X Museum holds first exhibition at new location

X Museum unveils its first exhibition at its new location at Langyuan Station in Beijing’s Chaoyang district on May 27, 2023. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Light pink, hot pink, baby pink, pale pink, cherry pink, orchid pink…

The various shades of pink featured at X Pink 101, the first exhibition at X Museum’s new location at Langyuan Station in Beijing’s Chaoyang district that opened on Saturday, have generated much curiosity and attention among the capital’s art-loving community.

Co-founded by millennial art collector Michael Xufu Huang and his UPenn alumna, businesswoman Theresa Tse, the Beijing art museum opened with the first edition of its triennial in May 2020, nestling in Cuigezhuang, the northern area of Chaoyang district. The young institution positions itself as an ultra-contemporary museum, giving priority to young, up-and-coming artists when it comes to collection and exhibition.

“At X Museum we are going to witness art as a language of international exchange, bridging the gaps between different cultures, regions, ages, genders and races, as well as that between the real and the virtual,” said Huang at the opening ceremony, adding that his museum is going to hold a series of exhibitions and programs to provide a platform for young artists, female artists, ethnic minority artists and digital artists.

Over the two years at its old location, the museum mounted 14 exhibitions, including museum solos for Issy Wood, Yngve Holen and Christina Quarles, and 48 public programs, such as workshops, screenings, and talks organized online and offline, said the museum’s chief curator Wu Dongxue. American artist Trey Abdella’s solo Almost Heaven and Kick Inside, a group show of four female sculptors, were the last exhibitions held at the venue between April and July 2022.

By relocating to a more central and accessible downtown venue in the Chinese capital, the institution aims to offer the public a more comprehensive art experience with an enhanced display environment and associated services including a dedicated museum store, cafés and restaurants, according to the museum.

The new venue, covering a total area of approximately 3,000 square meters, was previously part of the Beijing textile warehouse in the 1960s and 70s. An architectural team at Studio NOR was invited to design the new space and introduced a “valley” into the museum as the main circulation path, flanked by galleries and other programs that can be viewed as “mountains”.

“By retaining the huge skylight of the old structure, the whole premise is bathed in natural light, offering visitors an outdoor-like museum experience,” Wu said.

A painting by Swiss artist Nicolas Party featured at X Pink 101 [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

With pink as the thematic thread, the inaugural reopening exhibition showcases 49 artworks, spanning painting, sculpture and installation, from the X Museum’s collection, which consists of more than 1500 artworks primarily by emerging contemporary artists from around the world.

Produced by the museum’s curatorial team, the exhibition brings together creations by celebrated international artists including Heidi Bucher, Nicolas Party and Quarles, as well as emerging domestic artists such as Zhang Zipiao, Li Shurui and Wang Xiaoqu. On view in six galleries, the show is curated in line with the museum’s consistent focus on technology, identity, race and body in contemporary art, dealing with similar themes which are relevant in the post-pandemic era.

Exhibited along with X Pink 101, is Theta’s World, an online game by filmmaker and artist Lawrence Lek. On display on the museum’s second floor, the game is paired with virtual reality goggles, transporting visitors to SimBeijing, an uninhabited city designed for testing driverless cars. Outside the museum, people can access Theta’s World by visiting its official website.

Lek’s game is the latest commission of X Virtual, a digital art platform launched by the museum in 2019 dedicated to artistic virtual world building and research. Last year X Virtual unveiled its first four commissions by four digital artists from China, Britain and Brazil.

Huang remarked that X Virtual embodies that the museum, born and growing in the digital age, embraces new media and technologies to enable art to transcend time and space.

“The younger generations are the hope of the future, and their passion for art and innovative thinking can bring us new perspectives and inspiration. Therefore, we created the X Museum Triennial to give young artists an international platform to showcase their talent and creativity,” Huang said.

The second edition of the museum’s triennial will be staged after X Pink 101 between August and November, focusing on the artistic practice of young Chinese artists and artists of Chinese descent over the last three years, according to Wu, the chief curator.

She added that by the end of this year the museum will hold the first museum solos for two American artists – Alex Gardner and Kylie Manning.

The museum’s reopening celebration also featured a grand gala event called “The New GalaXy” on Saturday evening.

X Pink 101 runs until Aug 6.

A painting by Chinese artist Zhang Zipiao featured at X Pink 101 [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]