Exotic species: the (bio)invasions of Sino-French art installations

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Abstract

In the visual arts, the conflicts and tensions experienced by immigrants from Sinophone countries to France are conveyed in ways that have a significant impact on the international art world, particularly through the medium of installation art. By focusing on Huang Yong Ping and Shen Yuan, two members of this sizeable, transnational group, this article explores their visual representations of border crossings, both of human beings and cultural symbols, and their potentially invasive characteristics through an analogy to the spread of other biological species. It argues that their artistic interventions as ‘exotic species’ can interrupt and alter the logic of the border and dilute the strength of dominant (western) ideologies through the creation of spaces of otherness and openness, territorial enrichment and (bio)diversity. This means that, rather than having plans for invasion, artistic or otherwise, their artworks reveal that they have strategies of survival, including that of short-term essentialism, which are closely associated with the question of mutable identity in the Third Space.
Original languageEnglish
JournalInternational Journal of Francophone Studies
Publication statusAccepted - 27 Jun 2024

Keywords

  • Huang Yong Ping
  • Shen Yuan
  • installation art
  • immigration
  • borders
  • invasion
  • ecology

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