Landscapes of Possibility Made from Maps & Books by Ji Zhou

In his multimedia practice, Beijing-based artist Ji Zhou initiates a critical dialogue between reality, perception, and possibility. His latest photographic works titled ‘Civilized Landscape’ treat the object as a vehicle for visual representation and interpretation, whereby maps and books become landscapes of possibility. The process tells as much of a story as the final image does: Ji Zhou collects maps, hand-sculpting them into peaks and troughs to mimic mountaintops. He includes books that are assembled into cantilevered towers resembling city skyscrapers. These ‘rural’ and ‘urban’ illusions are then photographed, further augmenting reality. As always, Ji Zhou chooses to question rather than offer his own conclusions: What is civilization – a constructed illusion created by man or an inevitable product of evolution? What is the truly ‘civilized landscape’– tautology or oxymoron?

Ji Zhou was born in Beijing, China, in 1970. He graduated with an MFA in Plastic Arts from the Pantheon-Sorbonne University in Paris, France, in 2005. His solo exhibitions include “Objectified Spectacle,” Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing, China (2013) and “In Situ,” Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China (2008). Group exhibitions include: “The Persistence of Images,” Redtory Art and Culture Organization, Guangzhou, China (2015); “The 9th Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai, China (2013); “Retrospection & Deviation,” Times Art Museum, Beijing, China (2011); “Rendez-vous 09,” Institut d’Art Contemporain de Villeurbanne, Rhône-Alpes, France (2009) and “55 Days in Valencia,” IVAM Centre Julio González, Valencia, Spain (2008).