Out of the shadows

Ancient art form that uses puppets' silhouettes to tell stories and entertain audiences is being performed for the first time at an international exhibition in Italy. Lin Qi reports

Centuries-old shadow puppetry from Huaxian county, northwestern Shaanxi province is being performed in the Chinese Pavilion at the ongoing 57th Venice Biennale for the first time.

In the week following the event's opening on May 13, six folk artists from Huaxian performed for 30 minutes each day to audiences at the pavilion. Since the singer, puppeteer and four musicians returned home, however, a group of volunteers composed of international students has taken on the task.

Titled Continuum - Removing the Mountains and Filling the Sea, the performance references classic Chinese fables such as Yugong Yishan (The Old Fool Who Moved Mountains) and Jingwei Tianhai (Jingwei the Bird Fills up the Sea). Dogged determination and the pursuit of freedom are explored in the work, which curator Qiu Zhijie, 48, says represent China's answer to the exhibition's overarching theme, Viva Arte Viva (Spanish for "live art alive").

This theme, according to Paolo Baratta, president of event organizer La Biennale di Venezia, celebrates "the very existence of art and artists, whose worlds expand our perspective and the space of our existence".

The puppets for the performances were all created by three artists: Wu Jian'an, 37, Tang Nannan, 45, and Wang Tianwen, 67, a master puppet-maker from Xi'an.

Other examples of their work, such as paintings, installations and videos, are also on show at the venue through to the biennial's close on Nov 26.

During the performances, real-time footage of two women embroidering at the same venue is also projected onto the semi-transparent screen. They are Yao Huifen, 50, and her sister Yao Huiqin, two practitioners of the long-standing Su embroidery tradition from Suzhou, eastern Jiangsu province. Several of their delicately embroidered pieces featuring experimental stitching and collaborations with Wu and Tang are also on display.

Inaugurated in 1895, the Venice Biennale is the world's oldest art exhibition, which aims to celebrate the development of contemporary art from both established artists and newcomers. It is held every two years in the northern Italian city and features 120 artists from across the globe this time around, as well as 86 national pavilions and 23 "collateral events".

China has had a pavilion at the event since 2003, though this is the first time that folk customs have been the main focus. Paper-cut designs and shadow puppets were previously exhibited in the 1980s, but that was only because the first Chinese exhibitors to attend mistook the event for a trade fair.

Previous Chinese artists to be featured at the pavilion include renowned luminaries Zeng Fanzhi, Cao Fei and Yin Xiuzhen.

So when Qiu announced his plans for this year's pavilion in March, some critics said he was only incorporating folk art elements in order to blindly evoke Chinese culture.

Yet he has hit back at such claims, saying people only disliked the plans because they care so much for Chinese art and craft traditions. He says when people debate whether folk art is being exploited by contemporary artists, they underestimate the power of tradition.

According to Qiu, traditional art encapsulates the energy that has inspired generations of Chinese artists since the earliest times and by adopting these traditions, artists invigorate them. He says this is how Chinese culture has endured for so long, reflecting the exhibition's theme of art being alive.

"We are called the Chinese Pavilion. So why should we avoid Chinese cultural elements?" he says.

Qiu says the collaboration with contemporary artists has also pushed masters of traditional crafts like Wang and the Yao sisters to adapt the way they and their mentors have worked for dozens of years.

Throughout years, Yao Huifen has embroidered highly realistic, decorative patterns that are popular among collectors. She normally uses two to three stitches. When she worked with Wu to re-create a 12th-century Chinese painting to be on show, and the latter asked her to use for each work more than 50 stitches which were developed by predecessor embroiderers.

"The cooperation opens a door for me to see much more possibilities to renew the traditions of Su embroidery," says Yao.

Contact the writer at linqi@chinadaily.com.cn