Der Verbotene Stadt (The Forbidden City)

Creator(s)

Shun Yuan 袁顺

Preview

Date

1993

Format

Slide

Location of Exhibition Event

Ruine der Künste Berlin

Materials

Mixed Mediums

Dimensions

10x4.5x1.3 m

Description

This mixed media installation piece was exhibited in 1993 at the Ruine der Künste Berlin museum in Berlin, Germany. The piece includes a lightbox. Exhibited inside is a replica of the ground plan of the Forbidden City in Beijing, China made out of the artist's own hair. Given that the artist grew up in Shanghai, China during the tail-end of the cultural revolution and moved out of the country after the Tiananmen Square massacre, this piece may be attempting to make a political statement. In a 1995 interview with Dr. Alexander Tolnay (https://digital.kenyon.edu/zhoudocs/412), Yuan talks about the importance of hair in his work, which stems from him having his hair forcibly cut during his time as a service man in the Chinese army. Yuan also draws from the significance of hair in Buddhism as well as the spiritual religion in general in his art works. Further attachments include an aerial view of the installation (Nicole Wang '26).