After spending immense sums to construct signature venues like the “Bird’s Nest” stadium and the “Water Cube” natatorium, the XXIX Summer Olympiad opened in Beijing with a massive spectacle on August 8, 2008. That same day, three artists—Chen Shaoxiong from China, Gimhongsok from South Korea, and Tsuyoshi Okazawa from Japan—with considerably less ostentation, held the opening ceremony for the Xijing Olympic Competitions. Situated in the art district of Caochangdi on the outskirts of Beijing, the imaginary place of Xijing was conceived as an idealized “western capital” meant to complement three other directional capitals of East Asia—Beijing “the northern capital,” Nanjing “the southern capital” and Tokyo “the eastern capital.” The performance of an alternate vision of the geo-political athletic spectacle of the Olympics within the realm of an intimately collectivized artistic body not only resituates the “play” of competitive sports away from the realm of nationalized competition and into a more personal dimension, it also avows the fundamental element of amusement seemingly absent in professional sports.
Chen Shaoxiong 陈劭雄 was born in Shantou, Guangdong province, China, in 1965. He graduated from the Print Department at the Guangzhou Fine Art Academy in 1984. In 1990, together with Lin Yilin and Liang Juhui, he formed the “urban guerilla” collective known as Big Tail Elephant. A provocateur of the Chinese art world, Chen employs video and installation to investigate the shifting societal landscape of contemporary China. His international exhibitions include: Venice Biennale (2003), Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China (2004), the Hong Kong and Shenzhen Bi-city Biennale (2008) and, most recently, Orient Without Borders, Espace Louis Vuitton, Paris (2008).
Gimhongsok was born in 1964 in Seoul, Korea, where he continues to teach at Sangmyung University. He received his BFA in 1987 from Seoul National University and went on to study at Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Braunschweig and at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in 1996. Using primarily installation, Gimhongsok’s art blurs perceptions of belief and subjectivity. He has exhibited internationally at the 10th Istanbul Biennial (2007), 6th Gwangju Biennale (2006), and at the Korean Pavilion, Venice Biennale (2005), with his most recent group exhibition being Your Bright Future: 12 Contemporary Artists from Korea, LACMA and Houston MFA (2009).
Ozawa Tsuyoshi 小沢剛 was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1965. After graduating from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1989, he completed his postgraduate studies in mural painting at the same university in 1991. Based on dialog, interaction, and communication rather than an isolated studio practice, Ozawa’s art draws on the dynamics of everyday life and human interactions. Large-scale projects have included the Museum of Soy Sauce Art (1999-2000), a humorous take on Japanese art history. Ozawa’s numerous international exhibitions include: the solo show Answer With Yes and No! Mori Art Museum (2004), Asia Pacific Triennial Brisbane, Australia (2006), and Another Landscape, Mori Art Museum (2008).