upntoday-6/6-03-taipei news-the 53rd International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di VeneziaSuperheroes of popular manga culture transformed in tantric

the 53rd International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia

Superheroes of popular manga culture transformed in tantric Buddhas will temporarily occupy the Sala S. Tommaso in Venice , Campo SS. Giovanni e Paolo. Taiwanese artist Yang Maolin will use their world of justice and beauty for an exploration of the proliferation of semi- religious elements in contemporary culture. These heroes represent an archeology of modernity, which has also been defined a “risk society”: King Kong and Superman have been created during the Great Depression in the Thirties; Astroboy, Gigantor and Mazinga Z have been created in post- WW II Japan, still traumatized by the atomic bomb. Artist Yang Maolin represents these comci strip and anime heroes in a moment of union with the woman of their dreams, thus transforming the very limitation of these heroes, their inability to relate to the other sex, in a sublime moment of illumination. The confrontation of these wood and bronze sculptures with the exhibtion area, a collateral building of Venice ’s SS. Giovanni e Paolo basilica, is an invitation to reflect on the true nature of these icons: are they really just childrens toys? These sculptures, marked as “Made in Taiwan ” by the artist, are they really just a product of a far- away exotically hybrid culture, or do they represent a global phenomenom, a proliferation of religious elements within the secular culture of global risk society?





Exhibition details:

Address: Sala S. Tommaso, Campo SS. Giovanni e Paolo, Venezia, Castello.

Organized by: MoCA Taipei , Taiwan

Web: www.mocataipei.org.tw

Sponsored by: Lin & Keng Gallery, Taipei , Beijing .

Artist: Yang Maolin, Taipei , Taiwan

Curated by: Felix Schoeber

Exhibition period: 7 June- 23 August 2009. Tuesdays closed.

Opening hours during preview: 10 AM- 8 PM.

Opening hours: 10 AM- 7 PM.

Inauguration: 6.6.2009, 7PM.