KWM artcenter is pleased to present its sixth collaboration with the Whitechapel Gallery, London from April 27th, 2020 onwards. Due to continuing Covid 19 restrictions the screenings will be shown on KWM’s online and social media platforms until further notice. Throughout 2020, KWM artcenter will be screening a series of moving image works as part of the Artists’ Film International (AFI) project, this year, based on the theme of language. AFl celebrates moving image work and is selected by a global partnership of arts organisations including KWM artcenter. Each nominates an outstanding work from their region which is screened across each venue during the year.

This season we start with KWM’s selection for AFI, Chinese artist Yu Guo’s work ‘Jiéjiè’ from 2019. ‘Jiéjiè’ is a Buddhist word describing the protective ‘zone’ created through a collective consciousness among a group of people. Yu Guo takes this notion as a perspective through which to look at how we communicate within heavily mediated urban environments. For Yu Guo in today’s urban life, every single visual action of viewing functions like a screen constantly producing new narratives to follow or not. Watching a subway window is the same as watching one’s phone screen; both containing a kind of mediated language embedded inside. “jiéjiè ” is the screen where the two-way rendering of body and media communicate. The film aims to discuss how “jiéjiè’ works in this new environment and whether a new language is needed to describe this situation.

About the artist

YU Guo
1983 Born in Tongjiang, Sichuan Province
2006 Graduated from No.1 studio of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing, China
Currently lives in Chongqing, China.

金杜艺术中心（KWM artcenter）
The KWM artcenter opened on 20th October 2016. It is located on the second floor of the WFC centre CBD in Beijing. The Art center is supported by the law firm King & Wood Mallesons. The KWM artcenter presents and promotes artists both domestically and overseas as well as building up its own collection. In particular, it acts as a rare art institution at the heart of the economic central area in Beijing. It provides high-quality art educational activities and courses aimed to cultivate art lovers and collectors. It serves to improve the international influence of Chinese Art and become a powerful communicator of Chinese Contemporary Art.