WHAT
The current exhibition is the renowned Serbian performance artist’s first with the gallery in China. It brings together a selection of works from her ‘Transitory Objects’ series, photography from her groundbreaking performances in the 1970s, and a film installation. In the former, the artist engages with materials such as quartz, crystals, copper, iron and wood and invites the audience to directly interact with these works and to receive their energy to arrive at a meditative state. The film installation shows static black and white images of the artist before she is engulfed by waves while lying on a beach; also featured are photographs that capture some of the artist’s most physically and mentally demanding performances.

WHY
The artist has earned widespread acclaim over the past 50 years as a pioneer of performance art. This Shanghai exhibition is a landmark moment for her, as she returns to the country where she enacted one of her most iconic performances: her walk across the Great Wall with Ulay in 1988. The artist was inspired by this experience – particularly the shifting states and diverse minerals in the ground – to create the ‘Transitory Objects’ series, which she began upon her return from China and continued to develop over the following decades. Audiences are encouraged to catch this exhibition before the artist’s highly anticipated retrospective at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, opening in September 2023.