Van Gogh on Demand – On Making and Faking in China

Amsterdam, 1 December, with Winnie Wong, Sascha Pohle and Mieya Lin. See also here on Facebook.

What constitutes the real, and what the fake, and why do such distinctions matter that much, not only in contemporary art but also in everyday life? And why is China especially haunted by a discourse of making, as the alleged factory of the world, and faking, as perpetually infringing on copyrights? Dafen is a village located in Shenzhen, in the South of China. It is the place where Van Goghs are being made on demand, where one can order a Mona Lisa with the face of your daughter, or a Mondriaan in the colours that match your sofa. It is the place, also, where around 70% of all the ubiquitous art that we find globally in hotels is being produced.

In this event, Winnie Wong (UC Berkeley), acclaimed author of Van Gogh on Demand: China and the Readymade (University of Chicago Press, 2014) presents the history and working of Dafen, based on her extensive fieldwork. Artist Sascha Pohle (saschapohle.net) will show his work Reframing the Artist, a movie shot in and with painters from Dafen village. In conclusion, artist Meiya Lin (meiyalin.com) will present work from her True Harmony series, on the making of “authentic” landscapes, temples and tourist sites in China.

Van Gogh on Demand is organised together with the Hulsewé-Wazniewski Foundation (Leiden University), Framer Framed (www.framerframed.nl), and the Amsterdam Centre for Globalisation Studies (acgs.uva.nl) and is part of the project ChinaCreative, funded by the European Research Council(ERC).

17.00-17.05: Opening by Jeroen de Kloet (Amsterdam Centre for Globalisation Studies, principle investigator of ERC funded project ChinaCreative) and Josien Pieterse (Framer Framed)
17.05-17.30: Winnie Wong – Step 18. Sign Vincent
17.30-18.10: Sascha Pohle, Reframing the Artist, with an introduction by the artist
18.10-18.30: Meiya Lin, Make Sense Series, with an introduction by the artist
18.30-19.00: Discussion

For further information, please contact Jori Snels: Acgs-fgw@uva.nl