Exhibition
Zhang Huan: Zhu Gangqiang - White Cube (Mason's Yard)
An exploration of memory, spirituality and hope through the miraculous survival of a pig is being conducted at London's White Cube by Chinese performance and visual artist Zhang Huan. The show is based around one of the greatest natural disasters to hit China in recent memory. In May 2008, an earthquake reaching magnitude of 8 on the Richter Scale killed 60,000 people. Amongst the chaos, for 49 days, a pig persevered. Carried by Buddhist belief that the soul remains on earth between death and transmigration for exactly this amount of time, this pig is now a symbol of life and hope, renamed Cast-Iron Pig (or Zhu Gangqiang in Chinese, hence the theme of the show).Zhang Huan was born in 1965 in Anyang City, Henan Province, and lives and works in Shanghai, China. From 1998 to 2005, he lived in New York, where he gained international recognition. He has had solo exhibitions at the Asia Society, New York, Vancouver Art Gallery and the Norton Museum of Art, Florida and has featured in group exhibitions including the Whitney Biennial in 2002. In September 2009, Zhang Huan will direct his first opera, Semele (by George Frideric Handel), at La Monnaie, Brussels, 8, 10, 12, 18, 29, 22, 24, 27 & 29 September 2009, La Monnaie de Munt, La Monnaie, 070 23 39 39, www.lamonnaie.be | www.demunt.be.
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To access the Mason's Yard site via Underground: | |
 | Piccadilly Circus Station (Bakerloo and Piccadilly Lines) |
| Green Park Station (Victoria, Jubilee and Piccadilly Lines) |
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White Cube Mason's Yard is pleased to present the first exhibition with the gallery by the acclaimed artist Zhang Huan. While known primarily for his performances in the early 1990s, which involved feats of physical and psychological endurance, his recent work has featured sculptures and paintings that explore themes of memory and spirituality and how these relate to Buddhist practice.
