Hao Jingban presents Opus One at Matadero Madrid

Documenting the changing experiences of people has been an important part of Jingban’s work. Based in a country that is rapidly changing and where people tend to jump to conclusions in order to understand what is happening around them, she stresses the importance of simply observing, questioning and thinking within her work.

Opus One interweaves two seemingly distinct points in time and space in the history of music and dance movements. The film’s point of departure is 1930s Harlem in New York, when swing dance-forms such as ‘Lindy Hop’ and ‘The Charleston’ became widely popular as people turned to dance after the Great Depression. The film’s protagonists are Suzy and KC, a young Chinese couple in contemporary Beijing who trace the steps of the so-called “authentic jazz”, choreographing a set of dances while drawing references from vernacular and cheesy dance moves found on the popular Chinese digital video streaming platform, TikTok. The parallel narratives portray the irresistible attraction of synchronisation, affinity and the convergence of these two temporalities.

Hao Jingban will also present a piece from 2018, entitled From South Lake Park to Red Flag Street. This piece reflects on an area in the north-east of China - previously called Manchuria and also (from 1932-45 while under Japanese rule) Manchukuo - that today encompasses three provinces all sharing a long border with Russia and North Korea. In this piece, Jingban explores how both the Chinese and Japanese who had worked in a propaganda film studio which functioned from 1937 to the end of World War II were hesitant to talk about their time there. Given that even today the relationship between China and Japan remains tense, their reticence came possibly out of shame or because they feared political repercussions. This piece is Jingban’s half imagined/half-factual deduction as to why they do not want to talk about it, it also marks her conclusion that the past will always be preserved and truth will always come out, no matter how fragmented or twisted the words that record it. On a wider lever this piece also gives a possibility of how to evaluate those human experiences which are deemed out of the normal of politically incorrect.

Hao Jingban
Hao Jingban works with film and video to investigate the historical distance between the present viewer and a specific era from the past. In her research-based practice, Hao Jingban conducts historical investigation, archival research, field study, personal interviews, and live performances, weaving together complex historical narratives, social movements and cultural commentary against the ambivalence and silence of the bygone era. Previous works have focussed on ballroom dancing in Beijing before and after the Cultural Revolution and the films of North-eastern China from the 1930s.

Hao Jingban (b. 1985) completed a BA in Media and Communication with Goldsmiths College in 2007, and a MA in Film Studies with the University of London in 2010. She currently lives and works between Beijing and Berlin.

Han Nefkens Foundation – ARCOmadrid Video Art Production Award 2019

Hao Jingban was selected by an international jury chaired by Han Nefkens, Founder of the Han Nefkens Foundation and joined by Ana Ara, Curator of Programmes at Matadero Madrid; Manuel Segade, Director of Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo; Sunjung Kim, President of the Gwangju Biennale Foundation and Rein Wolfs, Director of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam; in the presence of Hilde Teerlinck, Director of the Han Nefkens Foundation and Alessandra Biscaro, Award Program coordinator for the Han Nefkens Foundation.

In line with the central theme of ARCOmadrid 2020 ‘It's Just a Matter of Time’, where artistic practices will be observed from the work of Felix Gonzáles-Torres, Hao Jingban has taken the title of the work of Gonzáles-Torres 'Perfect Lovers’ as a symbolic reference and starting point for this piece, reflecting on the themes of love, life and time.

Han Nefkens Foundation
The Han Nefkens Foundation is a private non-profit organization that was founded in Barcelona in 2009 by Dutch writer and patron, Han Nefkens. It focuses on the production of video art, with the aim of connecting people through art across the world, collaborating with renowned international art institutions. The Foundation’s founding values have defined it from the beginning as an innovative and forward-thinking model: a production hub that oversees and promotes contemporary creation from the very first moments until the final presentation. Positioned as a platform for video artists to advance in their careers, its main activity is commissioning new works through its awards and grants on an international level. The approach of the Foundation is both personal and personalised in an effort to give artists the most precious commodity it has: its time.

About Matadero
Matadero is a Madrid-based centre for contemporary creation promoted by Madrid City Council’s Arts Department. In association with public and private entities Matadero Madrid’s mission is to promote creation in all its forms and expressions. With special attention to cross-sectorial propositions, it focuses on three main action areas: training, production and dissemination. Matadero developed from its will to contribute to a reflection about contemporary sociocultural environment, as well as from its vocation to help the cultural construction of today and tomorrow.

• Hao Jingban’s Opus One exhibition is located in Nave 0 of Matadero Madrid and is open from Tuesday to Thursday from 17.00-20.00hrs; Friday, Saturday and labor days from 12.00 - 20.00 hrs.
• Entrance to the exhibition is free
• Opus One is produced and commissioned by Han Nefkens Foundation in collaboration with ARCOmadrid and Matadero Madrid.