Tang Dixin: Performance

Artist Tang Dixin practices multiple artistic forms such as performance, painting, and installation. In his performance works, he often considers his own body or the bodies of others as his medium. Through this, he explores the correlations and interactions of the individual and society, by placing them or himself in extreme situations and hence creating ultimate forms of tension that are both dramatic and challenging. This can be observed in his performance work Rest is the best way of revolution(2013 - ongoing) where he invites viewers to have a good rest by wrapping a part of their body in a cast and hence restricting their movements. In Mr. Hungry No.1 (2014), he focuses on exploring spatial attributes. Within the confines of a gallery space, with the front door as his starting point, an ice pick in his hand, and crampons attached to his shoes, Tang scaled the 4-meters-high walls. One soon realizes the premise that the artist had set for himself: To move across the gallery space without touching the floor. Tang moved horizontally across the walls, occasionally stopping on ledges to take short rests, leaving large holes on the walls gouged out by this ice picks. 

Tang once mentioned in an interview that when performance drains him of all energy, making paintings tends to calm him down. In the beginning of 2020, Tang moved to a new studio situated within a factory, located in the outskirts of Shanghai. Compared to his small studio in the city centre previously, this large space with high ceilings and natural light brought a new sense of freedom to the artist. 

Images: Tang Dixin’s Studio, 2020 ©Tang Dixin, Courtesy of the Artist

Installation views: “Tang Dixin”, Ota Fine Arts Tokyo, 2018, Courtesy of Ota Fine Arts

Tang Dixin (b. 1982, Hangzhou, China) lives and works in Shanghai. In 2005, he graduated from the Faculty of Painting, Shanghai Normal University, China. Tang’s solo exhibitions include “Tang Dixin”(2018), Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo, Japan, “Tang Dixin” (2017), AIKE Gallery, Shanghai, China, “Tang Dixin: Dog Bark” (2015), Ota Fine Arts, Singapore, “Mr. Hungry” (2014), AIKE-DELLARCO, Shanghai, China and “Tang Dixin” (2014), Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo, Japan. He has also participated in notable group exhibitions such as “Embodied Mirror: Performances in Chinese Video Art” (2020), New Century Art Foundation, Beijing, China, “Straits” (2020) Ota Fine Arts, Singapore, “The Force Temple” (2019), TANK, Shanghai, China, “EXIT PLAN” (2019), SNAP, Shanghai, China, “… of …, at…h, at…, in….” (2018), Sifang Art Museum, Nanjing, China, “Two House” (2018), NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore, Singapore, “RAM HIGHLIGHT 2017: Displace” (2017), Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China, “China 2185” (2017), Sadie Coles, London, “Mountain Sites: View of Laoshan” (2016), Sifang Art Museum, Nanjing, China, “Turning Point: Contemporary Art In China Since 2000” (2016), Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China, “Jing Shen – The act of painting in contemporary China” (2015), PAC Museum of Contemporary Art, Milan, Italy, “Mr Hungry” (2015), Asia Contemporary Art Week (ACAW), New York, U.S.A., “10th Gwangju Biennale – Burning Down the House” (2014), Gwangju, Korea, “Revel – Celebrating MoCA’s 8 Years in Shanghai” (2013), Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China, and “ON | OFF China’s Young Artists in Concept and Practice” (2013), Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China.

To learn more about the artist, please click here.