"Warning Visions:Chinese Contemporary Artists on Global Warming"
2007-09-01 until 2007-09-20
Art Scene Warehouse
Shanghai, , CN China

In China‚s first art exhibition calling awareness to the problem of Global Warming, Art Scene China has located artists and curated an exhibition of over 20 Chinese contemporary artists. The theme of the show calls for society to be more aware of and take more preventative measures towards Global Warming. Up to this point in time, China and the Chinese people seem to exhibit little urgency towards this important problem, as there have been no major events in China calling this problem to people's consciousness. Human carelessness towards the planet is largely due to a lack of awareness. It is our hope at Art Scene China, and the artists‚ in the exhibition, to elicit concern and compassion for the world by hosting the first exhibition calling for Global Warming Awareness and Prevention in China. The Chinese artists who have joined this Global Warming exhibition acknowledge that Global Warming is indeed a severe problem that China, and all societies, needs to tackle. The Chinese contemporary artists are calling out to people in China, and worldwide, to be more aware of Global Warming and to do what they can to prevent the destruction of our planet.

Global warming is a global problem. While the United States is by far the greatest emitter of carbon dioxide, China is also becoming a big part of the problem - as are all of the countries throughout the world. People from all nations of the world need to unite in their efforts to take whatever action they can to prevent the destruction of our ecosystem and of our planet. China and India are the fastest growing emitters of carbon dioxide, and while their economic growth is certainly important, the safety of the world should be a priority for everyone. Every individual and every government should take responsibility for global warming and should try to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to help everyone and all the wildlife on our planet.

The artists in the "Warning Visions" exhibition have all produced artworks in a variety of media relating to Global Warming issues. Artists such as Zhang Xu, Yang Fan and Tian Han all show the pollution created by man on our planet, which adds to the world‚s greenhouse gasses. Yang Fan's factories have wonderfully colourful skies behind them, illustrating the beauty of nature being destroyed by our waste and pollution. Dong He has painted a more cartoon-like scene of deathly-looking people in a polluting construction truck. Xi Hua sculpts industrial products, which are a huge cause of global greenhouse gases. Huang Jun, on the other hand, has produced compositions juxtaposing nature - in this case flowers and frogs - directly above factories, clearly indicating the direct effect that pollution has on life on our fragile planet. Wu Mengchun's brown water paintings illustrate how pollution is affecting water on the earth. Shen Lei has painted a chaotic scene, with pollution from water and electricity, and above it all a hurricane-like storm of destruction looms over our world. Cao Peilun paints a huge close-up of dying animals, in this case a housefly. Zhu Shiliang's more abstract paintings illustrate a factory inside a person's chest, with the person breathing out pollution from the factory - showing how pollution is an immediate problem. And Zhang Xiaojun paints the masks that people need to wear to prevent at least part of the pollution from entering into their bodies. Chen Geyi and Dongbin have painted apocalyptic scenes of destroyed human habitats, namely cities and buildings. And Pan Xiaoxiao has taken a step further by painting the ice age - with a tremendous amount of snow moving in on the Shanghai's famous Bund - which will occur, should global warming destroy our ecosystem.

Art Scene China has produced a special website (which will begin on the starting date of the Global Warming Exhibition) called www.QuanQiuBianNuan.com. This is the way to say "Global Warming" in Chinese. "Quan" means everywhere. "Qiu" means the Globe. "Bian" means changing. And "Nuan" means hot. This site will be permanently online, for people to witness the exhibition globally and virtually. And the website will expand, as more Chinese contemporary artists are invited to join.

We have compiled a list of measures that people can take to help to limit Global Warming. We hope that everyone who attends the show will leave with a greater awareness of the problem and will do what they can to follow the tips we have compiled to prevent Global Warming:
-  Save energy: factories that produce electricity also produce greenhouse gasses. Be conscious and try to use as little electricity as possible. Turn off lights whenever possible. Turn off your computer, your fax machine, your TV, your DVD player when not using them. Use energy saving light bulbs. Don't keep your refrigerator open for long. Buy more energy efficient products and appliances, most have energy-usage ratings on them. Try to fill up your washing machine, instead of half-loads, and the same with your dishwasher; and don't use the drying cycle. In winter, wear a pullover or thermal underwear at home and turn down the temperature of your heating. In summer, only turn on the air conditioning when you really need it and where possible; turn it off in rooms that are not in use. Do not have air conditioners set so that rooms are cooler than they need to be. Insulate your home and seal up drafts, to prevent heating/cooling from escaping.
- Recycle and buy products that are recyclable. Suggest to your apartment management to have recycling bins. You can also do this at the office. Buy products that are packaged in recyclable or biodegradable material. Reuse: In particular plastic containers and shopping bags. Plastic bags hurt the environment. You can buy a "bag for life" to put your shopping in so that you don't have to use shopping bags at all.
-  Waste less with transportation. Try to use mass public transportation whenever possible, such as the subway or public bus. Or even better, ride a bicycle or walk. If you must drive or take a taxi, try to car-pool. And make sure that your car tires are filled the optimum amount; slightly flat tired waste lots of fossil fuels, which pollutes the environment you‚re your car, use fuel that has a low carbon emission. Don‚t use diesel. You can also install a sulphur emission filter on the exhaust of your car.
- Traveling pollutes. If possible, try to cut down on the number of times you must travel by air per year. For business, try a conference by Internet or live web cam feeds. For holiday, vacation inside China; it's a wonderful country and you'll travel less. Buy local products: the further goods have to travel to get to their sale destination, the greater harm they do to the environment.
-  Eat less meat. Livestock produce lots of methane, a gas that contributes more to global warming than CO2. With billions of livestock in the world, eating less meat will significantly lower global warming and will have a net result of more food in the world to feed the poor.
-  Finally, spread the word! The more people you tell about ways to make cut down on pollution, the greater your contribution to environmental change.

Please, help us to help the world.

IMAGE
Zhu Shiliang

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for China

Other Important Exhibitions in China