Liu Wei works with painting, installation, sculpture and video. His work has been shown in the exhibition China Power Station II at the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art in 2007. Liu Wei was born in 1972 in Beijing, where he lives and works.
Three questions to Liu Wei
Caroline Elgh, Assistant Curator: China is a big country and the living situation I understand varies a lot depending on which city or region you live in. The big cities on the east coast like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou where most of the artists in this exhibition live are also very different from each other. You live in Beijing, so in your work as an artist, how do you relate to your city and home environment?
Liu Wei: Everything that I see can be my works. My works also come from what I see. I don’t possess any other creative power than that.
Caroline Elgh: What would you say that contemporary art in China is about (if it’s at all possible to talk about “Chinese art” in this way)? It does not seem to be about politics, sociology or philosophy as a part of a more academic tradition, but something else. Would you agree on this? I also wonder, independent of the city you live in, would you say that there is something that Chinese artists in general have in common (except that you were born and bred in the same country)?
Liu Wei: For me, it has to do with my present state of survival.
I don’t totally agree with what you said, because there can still be other forms and types.
We (as Chinese artists) all exist on the boundaries of language or outside of games.
Caroline Elgh: What is your driving force as an artist? Is it important to make a change?
Liu Wei: Yes, it is very important. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and also my driving force.