From an idea by Vittorio Sgarbi and Silvio Cattani, curated by Giosuè Ceresato, the first Italian exhibition of contemporary artist Li Yongzheng, born in 1971 in Bazhong, a village in the rural province of Sichuan, is being presented in Rovereto.

 

In Yongzheng’s work, various disciplines intersect, and involve performance, installations, video and painting. The main features of his poetics, which centre on the social dynamics of his country, often share the solutions of Post-Internet Art and the principles of Relational Aesthetics, with the public actively involved in the creative action.

 

In his installations, he often uses two natural elements with a strong symbolic value, such as wax and Himalayan salt. Between 2015 and 2020, in response to contemporary social phenomena that stirred up nationalist hatred, he worked on the video series Borders, focusing on the Xingjiang Autonomous Region in the western part of the People’s Republic of China. The social and cultural specificities of this area, in Li Yongzheng’s interpretation, are directly connected to the majesty of the landscape, characterised by deserts, canyons and expanses of ice. Nature becomes a tool for understanding society, culture and humanity.

 

With works such as Yes, Today and Death Has Been My Dream for a Long Time, on the other hand, the artist has set his videos in other regions of the country, such as the rural area of Sichuan and the seaside beach near Tyentsin. The profound traumas suffered by the children featured in these works are approached with great empathy and sublimated through ritual-laden gestures. In addition to the video works, the exhibition includes paintings, photographs and an installation.