Fuck Off (art exhibition)

"Fuck Off" (Chinese: ) 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 Attitude" in Chinese, but the blunter English language sentiment was deemed preferable.

The exhibition was held in an Eastlink Gallery warehouse by Feng Boyi and the 43-year-old Ai Weiwei, 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 in turn to the White House, the Forbidden City and the viewer, and another in which he releases an ancient Han Dynasty Chinese vase which smashes at his feet.

The exhibition included works by 46 avant-garde artists, among them He Yunchang, who posed 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. Sun Yuan exhibited Solitary Animal, a glass case containing an animal skeleton and—purportedly—enough poison gas to wipe out the show's entire audience. Wang Chuyu's performance consisted of a four-day fast. Zhu Ming floated down the Huangpu River in a plastic bubble wearing a diaper.

"Fuck Off" has been one of the most famous contemporary art exhibitions in recent history. It took place in the Eastlink gallery as well as a warehouse at 1133 West Suzhou River Road. The show included both emerging and famous artists and totaled 48 in all. The work displayed in Fuck Off was raw and unedited, which was the polar opposite of the Shanghai Beinnale that was open at the same time. The entire purpose of the show was to truly show the Chinese government exactly how "uncooperative" these artists could be, and that is evident in the closing line of the exhibition catalogue: "Perhaps there is nothing that exists 'on-site,' but what will last forever is the very uncooperativeness with any system of power discourse."

In an interview by Chin-Chin Yap, Ai Weiwei was asked if the actual exhibit of "Fuck Off" had a concept similar to the Black, White, and Gray Cover Books he published. He went on to say that after the books were finished, there were a lot of interesting art works happening, and the people in his life continually recommended creating an exhibit with the theme of the books. His opinion was not that the show was really that good because it was organized so quickly, and he knew that there was a possibility that it could be shut down by the police and having all the work confiscated. Luckily, he said that the artists involved were "cooperative and interested and the attitude was there." In a very eye-opening statement, Ai goes on to say that "maybe Fuck Off was most important because of what it represented." Those involved had a clear thought about the image they wanted to give to Chinese institutions and Western curators, institutions and dealers, and that thought was:"We had to say something as individual artist to the outside world, and what we said was 'fuck off'."

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Wikipedia