ART-PREVIEW:Cheng Ran-Diary of a Madman

Cheng Ran, In Course of the Miraculous, 2015 (Film Still), Courtesy the artist, K11 Art Foundation, Erlenmeyer Foundation, and Galerie Urs Meile Beijing/LucerneLiterature, western culture and European art house movies are Cheng Ran’s main sources of inspiration. These influences refer to the many bootlegs and illegal versions of films, books and other manifestations of western pop culture in China, where they are ‘enriched’ with new covers, paragraphs and sometimes even entire chapters.

By Dimireis Lempesis
Photo: The New Museum Archive

In his solo exhibition “Cheng Ran: Diary of a Madman” borrows its title from what is widely considered China’s first modern short story, written by Lu Xun in 1918. Just as Lu Xun’s story comprises first-person narratives of a character at the margins of society who gradually turns mad, Cheng’s fifteen new videos take the form of diaristic vignettes that reveal a larger assessment of a foreign place through the eyes of an outsider. His new multi-video work, “Diary of a Madman” (2016), includes imagery from his early morning explorations of New York City streets, a trip to the Staten Island Bay, and a visit to an abandoned psychiatric hospital on Long Island, exposing his sense of estrangement amid his encounters with uncelebrated and obscure facets of the city. Embracing a long lineage of experimental cinema, Cheng’s new work follows the making of his 9-hour epic “In Course of the Miraculous” (2015). The idea of shooting a 9-hour-long film was conceived by Cheng Ran during his residency at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in 2013. The film is based on three real stories of adventure, exploration, and the pursuit of enigma. The characters of the plots are: English mountain climber George Mallory, Dutch conceptual artist Bas Jan Ader, and the crew of Lu Rong Yu fishing boat no. 2682. George Mallory disappeared in 1924 when attempting to climb Mount Everest. Bas Jan Ader was last seen in 1975, when he set sail from America on the smallest boat that ever attempted to cross the Atlantic at the time, as part of his performance work “In Search of the Miraculous” (a title that informs that of Cheng Ran). Communication with the Chinese fishing boat was lost for six months in 2011. When the trawler was dragged back to the port, only 11 of the original crew of 33 remained onboard, all claimed they were innocent of murder. Cheng Ran’s endeavor slowly excavates the riddles of human nature by weaving reality and fiction into the three stories.

Info: Curators: Helga Christoffersenand, Massimiliano Gioni, The New Museum, The New Museum, Duration: 19/10/1-15/1/17, days @ Hours: Wed & Fri-sun 11:00-18:00, Thu 11:00-21:00, www.newmuseum.org

Cheng Ran, In Course of the Miraculous, 2015 (Film Still), Courtesy the artist, K11 Art Foundation, Erlenmeyer Foundation, and Galerie Urs Meile Beijing/Lucerne
Cheng Ran, In Course of the Miraculous, 2015 (Film Still), Courtesy the artist, K11 Art Foundation, Erlenmeyer Foundation, and Galerie Urs Meile Beijing/Lucerne

 

 

Cheng Ran, In Course of the Miraculous, 2015 (Film Still), Courtesy the artist, K11 Art Foundation, Erlenmeyer Foundation, and Galerie Urs Meile Beijing/Lucerne
Cheng Ran, In Course of the Miraculous, 2015 (Film Still), Courtesy the artist, K11 Art Foundation, Erlenmeyer Foundation, and Galerie Urs Meile Beijing/Lucerne

 

 

Cheng Ran, In Course of the Miraculous, 2015 (Film Still), Courtesy the artist, K11 Art Foundation, Erlenmeyer Foundation, and Galerie Urs Meile Beijing/Lucerne
Cheng Ran, In Course of the Miraculous, 2015 (Film Still), Courtesy the artist, K11 Art Foundation, Erlenmeyer Foundation, and Galerie Urs Meile Beijing/Lucerne

 

 

Cheng Ran, In Course of the Miraculous, 2015 (Film Still), Courtesy the artist, K11 Art Foundation, Erlenmeyer Foundation, and Galerie Urs Meile Beijing/Lucerne
Cheng Ran, In Course of the Miraculous, 2015 (Film Still), Courtesy the artist, K11 Art Foundation, Erlenmeyer Foundation, and Galerie Urs Meile Beijing/Lucerne

 

 

Cheng Ran, In Course of the Miraculous, 2015 (Film Still), Courtesy the artist, K11 Art Foundation, Erlenmeyer Foundation, and Galerie Urs Meile Beijing/Lucerne
Cheng Ran, In Course of the Miraculous, 2015 (Film Still), Courtesy the artist, K11 Art Foundation, Erlenmeyer Foundation, and Galerie Urs Meile Beijing/Lucerne