2010 Annual Report - Nasher Museum of Art - Duke University

Displacement: The Three Gorges Dam &
Contemporary Chinese Art
March 25 - July 25, 2010 | Nicholas Benjamin Duke Biddle Pavilion
The Three Gorges Dam on the Yangzi River in China
is the world’s largest generator of hydro-electric
power. When it was built, it displaced more than one
million people and submerged more than 1,200 towns.
The Nasher Museum presented Displacement: The
Three Gorges Dam and Contemporary Chinese Art,
in which four leading contemporary Chinese artists—
Chen Qiulin, Yun-Fei Ji, Liu Xiaodong and Zhuang
Hui—responded to the dam project with performance
and new media art, traditional ink painting, realist oil
painting and conceptual photography.
The exhibition was organized by the Smart Museum of
Art, University of Chicago. The exhibition was curated by
Wu Hung, Smart Museum Consulting Curator, Harrie A.
Vanderstappen Distinguished Service Professor of Art History,
and Director of the Center for the Art of East Asia, University
of Chicago, in consultation with Jessica Moss, Smart Museum
Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art, and Stephanie Smith,
Smart Museum Director of Collections and Exhibitions and
Curator of Contemporary Art. The exhibition and related
programs were supported by Dan Bo, the Elizabeth F. Cheney
Foundation, the University of Chicago Women’s Board,
and the Center for East Asian Studies. The accompanying
publication was made possible by a generous gift from Fred
Eychaner and Tommy Yang Guo.
At the Nasher Museum, the exhibition was supported by the
Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, Asian/Pacific Studies Institute,
Duke University, Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment,
the Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina, Diane
Evia-Lanevi and Ingemar Lanevi in honor of their daughter
Sammy Lanevi, the North Carolina Chinese Business
Association and The Chronicle.
RELATED PROGRAMMING
Exhibition opening event and curator conversation with Wu Hung, Smart Museum Consulting Curator, Harrie A. Vanderstappen
Distinguished Service Professor of Art History, and Director of the Center for the Art of East Asia, University of Chicago.
Artist talk with Chinese artist Chen Qiulin, who produced four videos for the exhibition.
Displacement Roundtable on the Three Gorges Dam with Duke faculty members Guo-Juin Hong, Andrew W. Mellon Assistant
Professor, Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies; Erika Weinthal, associate professor, NSOE, Environmental Policy;
and Peter G. McCornick, director of water policy, Nicholas Institute.
Free Family Day Event with live entertainment, hands-on projects and gallery hunts.
Musical performance, “Sounds. Distant,” created for Duke faculty member Hsiao-mei Ku, with violin by Jennifer Chang and
guzheng by composer Mark Kuss.
Displacement Film Series, including Rainclouds Over Wushan, Still Life (Sanzia Haoren), Bing Ai and Up the Yangtze,
co-sponsored by Duke’s Program in the Arts of the Moving Image and Duke University Libraries.
Exclusive Brummer Society private gallery tour with Chinese artist Chen Qiulin.
p. 14 Displacement: The Three Gorges Dam &
Contemporary Chinese Art
TOP LEFT: Chinese artist Chen Qiulin. Photo by Dr. J Caldwell.
TOP RIGHT: Duke students visit the gallery. Photo by Dr. J Caldwell.
BOTTOM: Gallery photo by Peter Paul Geoffrion.