Not currently on display at the V&A

'Urban Fiction, No 23'

Photograph
2005 (made)
Artist/Maker
Xing Danwen (photographer)
Place of origin
China (photographed)

This photograph expresses Danwen's personal feelings of urban life in China today – that it can be lonely, psychologically distant and devoid of a sense of reality. The buildings in the photographs are sales models made by real-estate developers, but Xing Danwen digitally inserts herself into the images, adopting different personae and creating unsettling narratives. The photograph was shown in the V&A exhibition and touring show China Design Now, the first major exhibition in the UK on new Chinese design that has emerged over the last two decades..


Object details

Category
Photographs
Object type
Photograph
Title'Urban Fiction, No 23' (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
digital C-print
Photographic Paper
C-Type Process
Photography
Brief description
Colour photograph by Xing Danwen, 'Urban Fiction, No 23', 2005.
Physical description
A colour photograph depicting a sales models of a block of flats. There are a number of figures interspersed within the photograph that have been digitally inserted onto the image. The image has a greenish tone.
Dimensions
  • Frame height: 169.4cm
  • Frame width: 212.5cm
  • Frame depth: 2.1cm
Gallery label
  • Making It Up: Photographic Fictions (2018) Marta Weiss The building in this photograph is a sales model for a new development. The artist digitally inserts herself into the image, enacting multiple roles in a miniature domestic drama. The series Urban Fiction expresses the artist’s feelings about urban life in China today, which she feels can be lonely, psychologically isolating and unreal.
  • Label for 'Making It Up: Photographic Fictions' (3 May 2013 - 12 January 2014): Xing Danwen (born 1967) Urban Fiction, No 23 2005 The building in the photograph is a sales model made by a real-estate developer. The artist digitally inserts herself into the image, adopting different personae and creating an unsettling narrative. The series Urban Fiction expresses the artist’s feelings about urban life in China today, which she feels can be lonely, psychologically isolating and unreal. Digital C-print Museum no. E.916-2010
Summary
This photograph expresses Danwen's personal feelings of urban life in China today – that it can be lonely, psychologically distant and devoid of a sense of reality. The buildings in the photographs are sales models made by real-estate developers, but Xing Danwen digitally inserts herself into the images, adopting different personae and creating unsettling narratives. The photograph was shown in the V&A exhibition and touring show China Design Now, the first major exhibition in the UK on new Chinese design that has emerged over the last two decades..
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
E.916-2010

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Record createdAugust 22, 2011
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1240305/urban-fiction-no-23-photograph-xing-danwen/
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