SNAKES AND CONTAINERS

Last year I am sure that I dazzled you with facts concerning the annual MONUMENTAL installation at the Grand Palais. Here you can take a look again and just imagine that every year a new artist is selected to create a work of art for this particular space. The challenge must be quite something I would think.

Monumenta last year



This year it was « EMPIRES » created by Huang Yong Ping. From the videos that I have looked at, he seems to have a very developed sense of humour. Many of the Chinese I have met, can as I have learnt at my own expense, be very funny.

Have a look at the trailer. I found it quite amazing.

EMPIRES TRAILER

He was born in China in 1954 so still quite a young man in my book. He left his country in 1989 to come to France. Before that he belonged to a very radical movement called Xiamen Dada which claimed that:-

« The zen is Dada, Dada is zen » 

He’s a central artist of his times and although l have now looked at a lot of his work on Internet  the zen concept remains a bit of a paradox for me. On some of the videos he only speaks in Chinese and then once or twice he reverts to a rather broken French.

Empires is an installation created for Monumenta. A landscape which is made up of 8 hills of containers. This is the first thing that you see when coming in. Fortunately I had looked at a video before I went along as I may have been a little taken aback. I was in any case.








Then there were plans that could take me further ....





Aiee, we see that there is this giant metallic snake help up by a crane which seems to fold and unfold between the mountains of containers.















As soon as you discover the central ally, there is the two horned hat which Napoleon wore in the Eylau battle.








Of course the first question I asked myself is « what is this all about? » Globalization? The containers represent the movement of goods - or riches perhaps one could add - that circulate around the world.


 The horned hat evokes political desire which compels industrials, politicians, the military and tyrants or anyone else you can think of who could wear this hat to "globalize". Is the snake  a menacing sign? I am sure that Yong Ping would even contradict me on my interpretation of what I think that I saw and the little that I read. We obey these laws which are frequently decadent allowing for expansion if we like it or not. No, I am not being pessimistic but the contrast of that snake and the containers was not easy to abide with - if of course the concept is as I described. Who knows it could be something else? That’s how I saw it.

































Although the little dialogue in this video is in French. It’s quite self explanatory and shows the development and installation of Empires - and it is monumental.

Huang Yong Ping

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