Xu Tan
Xu Tan (徐坦)
b. 1957 in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China; based in Guangzhou and New York
www.xutan-keywords.com
Work in exhibition
Social Botany: Zhòng/Zhǒng (Plant/Seeds/Semen) and Consanguinity, 2015
Installation with multi-channel video, reference materials, etc.
See all installation views at higher resolution: www.flickr.com/photos/parasophia/sets/72157654542342633
Xu was a member of Da Wei Xiang (Big Tail Elephant Group), a group that actively addressed the problems that were arising from the rapid urbanization of Guangzhou. Today, he is recognized worldwide as an artist whose practice reaches into the realm of social theory. Xu began his ongoing Social Botany Project in 2012. He has interviewed more than 50 individuals working in all aspects of botany for this project, from farmers to government officials to artistic workers. Of the thee key contexts that his analysis presents, his work for Parasophia belongs to the context of “agricultural planting,” with “endurance,” “animalistic freedom,” “seed,” “blood line,” “eudemonia,” and “anxiety about filial piety” among its keywords. Xu will create “reading spaces” which combine video with text and other materials that have arisen from this project, including the results of his research in Kyoto.
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Xu Tan, “Social Botany Project,” 2013–. Video still from Plant
