Guangzhou Image Triennial 2021 has chosen Rethinking Collectivity (重思集体）as the main theme. Wang Shaoqiang, Director of Guangdong Museum of Art, will be the chief director of the Triennial and the curatr of the archive exhibition. The theme exhibition will be cocurated by Gerardo Mosquera, Hyperimage Group (Dong Bingfeng, Xiang Zairong, Teng Yuning), and Yang Beichen.
We have never been worried about the world as much as we do today. The feeling of crisis has been lurking beneath, on the one hand, the long-standing conflicts internal to humansociety, the blindly accelerating technological development, and the deteriorating environment. On the other hand, the panic over the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated such worries. We are suffering from a sense of helplessness while facing these unknown threats, as well as a stronger sense of isolation and loneliness facing the persistent global turmoil. The world has fallen into a greater predicament amid the anti-globalization processes. The cultural and artistic milieux likewise share the same worries. Facing an unknown future, the destiny of humankind is once again entwined with each other. Yet, the short vacuum of pause has also provided us room for reflection, for rethinking collectively. Rethinking collectivity is not only a review of history but, more importantly, an exploration of the wider possibilities of coexistence in the present and in the future.
Against such a historical background, Guangzhou Image Triennial 2021 with the theme "Rethinking Collectivity" aims to show different aspects of critical reflection enabled by the unique language of image-making and rethink humanity’s destiny together with the participants.
Image: Julian Charrière, And Beneath It All Flows Liquid Fire, 2019 Video still Copyright the artist; VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, Germany