The art of Yang Fudong (born 1971) reflects the ideals and anxieties of a generation born after China’s Cultural Revolution, struggling to find their place amid the country’s rapid transformation. His dreamlike films and film-installations feature long, suspended shots and multiple storylines. Yang calls his protagonists "intellectuals"--evoking ancient China’s literati-artists and intellectuals who avoided participation in worldly affairs. In other works Yang focuses on the sense of isolation and loss increasingly present in China’s contemporary society as communities are scattered, traditional rural villages dissolved, and the fight for survival takes precedence. In his most recent multichannel film installations, Yang shifts his attention toward a reflection on the process of filmmaking. The book, edited by Philippe Pirotte and Beatrix Ruf, includes a comprehensive selection of Yang Fudong’s photographic and film work, as well as essays by film scholar Rey Chow and artists and curators Ho Rui An, Philippe Pirette, Beatrix Ruf and Colin Chinnery.
