Reading Li Shan

Li Shan is one of the most important artists in the history of Chinese contemporary art. In his four-decade long artistic career, Li has always insisted on constantly contemplating, exploring and reflecting on life and human nature through artistic creation. Since the mid-nineties, he has begun the creation of his bio-art—the Reading series. This exhibition, presenting Li’s thinking, ideas, and experiments regarding bio-art over the past 17 years, is currently showing at Museum of Contemporary Art in Taipei until January 20, 2013 (http://www.mocataipei.org.tw/blog/post/28329777). The exhibited items include his reading journals on bio-art in 1995, a bio-art proposal created in New York in 1998, a digitally-produced fused image of an insect and an artist, and a transgenic frog (including concept, pictures, and video records). There are also hundreds of images of transgenic creatures created by combining scientific knowledge and artistic imagination—a monster extravaganza!