Chen Shaoxiong

The Xijing Men is an artist collective comprising Chen Shaoxiong (China), Tsuyoshi Ozawa (Japan), and Gimhongsok (Korea). “Xijing” is a fictitious city, the name of which is composed of Chinese characters meaning “western capital,” playing on the names of real cities: Beijing (“northern capital”), Nanjing (“southern capital”), and Tokyo, known in Chinese as Donjing (“eastern capital”). Using humor and satire, the collective documents the culture and politics of “Xijing” through performance, photography, and other art forms. Prior to joining Xijing Men, Chen was a founding member of the “Big Tail Elephant Group” of conceptual artists in Guangzhou. In his independent work, he uses a combination of mediums to confront issues affecting contemporary Chinese society, including rapid urbanization, the nature of the crowd, the aesthetics of globalization, and collective memory. His work has been featured in exhibitions and art fairs around the world.

Why we love Chen Shaoxiong:

• In the “Xijing Olympics,” held by the collective during the Beijing Olympics, participants passed a lit cigarette in place of a torch, held a marathon on the subway, and played football with a watermelon

• Chen also founded Big Tail Elephant Group, an influential art collective that used social commentary to address China’s rapid urbanization, globalization, and other issues in the 1990’s

• They satirized the immigration policies between Japan and China with their Welcome to Xijing: Xijing Immigration Services