New Women

Yang Fudong (b. Beijing, 1971; lives and works in Shanghai) is one ofChina’s most renowned film and photography artists. After completinga degree in painting in the early 1990s, he branched out into a newmedium, experimenting with film and shooting on 35-mm stock.Yang now works as a director and photographer, often staging hisvideos in sprawling installations. One of these, New Women (2013),consists of five black-and-white films, each shown on its own screen.In the silent and largely static takes, five naked women prance betweenancient columns, lean against dressers and mantelpieces, orloll daintily on ottomans and lavishly appointed beds. The setting is ablend between archaeological excavation site, elegant salon, andethereal house of pleasure.New Women is a tribute to the early days of the Chinese movie industry.Art, culture, and political freedom went hand in hand with corruption,brutality, and decadence in the films of the 1930s. With theircreative energy and sexually charged atmosphere, they contributed tothe demise of the culture of imperial China and helped usher in anew era. With an essay by Michael Ostheimer.