Bâton–Serpent

“Bâton–Serpent”, curated by Hou Hanru and Giulia Ferracci, for the first time ever brings to Italy the work of the French artist of Chinese origin Huang Yong Ping.

Huang Yong Ping, La Carte du Monde, 2000-01. Photo Cecilia Fiorenza
A 10-meter-long minaret resting in the museum square, a gigantic reproduction of the mountain of Bugarach, a Buddhist prayer mill that brushes the museum ceiling, and the skeleton of a 30-meter-long serpent.
These are just some of the colossal works exhibited in the show “Huang Yong Ping. Bâton–Serpent”, curated by Hou Hanru and Giulia Ferracci, which for the first time ever brings to Italy the work of the French artist of Chinese origin, currently among the most interesting on the international artistic scene.
Huang Yong Ping, <i>Bâton Serpent</i>, 2014. Photo Cecilia Fiorenza
Huang Yong Ping, Bâton Serpent, 2014. Photo Cecilia Fiorenza

The title of the exhibition “Bâton–Serpent”, chosen by the artist, recalls a verse from the Exodus 7:10 in the Bible (“Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and his servants and it became a snake”), and emphasizes the deep sense of the project, an ironic reflection that is at the same time profoundly critical, and in some ways skeptical, concerning the relations and the tension that exists between different cultures and religions, between history and modernity, a critical look at the philosophical and geopolitical origin of the contemporary conflicts that are shaking the world.

Also particularly significant is the choice to have the project start from Rome, the capital of Western civilization and religion, and later exhibit it in Beijing and Shanghai in China.

Huang Yong Ping, <i>Bâton Serpent</i>, 2014. Photo Cecilia Fiorenza
Huang Yong Ping, Bâton Serpent, 2014. Photo Cecilia Fiorenza

The exhibition route comprises a series of carefully selected works that analyze the confrontation and the conflicts in the world between the various faith systems, in the attempt to draw a different “map of global civilization.” These include, among others, such works as Construction Site (2007) a minaret, that is, the tower of the Mosque from which the muezzin (muadhdhin) five times a day calls to prayer the devotees to Allah, shown in the area of a building site, in an indefinite state between construction and dismantlement. Hei Hei Sina Sina (2000 – 2006), a gigantic prayer mill made of copper, like the one used by the Tibetan Buddhists, which is rotated to produce a pacifying sound, but that is actually made up of a wooden pole that is the image of a Chinese weapon called mao, while the lid represents a shield.

And again Bugarach (2012) a great stone emerging from the floor that is a miniature representation of the mountain of Bugarach in France, the symbolic site of esoteric tourism, believed in 2012 to be the only place in which one could find refuge from the apocalypse predicted by the Maya; Bâton de Serpent (2007), a monumental work that represents the skeleton of a gigantic aluminum serpent inspired by both Chinese and pagan mythology, as well as by the Christian religion, which the artist presents at the MAXXI in a version that is about 30 meters long. Religious references also characterize works such as La chaise à prière (2010), an overturned chair featuring a biblical verse from the Book of Jacob, and Camel (2012) a taxidermied camel whose side bears a verse from the Gospel According to Saint Matthew, while 92 bras de Guanyin (2014), a bottle drainer, reminiscent of Marcel Duchamp’s bottle rack, featuring many human arms holding various objects, is a clear allusion to the Indian goddess Kali.


until May 24, 2015
Huang Yong Ping
Bâton–Serpent

curated by Hou Hanru and Giulia Ferracci
MAXXI
Via Guido Reni 4A, Rome

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