Jun Yang

Born 1975, China.

Lives and works in Vienna, Austria

One of the most striking aspects of contemporary Liverpool is the large number of empty, boarded-up houses, testament to the drop in the city’s population over the last fifty years. At the same time, however, thousands of houses in the city are slated for rebuilding or refurbishment, holding out the promise of new living environments for people in Liverpool. To watch Jun Yang’s film for International 06, we have to physically step inside a space that points to both the decaying homes of the past and the imagined new homes of the future. As the film moves around the city, letting us see both derelict and newly prospering areas, it makes us think about the many ways in which people plan for, work for and dream of a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.

Solo Exhibitions

2005
Msgr. Otto Mauer-Preis, Foyer der Jesuiten, Vienna, Austria
Kunstverein Langenhagen, Langenhagen, Germany

2004
Büro Friedrich, Berlin, Germany

2003
Galerie Martin Janda, Vienna, Austria

2002
Musée d’Art Contemporain, Marseilles, France
Index, Stockholm, Sweden

2001
Jun Yang ‘Coming Home. Daily Structures of Life – Version D00’, Galerie für zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig, Germany
Museum für angewandte Kunst, Galerie, Vienna, Austria

2000
Emerging Artists, Kunst der Gegenwart, Sammlung Essl, Klosterneuburg, Austria
Kunstverein Wolfsburg (curated by B. Steiner), Wolfsburg, Germany

Group Exhibitions

2006
Remapping Mozart, Vienna, Austria
This Land Is My Land…, Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Nuremberg, Germany

2005
The Experience of Art (curated by Maria de Corral), 51st Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
Projekt Migration, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, Germany
We are the World, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain

2004
Ficciones documentales, Fundacio La Caixa, Barcelona, Spain; Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Why Not Live for Art?, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

2003
P.S. 1, New York, USA
Writing IDENTITY – on Autobiography in Art, Galerie für zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig, Germany (co-curator with Barbara Steiner)

2002
Manifesta 4, Frankfurt, Germany
Werkleitz Biennale, Werkleitz, Germany

2001
in the meantime..., De Appel Foundation, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
New Heimat, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, Germany

2000
man muss ganz schön viel lernen um hier zu funktionieren, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, Germany
Biennale di Torino, Turin, Italy

Work in Public Space

2005
Landhaus Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

2004 
Tien Tsin, restaurant, Vienna, Austria

2003 
ra’an, restaurant, Vienna, Austria

2002
ra’mien, restaurant, Vienna, Austria

Selected Awards

2001 Österreichisches Staatsstipendium für bildende Kunst

2005 Msgr. Otto Mauer-Preis, Austria

Further Reading

Maria de Corral, The Experience of Art, exh. cat., Venice: La Biennale di Venezia, 2005, pp. 250–5, 259

Ilina Koralova, in the meantime, exh. cat., Amsterdam: De Appel, 2001, pp. 3–7

Lebt und arbeitet in Wien II, exh. cat., Vienna: Kunsthalle Wien, 2005, pp. 182–7, 207

Roland Nachtigäller, Daheim in der Fremde – Fremde in der Heimat, exh. cat., Nordhorn: Städtische Galerie Nordhorn, 2005, pp. 22–9, 50

Jun Yang and Barbara Steiner (eds.), Art Works – Autobiography, London: Thames & Hudson, 2004