Polaroids from the Middle Kingdom: Old and New World Visions of China - Hardcover

Lucas Birk; Foreword By Katherine Don

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0988174561 ISBN 13: 9780988174566

Publisher: Glitterati Incorporated, 2019

Synopsis

Upon relocating to Beijing, photographer Lukas Birk attempts to escape the sense of stagnation that plagued him in his central European home. He encounters a group of like-minded young creatives who share his sentiment of "nostalgia teetering on the edge of melancholy." Hoping to express that feeling, Birk discovers his father's collection of expired Polaroid film. With Birk's medium acting as a metaphor for the transformation of modern China - its rapid development and the void of nostalgia left behind - this book presents a sense of something from the past interrupted by modern motives, a collision of old and new world visions. In her insightful foreword, art advisor Katherine Don details Birk's contribution to contemporary art in China and comments on his pioneering innovation. Birk's stunning collection of inventive imagery captures the vibrancy of contemporary life, inspired by the filter of his own nostalgia and longing.

About this title

Review:

'Birk is a talented photographer, and his street-style images are especially good for the way he obviously engages personally with his subject.' --Amateur Photographer

About the Author:

Lukas Birk is an Austrian-born multimedia artist, explorer, and organiser. In 2007, Birk established a base in Beijing, where he co-founded the Austro Sino Arts Program, an artist-run, proactive nonprofit organisation promoting Austrian art and teaching multimedia work in China.

Katherine Don is an art advisor specialising in contemporary art in China. Don has collaborated with various contemporary New York-based artists and arts-related organisations, including Paul Kasmin Gallery, Art In General, and The New Yorker Magazine. Don is a regular columnist on industry trends, with published articles featured in Art in America, Art Asia Pacific, and the Yishu Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art. She is the director and founding member of Red Box Studio, a design studio providing a unique combination of graphic design and art advisory services that promote contemporary art in China.

About this edition

• Publisher: Glitterati Incorporated
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 0988174561
• ISBN 13: 9780988174566
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 128