TANK Shanghai is pleased to present the solo exhibition by Tan Tian, titled "Atlanta, the Second Technological Revolution, and an Eastern Translator". The exhibition will open on July 5, 2025, and run through August 31, 2025.
.jpg)
Tan Tian: Atlanta, the Second Technological Revolution, and an Eastern Translator
Duration: July 4, 2025 - August 31, 2025
Address: TANK Shanghai, 2380 Longteng Ave
"When Tan Tian described his artworks inspired by his passion for the American TV show Atlanta, my initial thought wasn’t of race itself, but of Wu Zelin—that anthropological trailblazer who deeply investigated this topic and authored seminal works. It made me realize: what truly matters is not the issue per se, but who engages with it.
Today, a tacit consensus seems to have taken hold: Africa’s social issues demand African artists; Asia’s problems are the domain of Asian scholars; similarly, America’s racial complexities are America’s to confront; and men seemingly have no place in feminist dialogue.
Amidst the clamor of recent years—decolonization, degendering, deglobalization (and various other “de-” movements)—the legitimacy of, and empathy for cross-cultural engagement and mutual understanding have eroded. What parades as respect for the “Other” often becomes its thorough objectification, insulating them from our lived worlds, leading inexorably to mutual withdrawal—each individual stranded on their own island.
The irony? This stance serves its proponents poorly. The demise of the “Other” brings with it the diminishment and loss of the “Self.” When you cease to engage with experiences beyond your own, you forfeit the subjectivity to think meaningfully about the world. When you stop striving to understand the “Other” you encounter, you forfeit the subjectivity essential for genuine dialogue…
Back to the topic: Tan Tian’s commitment to being a contemporary artist compels a response to our present reality. Hence the question: where should this exhibition take root?
Perhaps abroad? Tan Tian once pondered: Who in China would be interested in seeing a solo exhibition centered on Western themes?
No. I countered Tan: On the contrary, precisely within domestic art institutions does the potential lie to fully realize this exhibition’s proposition—to be explicit, it’s to reconsider the subjectivity of Chinese contemporary art (and artists) by taking the West as the Other."
By He Beili
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Tan Tian (b. 1988, Beijing, China) received his BFA from Kingston University in London in 2012, his MFA from Hunter College in New York in 2019, and is now working at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing.
Through his works, Tan Tian hopes the viewers can see the parts of things they expect, the parts they ignore, and the parts they tend to avoid all at the same time. He hopes this will push the viewers to stand and understand the complex, multi-faceted, and unknown nature of any one thing. In addition to his creative work, he also works as a college teacher. In the classroom, he constantly tries to get his students to look at any given issue from various perspectives and does his best to stop them from taking a stand. He hopes his students will remain in this state of being in every situation where they need to have an attitude. He also encourages them to appreciate people with the same qualities, to develop a tacit understanding in between, and to build a platform for them to communicate with each other.
Tan Tian’s recent solo exhibitions include “Atlanta, the Second Technological Revolution, and an Eastern Translator”, TANK Shanghai, Shanghai (2025); “Junior Students in Experimental Art vs Tan Tian,” Yuan Art Museum, Beijing (2024); “I Will Not Sing English Songs,” Cai Jin Space, Beijing (2024); “Parent-hood,” PLATESPACE, Beijing (2024); “C-Man Nap in IKEA,” SPURS Gallery, Beijing, China (2023); “(Billboard, Manifesto, Joke),” SPURS Gallery, Beijing, China (2022); “Welcome,” WHITE SPACE BEIJING, Beijing, China (2016); “Jump to Second Solo Show,” WHITE SPACE BEIJING, Beijing, China (2015). Recent group exhibitions include “The 14th National Exhibition of Fine Art,” China Art Museum, Shanghai (2024); “The Journey of A seed — Meta Point,” MOCA Yinchuan, Yinchuan (2024); “The Present,” Artecal Foundation, Hong Kong (2024); “Tiny Steps,” Yuan Art Museum Triennial, Yuan Art Museum, Tianjin, China (2023); “When All at Once I Turn My Head, I Find Her There Where Lantern Light is Brightly Shed,” Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts, Nanjing, China (2022); “Handmade,” Taoxichuan Art museum of CAFA, Jingdezhen, China (2021); “Reconstruction,” Epoch Art Museum, Wenzhou, China (2020); “Story: Born After the ‘85 New Wave Generation Y of Contemporary Chinese Art,” National Agricultural Exhibtion Center, Beijing, China (2019); “Optimism,” EFA Project Space, New York, US (2018); “I Do (Not) Want to Be Part of Your Celebration,” QIAO SPACE, Shanghai, China (2017); “Toward The Emergence of Resistance,” Taikangspace, Beijing, China (2016); “Creating for the Future: Thinking About the Unthinkable,” MOMENTUM Berlin, Berlin, Germany (2015). Tan Tian lives and works in Beijing.
