Jiang Zhi

Multimedia artists Jiang Zhi's 38th video art film. A four-channel black-and-white instillation. Four surreal, relentless scenes. The endless and fierce winds subsume suffering, alienation, loneliness, and struggle -- and become a metaphor for the uncertain and irreversible destination of individuals faced with violent external forces. 'Sisyphus's Boulder' allows a new interpretation of the myth of Sisyphus: the boulder he shoulders against the ferocious wind seems weightless, and his submission to the lithic absurdity of fate outlines the doubts we face within the suspension of our current meaning and signification system. Another panel depicts the back of an old man, slowly advancing down a road, with fluttering childhood balloons whipped about by ceaseless winds -- previous eras pass by while the future arrives, standing within the center of a social transformation storm and beholding a complex mentality of being.

Multimedia artist Jiang Zhi's first feature film. Our Love is a half-documentary, half-narrative telling the stories of Xiang Xiang, Ping Er and Raorao. Xiang Xiang is pretty and attractive, Ping Er smart and funny, Raorao honest and passionate. Physically speaking, they are male; but psychologically they are not. Issues such as homosexuality, transsexuality, and cross-dress are all touched upon in the film. Those who are different from heterosexual people are by no means perverts; their presence throws light on the ignored violence which has been taken for granted in the heterosexual world.

Multimedia artist Jiang Zhi's ninth video art film. From his website: "This work...is taken when I begged outside a supermarket. Begging is a way of collecting people’s responses towards major event and attitude about international affairs."

Multimedia artist Jiang Zhi's eighth video art film. "One day in 2001, just before the day I was about to move again in Shenzhen, a strange homeless girl caught my attention. She stayed under a wire pole in front of my building, reading the same piece of newspaper though she held it up-side-down sometimes. When the night fell, she went to sleep under the pole covering herself with the newspaper. She carried an empty and bottomless bird cage with her all the time like some kind of treasure. It is certain that the empty cage meant a lot to her. I am not sure what it means to her, maybe it is the only thing that she can take hold of, it is a symbol of home. Of course, this is only my guess. For me, the feeling of emptiness is very strong when I shot the film. Passengers passing by the girl like winds, time that looks still by flies away like an arrow…About sympathy and indifferent, about slowness and rapidity…about consistence and random…Everything seems to be about emptiness."

Multimedia artist Jiang Zhi's seventh video art film.

Multimedia artist Jiang Zhi's sixth video art work. From his website: "The cruller is a popular food for Chinese people, who often treat them as breakfast. This is a short film full of humor. The person used the cruller as stage prop，and made a series of unimaginably strange actions in our daily life."

Multimedia artist Jiang Zhi's fourth video art film. It's been confirmed by Jiang Zhi to be a lost film.

Multimedia artist Jiang Zhi's third video art film. About a poet who had influenced a generation and was completely obliterated. Due to his special identity and the fate closely related to the turbulent times, the description of the characters inevitably does not involve history. But the author's interest is obviously not here, not in the poet's life experience and the social significance it may reveal. He used a variety of materials, including some symbolic historical images, old photos, interviews, and subtitles, to present the poet ’s life history and its background; he also inserted a scene drama performance: the index finger poem "Mad Dog" Obtained a visual interpretation. Through this absurd parable of survival, the author expressed his understanding of a poet and his destiny.

Multimedia artist Jiang Zhi's second video art film. It's been confirmed by Jiang Zhi to be a lost film.

Multimedia artist Jiang Zhi's first video art film. From his website: "Man is living humbly like a slave submitted to himself and his surroundings. But this humble life, living in solitude, silence, fantasy, weariness, and passion are sometimes so overwhelming that at times we really just want to fly. It’s one way to transcend or escape. Can we really escape this gravity and lift up? Which direction will we choose to fly?"