State of Play

27th of February 2015 - August of 2015

White Rabbit Gallery

30 Balfour Street Chippendale NSW 2008 Australia

Open: Wed - Sun: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Admission: free

White Rabbit’s first exhibition of 2015 explores play in all its aspects and on multiple levels. Literally so: moving upward through the Gallery’s four floors takes visitors from the light-hearted games of childhood through the wild antics of adolescence to darker adult games of ambiguity and pretence. In reflecting on imagination, fantasy, role play, and games of risk and deception, the 30 artists whose works are on display themselves play creative games, experimenting with techniques, styles, concepts and media. The exhibition’s format is as experimental as its content—with artworks breaking through floors and ceilings, and positioned to bring out new dimensions of meaning and fun.

Highlights include:

The Empire (2013), in which Jian Jun Xi, best known as a performance artist, reflects on the relationship between American power and Chinese dreams of surpassing it. The artist and gallery staff will stage performances in this stunning work.

Yang Yongliang’s Cigarette Ash Landscape (2013), a radical reworking of the classical landscape scroll.

Yang Fudong’s Miss Huang at M Last Night (2006), a noir film in stills in which a woman and two men enact a universal game of romance and betrayal.

Three works by the celebrated artist Xu Zhen, founder and self-styled “product” of MadeIn Company. The works include Play 201301 (2013), Spread B-041 (2010), and occasional performances of In Just a Blink of an Eye (2005).

One Kind of Behaviour (2000–2007), a mechanical orchestra of buckets by the Taiwanese artist Shyu Ruey-Shiann.

Two stencil-paintings from Zheng Guogu’s acclaimed series Computer Is Controlled by Pig’s Brain (2007–20014) and the sculptural work 2000 AD and Rust Another 2000 Years (2001–2005), which has never been publicly exhibited before.