Gao Brothers
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Gao Brothers, exhibition poster
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Gao Brothers, curators Ai WeiWei & Achille Bonito Oliva
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Mao's Guilt

The Execution of Christ

In China, a Headless Mao is a Game of Cat and Mouse

An excellent story in the New York Times by Jimmy Wang

Miss Mao trying to poise herself at the top of Lenin's head
large view

The Gao Brothers were the special guests at the award ceremony of the Kandinsky Prize in Moscow December 10, 2008.

REUTERS / Sergei Karpukhin report:

www.thainewsland.com



Their performance impressed the audience.

It culminated with smashing the statue of Chairman Mao, which, furthermore, had female breasts.

Gao Brothers had imitated serial politician typical behaviours that, firstly they waved, shaked hands and had bear hugs under small Miss Mao masks, then smashed a big Miss Mao statue with big hammers , in which a red Lenin's statue fixed at a cross exposed and then being smashed too. At last,they took out a black skull from the broken Lenin's head, raised and show it to audience together,with laughters of a likely death.

For the opening of its new space, IFA Gallery is very happy to present the Gao Brothers solo show:

"SOME SPACE FOR HUMANITY"

curated by Bérénice Angremy

10th September – 20th October 2008
Vernissage: 10th September 3-8PM

ifa gallery • contemporary art

www.ifa-gallery.com

621 Changde Road (near Wuding Road)
Shanghai 200040
China

Tel:+86-21 6256 0835
fax:+86-21 6256 0837
contact@ifa-gallery.com


The Forever Unfinished Building No. 4, 2008.

Gao Zhen and Gao Qiang, who have worked on the Chinese contemporary art scene as the "Gao Brothers" since the middle of the 80s, hardly need an introduction. They are already well known in China and abroad as the representatives of a movement uniquely their own, that of the "outsiders" amongst the outsiders. And yet, the ambition of this latest exhibition, in the new premises of the ifa gallery, is to cast a fresh eye on the Gao Brothers' photographic work on space.

The photographs for "Some Space for Humanity" have been meticulously selected from a large corps of work, allowing us to indulge in a re-visitation of the Gao Brothers' artistic journey with photography, dating from 2000 up until their more recent work. The five series of photographs presented in the new "IFA house" all relate to research into the human meaning of physical space.

Each series – 2 to 5 photographs – was taken over a period years, revealing the Gao Brothers' momentary obsessions: they present space that is convivial, restricted, excessive, unfinished, overwhelming - depending on the period and no doubt the creators' preoccupations at the time.

It is important in this approach to show the early works from 2001, these portray space, such as a "Sense of Space", a series of magnificent mystical works that define human space in a cupboard, alongside the more recent works that reveal an unrestrained, exploding humanity such as "The Forever Unfinished Building N. 4". Man, initially central to the works, is lost as the core element in a multitude of possible spaces to become one of many characters in a fresco on the history of humanity that, we get the impression, is in perpetual transformation.

"Some Space for Humanity" was born from the curator's play on the relationship between the works and the new ifa gallery; this takes the form of a succession of interior spaces on 4 floors of a house that is enthralling to explore. Here it is possible to exhibit the Gao Brothers' works in a human-scaled space, a humanised context. In this exhibition, there is a particular focus on the Gao Brothers' artistic research, resolutely turned towards the meaning of humanity, research reinforced over time by their tenacity.

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Renowned Chinese contemporary artist-duo The Gao Brothers at 101TOKYO Contemporary Art Fair 2008


What happened really? The GAO BROTHERS in Tokyo, April 2008.

101TOKYO, Japan’s New Contemporary Art Fair will host a performance by critically acclaimed Chinese artists The Gao Brothers, at the fair venue on Saturday April 5th..

This will be the first time The Gao Brothers perform in Japan.

“We are thrilled to be hosting the Gao Brother’s first ever performance in Japan. This work is a literal interpretation of what 101TOKYO stands for – capturing the dynamism of the Asian contemporary art scene and connecting people” said Agatha Wara, Director of the fair.

The Gao Brothers (Gao Qiang, born 1962 and Gao Zhen, born 1956) are a pair of artist brothers based in Beijing, China. Their 20-year collaboration has generated an oeuvre of socially charged performance art, sculpture and photography that casts a critical eye on China and the West. Their Tokyo performance will be the latest in their series of World Hug Day / The Utopia of Hugging, where large groups of strangers participate in a mass hugging event.

For this special performance at 101TOKYO, The Gao Brothers are looking for participants. If you would like to participate in this important event please contact gaobrothers@101tokyo.com.

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GAO BROTHERS 'Goodbye Tiananmen'  2007
120x150cm, ed.2/10

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Exhibition Thursday  25 October 2007 -  24 November  2007

Opening Wednesday  24 October 2007,  18:00 - 21:00 hours

Galerie Albert Benamou
24 rue de Penthièvre . Paris 8^e
Tel +33 (0)1 45 63 12 21
Fax +33 (0)1 45 63 22 11
albertbenamou@gmail.com
www.benamou.net

Monday - Saturday  10:00 - 19:00 hours

GAO BROTHERS 'Morning Exercise'  2004

The Gao Brothers

From September 13th to November 3rd 2007

LIMN Gallery
292 Townsend
San Francisco, CA 94107
Tel: +1 (0)415-977-1300

gallery@limn.com
http://limnartgallery.com

The Limn Gallery presents new works by the Gao Brothers, acclaimed members of the Chinese contemporary art community whose 20-year collaboration has generated an oeuvre of socially charged performance art, sculpture and photography that casts a critical eye on China and the West  more >>

The Gao Brothers and Stephan Hausmeister orchestrated a mass embrace of strangers at the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin / Germany 11 September 2007  more >>