“MY TIANANMEN:the Polyphonic History” is a multimedia exhibition running September 21 and 22 in London, featuring films and a video installation presented in 3 parts. Each part is a distinct passage that explores how we perceive or comprehend history, from the specific instance of Tiananmen, to the general & universal.
Included among the exhibition’s film screenings is No. 89 Shimen Road, Shu Haolun’s award-winning reflection on life in Shanghai in the months leading to June 1989.
The screening takes place 5pm, Saturday 22 at the Hundred Years Gallery in London, 13 Pearson Street. Details here.
From the exhibition’s tumblr:
MY TIANANMEN: The Polyphonic History is a multimedia exhibition which embodies the musical and literary concepts of polyphony in its structure. It has three parts: a film program “Memories in Cross-generational Dialogue”, a video installation “My Tiananmen”, and a special screening event – “Unique and Like Yours”. As indicated by the title, Tiananmen Square Massacre is an underlying theme of the exhibition. Tiananmen Square, the symbol of both imperial authority and liberation, was the centre of a series of nationwide pro-democracy demonstrations in the spring of 1989. On June 4th, Hundreds of thousands of students and citizens on the square were brutally suppressed by military forces. After the bloodshed, those who survived either were arrested, fled overseas, or adapted to the aftermath of terror, silence, and societal depression. It is still forbidden to speak of this historic event in the place it unfolded. The exhibition is about the notion of history – Tiananmen as a drastic exemplification – which is experienced by individuals and resides in people’s memories. History, on the emotional levels, affects not only those directly involved but also those distantly connected through space and time. The emotions evolve over time and across generations, some in resonance and some in dissonance. To shed light on the dialogue and dialectic of the cross-generational memories and its representation in films and videos, the exhibition is conceived in a polyphonic manner. Each of the three parts is a distinct passage that explores how we perceiving or comprehending history, from Tiananmen, to the general and universal. Together, they reflect the complex relationship between history and the persons who made, and who are made, by it.
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