Anish Kapoor
CAFA Art Museum & Taimiao Art Museum
CAFA Art Museum (CAFAM)
2019/10/25 - 2020/1/1
Preview Day: 10/25
Public Opening: 10/26
Taimiao Art Museum
2019/11/11 - 2019/12/28
Public Opening: 11/11
Internationally celebrated British artist Anish Kapoor will open a major solo exhibition in Beijing this October. As Kapoor’s first solo museum show in China, the exhibition will present some of the artist’s most significant and celebrated works of his last 35 years. The exhibition at CAFA Art Museum will open on October 25, featuring the artist’s powerful, self-generated installations; the exhibition that will open on November 11 at Taimiao Art Museum of Imperial Ancestral Temple will show his sensorial, geometrical sculptures.
Fan Di’an, President of China Artists Association and Director of the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), is the academic supervisor of the exhibition. Deputy Director of CAFA Su Xinping is the art director, CAFAM Director Zhang Zikang the chief curator, and CAFAM Deputy Director Wang Chunchen and Executive Director of Taimiao Art Museum Yue Jieqiong the curators. The exhibition also invites artistic director of the Serpentine Galleries, London, Hans-Ulrich Obrist to be its curatorial consultant. The exhibition is a deep exploration of Kapoor’s visual art language, as well as an important witness of China-UK cultural exchange.
Anish Kapoor, Symphony for a Beloved Sun, 2013
Stainless steel, wax, conveyer belts
Photo credit: Dave Morgan
©Anish Kapoor, 2019
The exhibition at the contemporary architecture CAFA Art Museum will present the dramatic and performative properties of Kapoor’s work, and focus on four of the most important works of the artist’s. The 2013 work Symphony for a Beloved Sun, exhibited at Martin-Gropius Bau in Berlin, will meet the public with a new look at the museum lobby. On the third floor gallery, there will display Kapoor’s debut exhibit at the Palace of Versailles in 2015, Sectional Body preparing for Monadic Singularity. The neighboring space will show Destierro, the industrial landscape work he showed in 2017 at Argentina’s Parque de la Memoria, or Memory Park, which features a lonely, ultramarine bulldozer in contrast with hundreds of tons of red earth. On the fourth floor of the museum, the automatic installation work My Red Homeland (2003) will be exhibited.
Anish Kapoor, Sectional Body preparing for Monadic Singularity, 2015
PVC and steel
730 x 730 x 730 cm
Photo credit: Tadzio
©Anish Kapoor, 2019
Anish Kapoor, Destierro
Earth, pigment and mechanical digger
Dimensions variable
©Anish Kapoor, 2019
Anish Kapoor, My Red Homeland, 2003
Wax and oil-based paint, steel arm and motor
Diameter: 12 m
©Anish Kapoor, 2019
Except for these large-scale installation works, Kapoor will also exhibit models of the important public sculptures of his decades-long art practice, including the Cloud Gate (2004), Orbit (2010), Scheme for South Bank Centre (2001), Subway Stations, Monte Sant'Angelo, Naples (1999-2002), and the 56 Leonard Street sculpture model to be exhibited in New York this October.
Sky Mirror, 2006
Stainless steel
Diameter: 10 m
Photo credit: Tim Mitchell
©Anish Kapoor, 2019
Tsunami, 2018
Stainless steel
Photo credit: Dave Morgan
©Anish Kapoor, 2019
The other part of the solo exhibition will take place at the Taimiao Art Museum of Imperial Ancestral Temple, which belongs to the Forbidden City architecture group. The 600-year-old Taimiao is composed of buildings and courtyards of large volume. By reflecting and refracting the space using a series of stainless steel and pigment sculptures, Kapoor is having an unprecedented dialogue with the magnificent architecture and the history. His most impactful, interactive pair of works, S-Curve (2006) and C-Curve (2007) will be placed in the mid-court of Taimiao. “S-Curve” is a S-shaped sculpture formed by two seamlessly connected stainless steels. “C-Curve” is one large piece of curved stainless steel. The two art works, respectively in convex and concave shapes, directly reflects and retracts landscape around them. Located around these works is another group of important stainless steel sculptures by Kapoor, including Non-Object (Spire) (2008), and Non-Object (Door) (2008). These works show its environment up-side-down, make the audience immerse in the surrounding architecture and environment, and challenge the audience’s conceptive experience.
Anish Kapoor, Svayambhu, 2007
Wax and oil-based paint
Dimensions variable
Photo credit: Dave Morgan
©Anish Kapoor, 2019
Pigment sculptures will be exhibited in the two side halls of Taimiao Art Museum’s Xiang Dian. Kapoor’s use of pigment is the foundation of many of his original works. He quickly rose to fame with the 1000 Names series (1979-1982) due to its innovative use of pigment. Other pigment sculptures that ensued, including the Angel (1990) in blue and the To Reflect an Intimate Part of the Red (1981) in a variety of colors and shapes, will appear in this exhibition. The varied art works will fill the ancient architecture space. All kinds of shapes will put the audience in a daze.
Leviathan, 2011
PVC
33.6 x 99.89 x 72.23 m
Exhibited at Grand Palais during the Monumenta, 2011
Photo credit: Dave Morgan
©Anish Kapoor, 2019
The exhibition is co-organized by Central Academy of Fine Arts and the Beijing Municipal Federation Trade Unions, and co-hosted by the CAFA Art Museum and the Taimiao Art Museum. We would like to extend special thanks to our chief supporting organization Zhonghong Chuangyi (Beijing) Culture Development Co, Ltd., and other supporting organizations Lisson Gallery, Galleria Continua and the British Council.
About the Artist
Anish Kapoor
Photo credit: Jillian Edelstein
Anish Kapoor was born in Mumbai, India in 1954 and lives and works in London. He studied at Hornsey College of Art, London, UK (1973–77) followed by postgraduate studies at Chelsea School of Art, London, UK (1977–78). Recent solo exhibitions include CorpArtes, Santiago, Chile (2019); Pitzhanger Manor and Gallery, London, UK (2019); Serralves Museum, Porto, Portugal (2018); 'Descension’' at Public Art Fund, Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 1, New York, NY, USA (2017); Parque de la Memoria, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2017); MAST Foundation,Bologna, Italy (2017); Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC), Mexico City, Mexico (2016); Couvent de la Tourette, Eveux, France (2015); Château de Versailles, France (2015) and The Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center, Moscow, Russia (2015). He represented Britain at the 44th Venice Biennale in 1990 with Void Field (1989), for which he was awarded the Premio Duemila for Best Young Artist. Kapoor won the Turner Prize in 1991 and has honorary fellowships from the University of Wolverhampton, UK (1999), the Royal Institute of British Architecture, London, UK (2001) and an honorary doctorate from the University of Oxford, UK (2014). Anish Kapoor was awarded a CBE in 2003 and a Knighthood in 2013 for services to visual arts. Large scale public projects include Cloud Gate (2004) in Millennium Park, Chicago, USA and ArcelorMittal Orbit (2012) in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London, UK.
About the Organizers
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CAFA Art Museum
The history of the CAFA Art Museum can be traced back to the early 1950s. Originally called the Central Academy of Fine Arts Gallery, it was located on Wangfujing, Beijing. Designed by the noted architect Zhang Kaiji, the Gallery was the first professional art museum built after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. In 1998, the Gallery changed its name to the CAFA Art Museum. In October 2008, the museum moved to the No. 8 Huajiadi South Street in Beijing’s Chaoyang District, with a new building designed by the noted Japanese architect Arata Isozaki. In the end of 2010, the CAFA Art Museum was selected to be one of the firsts to be listed as the Key National Museums. The CAFA Art Museum is a professional and international modern art museum that conducts academic research, presents exhibitions, restores artworks and provides art education. The museum upholds the philosophy of open-mindedness and is rooted in the concept of using knowledge to serve society. It aims to bridge the past and the future through presenting great artistic and cultural accomplishments of our humanity, and share the culture of our times with all quarters of society.
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Taimiao Art Museum
The Taimiao Art Museum is located in the Forbidden City architecture group, China’s highest-ranking architecture group that has lasted for 600 years. It is a combination of magnificent building, rich history, profound background and spirit of the era, an artistic and cultural palace of the new time against the ancient royal architectural background established in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
The Taimiao Art Museum is co-operated by the Beijing Municipal Federation Trade, the Beijing Working People’s Cultural Palace and the Central Academy of Fine Arts. It has functions including exhibition, collection, research, public education and domestic and international cultural exchange, and keeps improving its operation mechanism and organization structures with high standard of sociability, professionalism and social benefits.
About the Exhibition
Academic Consultant: Fan Di'an
Artistic Director: Su Xinping
Curatorial Advisor: Hans Ulrich Obrist
Chief Curator: Zhang Zikang
Curators: Wang Chunchen Yue Jieqiong
Organizers: Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing Municipal Federation Trade Unions
Co-Organizers: CAFA Art Museum, Taimiao Art Museum
Chief Supporting Organization: Zhonghong Chuangyi (Beijing) Culture Development Co, Ltd.
Supporting Organizations: Lisson Gallery, Galleria Continua and the British Council
CAFA Art Museum
| Time |
2019/10/25 - 2020/1/1
Open to the public on 10/26
| Opening Hours |
Tuesday to Sunday 9:30-17:30
(Last admission 17:00)/ Closed on Monday
Taimiao Art Museum
| Time |
2019/11/11-12/28
| Opening Hours |
9:00-17:00 daily
(Last ticket purchase 16:30)
Ticketing Information
* All kinds of ticket can be used throughout the exhibition starting 10/26.
Scan the QR code to purchase ticket
Early-bird Ticket:90 yuan
(Available from 2019/10/10-10/25)
Adult ticket: 120 yuan
Discount ticket: 60 yuan
(Please refer to discount ticket use policy below for eligibility)
Family ticket: 260 yuan
(2 adults and 1 child above 120 cm)
*Group ticket: Groups of 10 or more may enjoy 20% discount off original price.
Visitors with union membership card may enjoy 20% discount off original price.
(Group ticket only available at the CAFAM front desk)
For inquiries please call: 010-64771575
| Notes |
* The ticket of Anish Kapoor exhibition at CAFA Art Museum is 120 yuan. Visitors with union membership card may enjoy 20% discount off original price, and visit the Anish Kapoor exhibition at the Taimiao Art Museum for free. Visitors to Taimiao without card could buy the bell exhibition ticket for 15 yuan, and enjoy the Anish Kapoor exhibition for free. The east and west side halls of Xiang Dian are open for free. Visitors may enter with 2-yuan palace ticket.
* Teachers and students of CAFA, children under 120cm (adult company is required, and the adult needs to purchase ticket), elderlies above 60, military service men and disabled people may visit the exhibition for free.
* Students above 120cm (graduates students included), visitors with CAFA Alumni Card, CAFAM VIP Card, CAFAM Membership Card and Museum Association Membership Card, museum employees may purchase discount ticket.
Note: Free ticket and discount ticket can be purchased and verified upon showing credentials. CAFAM reserves the right for final explanation.