ArtFocus 5 | Archive » Zheng Guogu

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Zheng Guogu // The Landscape of the Age of Empire No. 9

zheng-image

Zheng Guogu Born (1970) and lives in China. Recent solo exhibitions: Vitamin Creative Space, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China (2004), Grace Alexander Contemporary Art, Basel, Switzerland (2005), Chambers Fine Art, New York (2008); recent group exhibitions: Tate Liverpool, England (2007), Documenta 12, Kassel, Germany (2007).

The installation Landscape of the Age of Empire (2008) is part of Zheng Guogu’s project The Age of Empire, which was inspired by a computer game series: an agricultural area on the outskirts of Yangjiang is gradually transformed into a real-world replica of the game’s virtual community. The existing landscape is replaced by an entirely new one: Zheng Guogu added hills and mountains, built a small village and surrounded it all by a stone wall. The video Empire documents this process, while the two paintings flanking the monitor are hyperrealist views of the construction site. In addition to being this plot of land’s architect and gardener, Zheng is also the emperor who projects his internal world and selfish desires onto the outside world; in this unique project, however, he is faced with real problems, which computer players are not obliged to handle in their virtual world.

Jennfer Allora & Guillermo Calzadilla