Kan Xuan

Kan Xuan (Chinese: 阚萱; pinyin: Kàn Xuān) (born in 1972 in Xuancheng, Anhui) is a Chinese contemporary visual artist, known for her experimental video artworks, though some of her work incorporates painting, photography, and performance art. She is considered as one of the most important female video artists of China, and has been active since the late 1990s.

Kan was born in Xuancheng, Anhui Province, China. She studied from 1993 to 1997 at the China Academy of Art, in Hangzhou, where she was part of the evolution of video art from its inception in China. Two of her teachers were Geng Jianyi and Zhang Peili.

In 1998, she went to Beijing and worked for a sculpture factory and various film production companies. She participated in her first major group exhibition by showing her still frame video work "Kan Xuan! - Eh!" at the "Art for Sale" exhibition in 1999, which was one of the most innovative experimental art exhibitions to take place in China at the time.

Kan completed a residency at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam from 2002 to 2003. She received the Netherlands’ Prix de Rome in 2005. During her time in the Netherlands, she created works that focus on the concepts of liberation, globalization and its impact on economy. Much of her work examined the differences between China and the West, rich and poor, and effects of commercialization, which she explored in her 1999 work "Garbage" and 2006-2009 work "Island".

In 2009, she returned to Beijing, where she worked on large scale installations about Chinese history. She travelled extensively throughout China while making many short documentary films about important traditions that are often ignored in the present time.

A notable aspect of her work at exhibition "Yellow Signal: New Media in China" (2012) at The Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art was an exploration of Zen spirituality.

Kan is often featured in her videos. She uses her personal experience as a way to convey the concepts of the works. Her early low-tech handheld camera-work brought an intimacy and beauty to seemingly trivial elements from everyday life. She quietly and humorously expresses immediate sensual experiences in unique visual angles, to an effect of sense altering and thought provoking narratives.

Kan often plays with ambiguity and dissonance. Although her works are often short and simple, they allude to a deeper sense of spiritualism.

In her own words, "it is about trying to become closer to and trying to follow, in every moment, my wish to exist in that distance between ‘thinking’ and ‘feeling’."

Currently, Kan divides her time between Beijing and Amsterdam.

Solo exhibitions

• 2008: "Kan Xuan! Ai!." Galleria Continua (San Gimignano, Italy)
• 2009: "Light, Works by Kan Xuan." Arrow Factory (Beijing)
• 2012: "Kan Xuan: Millet Mounds." Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (Beijing)
• 2016: "Kan Xuan" Ikon Gallery (Birmingham)

Selected group exhibitions

• 1999: "Art for Sale" Modern Art Center (Shanghai)
• 2000: "Home?, Contemporary Art Exhibition." Yuexing Furniture Plaza (Shanghai)
• 2002: "The First Guangzhou Trienniale - Reinterpretation: A Decade of Experimental Chinese Art (1990-2000)." Guangdong Museum of Art (Guangzhou)
• 2002: "Under Construction: New Dimensions of Asian Art." The Japan Foundation Asia Center; Tokyo Opera City Cultural Foundation (Tokyo, Japan)
• 2003: "Alors la Chine?" Centre Pompidou (Paris, France)
• 2004: "Dial 62761232 (Express Delivery Exhibition), Contemporary Art Exhibition." BizArt (Shanghai)
• 2005: "The Second Guangzhou Triennial, BEYOND: an extraordinary space of experimentation for modernization." Guangdong Museum of Art (Guangzhou)
• 2006: "9th Havana Biennial." National Art Center (Havana, Cuba)
• 2006: "Nunca salgo sin mi cámara / Never Go Out Without My DVcam, Video en china." Museo Colecciones ICO (Madrid, Spain)
• 2006: "China Power Station: Part I." Battersea Power Station (London)
• 2007: "China Power Station: Part II." Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art (Oslo, Norway)
• 2007: "China Power Station: Part III." National Art Museum (Luxembourg)
• 2007: "Not only Possible, But also Necessary-Optimism in the Age of Global War." 10th International Istanbul Biennial (Istanbul, Turkey)
• 2007: "Everyday Miracles: Four Women Artists" at The Chinese Pavilion. 52nd Venice Biennale (Venice, Italy)
• 2008: "Our Future, The Guy & Myriam Ullens Foundation Collection." Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA) (Beijing)
• 2009: "Bourgeoisified Proletariat, Contemporary Art Exhibition in Songjiang." Shanghai Songjiang Creative Studio (Shanghai)
• 2010: "Jungle: A Close-Up Focus on Chinese Contemporary Art Trends." Platform China (Beijing)
• 2010: “Kan Xuan: Qingxie de Jiashi” (Kan Xuan: Oblique Housework)." National Art Museum of China (Beijing)
• 2012: "The Unseen - 4th Guangzhou Triennial." The Guangdong Museum of Art (Guangzhou)
• 2013: "The Garden of Diversion, Sifang Art Museum Inaugural Exhibition." Sifang Art Museum (Nanjing)
• 2014: "The 8 of Paths, Art Exhibition in the Uferhallen." Uferhallen (Berlin, Germany)
• 2015: "China 8: Contemporary Art from China at the Rhine and Ruhr." Lehmbruck Museum (Duisburg)
• 2016: "Tales of Our Time." Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York, U.S.A.)

Private collections

• Dr. Michael I. Jacobs Collection, U.S.A.
• M+ Collection, Hong Kong

• Smith, Karen (2015). As Seen. 3, Notable artworks by Chinese artists = 发光体. 3 号, 亲历中国当代艺术现场 (in English and Chinese). Beijing: Beijing World Publishing Corporation. ISBN 978-7-510-09686-0. OCLC 957964059.  CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
• Kan, Xuan (2013). 阚萱 : 大谷子堆 = KanXuan : millet mounds = Kan xuan : da gu zi dui (Di 1 ban. ed.). Beijing: 世界图书出版公司北京公司. ISBN 9787510056208. 
• Hill, Katie (3 August 2016). "Kan Xuan, Chinese Artist, Contemporary Visual Art, Katie Hill, Ikon Gallery Birmingham". COBO Social. 
• "A History of Exhibitions: Shanghai 1979–2006: Kan Xuan! − Eh! (Still Frame)". Asia Art Archive. 1999. 
• Serpentine Gallery; Battersea Power Station; Astrup Fearnley museet for moderne kunst (2006). China Power Station. Part I (Exhibition catalog). Birmingham: Fused Magazine. OCLC 711754683. 
• Kvaran, Gunnar B.; Obrist, Hans-Ulrich; Peyton-Jones, Julia; Serpentine Gallery; Astrup Fearnley Museet for Moderne Kunst (2007). China Power Station. Part II (Exhibition catalog) (in English and Norwegian). Oslo: Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art. ISBN 978-8-291-43052-2. OCLC 228508946.  CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
• Hanru, Hou (June 2007). "Everyday Miracles: Four Women Artists. The Chinese Pavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennale". Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art. 6 (2): 8–13. 
• Fang, Hu (2010). ""Kan Xuan: Qingxie de Jiashi" (Kan Xuan: Oblique Housework)". In Fan, Di’an. The State of Things: Contemporary Art on China and Belgium (Exhibition catalog) (in Chinese). Beijing: National Art Museum of China. pp. 106–09. 
• Weng, Xiaoyu; Hanru, Hou (2016). Tales of Our Time (Exhibition catalogue) (in Chinese and English). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. ISBN 978-0892075294.  CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)

• 2005: Prix de Rome, Netherlands

• Serpentine Gallery; Battersea Power Station; Astrup Fearnley museet for moderne kunst (2006). China Power Station. Part I (Exhibition catalog). Birmingham: Fused Magazine. OCLC 711754683.  Special issue of Fused Magazine published to accompany the Serpentine Gallery exhibition at Battersea Power Station, 8 Oct. - 5 Nov. 2006
• Kvaran, Gunnar B.; Obrist, Hans-Ulrich; Peyton-Jones, Julia; Serpentine Gallery; Astrup Fearnley Museet for Moderne Kunst (2007). China Power Station. Part II (Exhibition catalog) (in English and Norwegian). Oslo: Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art. ISBN 978-8-291-43052-2. OCLC 228508946.  CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link) Catalog of an exhibition held at Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, Sept. 8-Dec. 2, 2007
• Beltrame, Federica; Galleria Continua (2008). Unmoved: Ilya Kabakov, Kan Xuan, Sabrina Mezzaqui, Hans Op de Beeck, Sun Yuan, Peng Yu = 无动于衷: 伊利亚・卡巴利夫, 阚萱, 萨布琳娜・梅扎奎, 汗斯・欧普・德・贝客, 孙原, 彭禹 (Exhibition catalog) (in English and Chinese). Beijing: Galleria Continua. OCLC 501427978.  CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link) Catalogue of an exhibition held at Galleria Continua (Beijing), 12 July 2008
• Kan, Xuan (2013). 阚萱: 大谷子堆 = KanXuan: Millet Mounds (Exhibition catalog) (in Chinese and English). Beijing: Shi jie tu shu chu ban gong si Beijing gong si. ISBN 978-7-510-05620-8. OCLC 861241119.  CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link) Published on the occasion of the exhibition Kan Xuan: Millet Mounds at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, 2012.09.15-2012.11.15
• Lu, Leiping; Watkins, Jonathan (2016). Kan Xuan (Exhibition catalog). Birmingham: Ikon Gallery Ltd. ISBN 978-1-911-15502-7. OCLC 953598879. Published on the occasion of the exhibition held at Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, July 6-September 11, 2016
• Weng, Xiaoyu; Hanru, Hou (2016). Tales of Our Time (Exhibition catalogue) (in Chinese and English). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. ISBN 978-0892075294.  CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link) Published on the occasion of the exhibition Tales of Our Time at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, November 4, 2016 - March 10, 2017