The Museums Commission inaugurated the exhibition The Writings of Today Are a Promise for Tomorrow at the Saudi Arabia Museum of Contemporary Art at Jax (SAMOCA @ Jax), introducing contemporary artists of Chinese origin to Saudi Arabia for the first time.
Bringing together over 30 artists of different generations and cultural backgrounds, the exhibition showcases a collection of over 50 artworks, offering diverse and nuanced perspectives on the profound transformation of our contemporary society.
The exhibition draws fascinating parallels between Arab and Chinese traditions by exploring two central elements they have in common: calligraphy and the Garden. The exhibition highlights the profound significance of calligraphy as a cultural and societal practice in both Arabic and Chinese cultures. In both cultures, the written word and script are revered not only as a form of communication but also as a spiritual endeavor.
The balance between discipline and naturalness, a requirement for masterful calligraphy, links the field of writing with the domain of the garden. By definition, the garden is nature in an arranged order, and it is considered in both cultures a representation of creation, designed for the appreciation of beauty and spirituality, and for contemplation and conviviality.
The Writings of Today Are a Promise for Tomorrow reflects also an aspiration towards future possibilities and ongoing dialogue, addressing the concepts of energy flow and synergy. Writing here is understood in a larger sense, as the trace of a meaningful act of participation and communication.
The exhibition is designed as a stroll through a series of thematic stages, exploring the interplay between presence and absence, action and contemplation, memory and imagination: The Active Word; Presence and Absence; Sites of Memory; Advance Through Retreat / Synergies; Dreamscapes; and Judd.
Visitors of the exhibition will have the opportunity to explore pieces from two notable collections of contemporary Chinese art, the Donnersberg Collection (Paris) and the Dslcollection (Paris), as well as direct contributions from artists and site-specific works produced in Saudi Arabia for the exhibition. They will also see the works of a French-Algerian artist Adel Abdessemed and Taiwanese artist Michael Lin, showing for the first time in Saudi Arabia.
The Writings of Today Are a Promise for Tomorrow showcases how the art of today continues to evolve, reflecting and reshaping the flow of cultural energy, connecting past and future, and embodying the promise of tomorrow.
The exhibition will run until January 18, 2025, and tickets are on sale on this link:
Participating artists:
Abdessemed Adel (1971/ lives in Paris)
CHEN Jianghong (1963/ lives in Paris)
CHEN Shaoxiong (1962 – 2016)
CHEN Tong (1962/ lives in Guangzhou)
CHEN Zhen (1955 -2000)
HAI Bo (1962/ lives in Beijing)
HAN Lei (1967/ lives in Beijing)
HUANG Yongping (1954-2019)
HONG Hao (1965/lives in Beijing)
JIANG Zhi (1971/ lives in Beijing)
LI Donglu (1982/ lives in Paris)
Michael LIN (1964/ lives in Brussels)
LIN Tianmiao (1971/ lives in Beijing and NY)
LIU Bolin (1973/ lives in Binzhou)
LIU Wei (1972/ lives in Beijing)
QIU Anxiong (1972/ lives in Shanghai)
QIU Zhijie (1969/lives in Beijing)
RU Xiaofan (1954/ lives in Paris)
SHEN Yuan (1959/ lives in Paris)
SONG Dong (1966/ lives in Beijing)
TIAN Dexi (1983/ lives in France)
WANG Bing (1967/ lives in Paris)
WANG Du (1956/ lives in Paris)
YAN Pei-ming (1960/ lives in Paris)
Felicitas YANG (1994/ lives in Paris)
Yangjiang Group (CHEN Zaiyan (1971)/SONG Qinglin (1974))
YANG Jiechang (1956/ lives in Paris and Heidelberg)
YANG Yongliang (1980/ lives in Shanghai and NY)
ZHANG Huan (1965/ lives in Shanghai)
ZHENG Guogu (1970/ lives in Yangjiang)
Press release from SAMOCA
Image: Adel Abdessemed. Judd. 2017. Trucks with variable sculptural elements. Installation view of The Writings of Today are a Promise for Tomorrow at Saudi Arabia Museum of Contemporary Art at Jax, 2024. Image courtesy of Studio Adel Abdessemed, Paris. All installation images courtesy of Saudi Arabia Museum of Contemporary Art
