne) and ANAT (Adelaide).
Read more about MAAP 2001: Excess on RealTime Arts. (http://www.realtimearts.net/article.php?id=6159)