“Living elsewhere” is an exhibition held in Dun Gallery in Beijing.

“Living elsewhere” exhibits the works of three artists, Lukas Birk (Austria/China), Lu Pei (Beijing), Yan Shilin (Beijing) that use the media of photography, sculpture and oil painting to question about human existence in the context of contemporary Chinese society. This research crossed the different dimensions and issues of time, space, life, and vestiges. The works presented by this exhibition involve all the above mentioned dimensions and by breaking the normality， try to demonstrate that mankind does not live in a pure, simple binary opposition world. The way we perceive space and time, the traces we leave in this world, are never well defined or real. These works want to push us to re-examine our existence environment and our own inner world from a more sensitive and poetic perspective.

"Life is elsewhere" is a quote from a poem of Arthur Rimbaud and also the title of a novel by Milan Kundera. Besides this it is also the theme of this visual exhibition. "Elsewhere" is the opposite of "Here" and it is the opposite of everything that is restricted and limited; it indicates a pioneering attitude, as well as lively, full of life status. A contradiction occurred as soon as this exhibition theme got finalized: we all live "here" and "now", however the way we look at "here and now "is an expression of the "elsewhere". There is a hidden prerequisite for this conflict to take place: individuals are somehow aware of the difference that exists between their inner world and the external material world they live in.

This confusion between these two living status is more evident in Chinese contemporary society. In the peculiar Chinese context, where an industrial society and a post-industrial society coexist, modern and post-modern issues juxtapose; "living elsewhere" is the existence condition of the great majority of Chinese people, and it is also an often neglected issue. Not only the condition of "living elsewhere", but also what really happens in this moment and in this place is ignored and quickly forgotten , and this is the origin of the crisis our contemporary world is facing: the quickness of modern communication and transportation of the global village have blurred space and time; the craziness of consumerism made the entertainment of the masses become the main goal of culture and art, the query about oneself’s living environment and the spiritual sufferings of individuals have been softened by the delights of consumption.

The rapid development of first tier Chinese cities caused imbalances in the regional development as well as tens of millions of city migrants and floating population. The speed of this immigration flow far surpassed the one of the required systematic construction, and it is as if this floating population was living in a perpetually ongoing construction site. The different backgrounds of each individual are forced to fuse with the ever changing sceneries of "here" and "now", the perception of being in a place is an illusion. Due to the fast changes of their living environment, even cities' residents and young generations can easily feel a sense of confusion in their inner world; nostalgia, resistance and the pain one feels in his life, all of this are an expression of the condition of "living elsewhere".

In terms of artistic expression, the three artists of "Living Else Where" abandoned the "bad habits" of seeking novelty and singularity; instead, they used sharp artistic insight and a relatively conservative artistic representation to express opinions and questions about these issues. What really touches the audiences is the beauty, the aesthetical sense that nowadays is almost seen as an old cliché. This is a clear artistic choice that refuses everything that is pop art and gaudy art aesthetics; it is a revolt against an art that sacrifices the sense of beauty to emphasize only ideas and concepts. This is a revolt coming from "elsewhere", it comes from a genuine attention and reflection upon the contemporary human condition. It consists in the refusal to blur ideas and concepts, in the refusal to use them in an opportunistic way.

Compared to the ‘Art for Art’s Sake’ creative attitude, ‘Living Else Where’ has more humane concerns. Such concerns are not pretended, but they are a genuine attempt to represent the human condition in the contemporary Chinese context, and also the artists’ own condition, in a realistic way. The tension is expressed through different artistic media and comes from the attempt to catch anti-utopian images of contemporary Chinese society. These anti-utopian images are not represented in violent way, they are not a dissident statement, and instead they depict the existence condition, the perception of reality of individuals and multitudes in a refined and mild way. This condition has nothing to do with the grand meanings, with the pleasure given by consumption and the idealistic representation of "Modernity" and "Post-Modernity".

Actually, if we want to seriously discuss about ‘Modernity’, we’ll find out that this issue has an awkward situation in China. Let’s forget about the sociological issues and let’s simply start from visual arts. The old generation of artists who brought western arts to China, actually brought along western classic arts academism that is just small part of western classic art, and it’s far of being exhaustive. Furthermore, what they brought along went through many changes due to the contact with revolutionary realism and local culture. The result of this process was what was called “Modern Art” in China. After having arrived in China, a part of the western artistic academicism became “Chinese Modern Arts” and this misplacement still exists. Perhaps it comes from a creative misreading, however whether it has the capability of becoming an independent system or not, still remains uncertain. Although this is not the main theme of this exhibition, these works also question about these issue.

“People of the future will look upon us exactly as we look upon those who have gone before us”

This is Chinese traditional culture’s conclusion about life and history. However this way of looking at life and history will always sacrifice the particular for the sake of universal. One of the meanings and aims of contemporary art is to record the particular, and to give voice to the different. This is what we call “Elsewhere”.