Fuck Off (art exhibition)
Encyclopedia
"Fuck Off" was a controversial art exhibition which ran alongside the Third Shanghai Biennale (2000), which itself was the city's first attempt at a truly international survey of contemporary art. The exhibition’s title translates as "Uncooperative Approach" in Chinese, but the blunter English language sentiment was deemed preferable.

Overview

The exhibition was held in an Eastlink Gallery warehouse by Feng Boyi
Feng Boyi
Feng Boyi is an eminent independent art curator and critic in China. He has been assistant editor of the China Artists' Association newsletter Artist's Communication since 1988...

 and the 43-year-old Ai Weiwei
Ai Weiwei
Ai Weiwei is a Chinese contemporary artist, active in sculpture, installation, architecture, curating, photography, film, and social, political and cultural criticism. Ai collaborated with Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron as the artistic consultant on the Beijing National Stadium for the 2008...

, and is revered by many young Chinese artists. Ai encapsulated Fuck Off's artistic-curatorial attitude with one set of photos in which he gives the finger
Finger (gesture)
In Western culture, the finger , also known as the middle finger, is an obscene hand gesture, often meaning the phrases "fuck off" , "fuck you" or "up yours"...

 in turn to the White House, the Forbidden City
Forbidden City
The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum...

 and the viewer, and another in which he releases an ancient Han Dynasty Chinese vase which smashes by his feet.

The exhibition included 46 avant-garde artists’ works:
Ai Weiwei, Cao Fei, Chen Lingyang, Chen Shaoxiong, Chen Yunquan, Ding Yi, Feng Weidong, Gu Dexin, He An, He Yunchang (posing in a color photograph while bare-chested and suspended from a crane by his ankles over a rushing river into which he holds a blade, the same knife he later used to cut his own arm), Huang Lei, Huang Yan
Huang Yan
Huang Yan may refer to:* Huang Yan * Huang Yan , politician of PR China, former governor of Anhui Province...

, Jin Lei, Li Wen, Li Zhiwang, Liang Yue, Liang Yue, Lin Yilin, Lu Chunsheng, Lu Qing, Meng Huang, Peng Yu, Peng Donghui, Qin Ga, Rong Rong, Song Dong, Sun Yuan (creator of Solitary Animal, a glass case containing an animal skeleton and--purportedly--enough poison gas to wipe out the show's entire audience), Wang Bing, Wang Yin, Wang Chuyu (whose performance consisted of a four-day fast), Wang Xingwei, Wu Ershan, Xiao Yu, Xu Tan, Xu Zhen, Yang Yong, Yang Fudong, Yang Maoyuan, Zhang Zhenzhong, Yang Zhichao
Yang Zhichao
Yang Zhichao Born in 1963 in Gansu province Northern Manchuria, is a performance artist living and working in Beijing....

, Zhang Dali
Zhang Dali
Zhang Dali is an artist based in Beijing.Zhang trained at the Beijing Central Academy of Art & Design. After studying painting in China, he went to Italy, where he discovered graffiti art...

, Zhang Shengquan, Zheng Guogu
Zheng Guogu
Zheng Guogu is an artist based in Yangjiang in the Guangdong province of China.Zheng was born in Yangjiang. He makes work in different media including photography, installation, painting and sculpture...

, Zhu Ming (who floated down the Huangpu River in a plastic bubble wearing a diaper) and Zhu Yu.Chen Hao, Zheng Jishun and Song Tao
Song Tao
Song Tao is a retired Chinese basketball player and coach. 6'10" with impressive mobility, he was the first player from Asia drafted by an NBA team when the Atlanta Hawks selected him in the 3rd round of the 1987 NBA draft, although he never went to training camp due to serious knee injuries.Song...

, exhibited a video documenting their walk through the city while blood leaked from plastic tubes inserted into their veins.

A catalog of this exhibition has been published, a black book with the simple title "FUCK OFF" on the cover.

One of the most famous examples from this exhibition was the performance of "Eating People" by Zhu Yu. It consisted of a series of photographs of him cooking and eating what is alleged to be a human fetus. One picture, circulated on the internet via e-mail in 2001, provoked investigations by both the FBI and Scotland Yard. The piece's cannibalistic theme was controversial in Britain when Yu's work was featured on a Channel 4 documentary exploring Chinese modern art in 2003. In response to the public reaction, Mr. Yu stated, "No religion forbids cannibalism. Nor can I find any law which prevents us from eating people. I took advantage of the space between morality and the law and based my work on it". Yu has claimed that he used an actual fetus which was stolen from a medical school.

Many influential artists of the current Chinese art
Chinese art
Chinese art is visual art that, whether ancient or modern, originated in or is practiced in China or by Chinese artists or performers. Early so-called "stone age art" dates back to 10,000 BC, mostly consisting of simple pottery and sculptures. This early period was followed by a series of art...

scene took part, many of whom have since been included in international exhibitions, catalogues and television documentaries.

The exhibition was closed by the Shanghai police before its closing date.
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