Contemporary art, with its inherent contradictions, ambiguities, and market alliances, is an idiosyncratic--even problematic--lens through which to examine situations borne of economic necessity. Nevertheless, some artists do challenge their own system, choosing to proactively address economic dispossession and the larger social and political factors that contribute to adverse economic conditions. Seeking to counteract stereotypical expectations and portrayals of lower-income existence, Borne of Necessity brings together recent and newly commissioned work by Julie Ault and Martin Beck, Peggy Diggs, Anthony Hernandez, Tom Hunter, Marjetica Potrc, Michael Rakowitz, Camilo José Vergana, Ken Lum, Samuel Mockbee and The Rural Studio, and the artists' collective Temporary Services with Dave Whitman. Accompanying reproductions of the artists' projects are essays by curator Ron Platt, who frames the exhibition within current contemporary practice, and Carol Becker, who discusses the ways in which artists engage new strategies in politically oriented works. Also included is a CD of “Dave's Stories,” a sound piece produced by Temporary Services.

Borne Of Necessity

Arts & Photography

Platt, Ron

Lum, Ken

Becker, Carol

Doll, Nancy

Collections, Catalogs & Exhibitions

Weatherspoon Art Museum

Everything is Relevant: Writings on Art and Life, 1991-2018 brings together texts by Canadian artist Ken Lum. They include diary entries, articles, catalogue essays, curatorial statements, a letter to an editor, and more. Along the way, the reader learns about late modern, postmodern, and contemporary art practices, as well as debates around issues such as race, class, and monumentality. Penetrating, insightful, and often moving, Lum's writings are essential for understanding his varied practice, which has often been prescient of developments within contemporary art.

Everything is Relevant: Writings on Art and Life, 1991-2018

History & Criticism

Concordia University Press

In the 1920s and 30s, Shanghai was established as one of the world's major cities. A vital, prospering metropolis with a population of over one million, and the commercial and cultural center of China, it was one place where it was certain that Western influences would have a forceful impact. Consequently, artists from different disciplines took part in the lively debates on the issue of what direction Chinese art and culture should take and Shanghai Modern documents this vigorous cultural exchange between the country and Europe, especially Germany. Through essays by authors of international renown, this book sheds new light on the early years of China's Western gaze, while it presents a magnificent collection of works by early exponents of Chinese modernism, many of which have never been shown before.

Shanghai Modern 1919-1945 (English and German Edition)

Clarke, David

Vainker, Shelagh

Hong, Xu

Jian, Xu

Qing, Zhang

Tianzhong, Shui

Sullivan, Michæl

Hatje Cantz Publishers

Chen Zhen (1955-2000) was among the members of the Chinese avant-garde who chose exile over political repression. In 1986, he left home for Paris, where, after a few years of seclusion, he began to show pioneering work he called "open sculpture," which found swift international acclaim. Chen Zhen's pieces often presented utopias of multicultural dialogue, poetic landscapes full of unusual material alliances, hybrids and new connections between Eastern traditions and the Western artistic vocabulary. That fundamentally personal approach, in echoing his own spiritual seeking and cultural homelessness, radiates enormous power. Later the artist fused his chosen exile, his illness and traditional Chinese medicine, surveying and synergizing the relationships that define the social body. Works like "Lumière innocente," an incandescent cocoon of hospital tubing woven around the frame of an antique crib, and dated 2000, the year of his death, are both elegant and heart-wrenching. This selection of more than 30 drawings, photographic works, sculptures, and installations made between 1978 and 2000 tracks each major phase of the artist's work.

Chen Zhen: The Body as a Landscape

Vissault, Maité

Verlag Fur Moderne Kunst Nurnberg

Accompanying the sixth annual Contemporary Chinese Art Awards exhibition, this catalogue offers images and texts on works by Liu Wei (outstanding artist), Tseng Yu-Chin (outstanding young artist) and Ai Weiwei (lifetime contribution). It is bundled with a monograph by Pauline J. Yao, recipient of the CCAA award for independent art criticism.

In Production Mode, Contemporary Art in China: Chinese Contemporary Art Awards 2008

Dercon, Chris

Noack, Ruth

Yao, Pauline

Blue Kingfisher

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Books by Lum, Ken