Sinopticon {contemporary chinoiserie in contemporary art}

Multiple artists

SINOPTICON image 1 — SINOPTICON, WESSIELING (2012). Photo Credit: Dom Moore.

Chinoiserie', a French term meaning 'Chinese-esque', originates from the 17th century when very few Europeans had actually visited China. Instead a utopian, fictitious land was described and repeated through the use of decorative motifs and styles.

As contact with the country grew, the influence and desire for China, its goods and culture, continued into the 19th century - a time of opium wars, trade and colonialism.

Plymouth, with its history of trade and collections of Chinese export arts and chinoiserie at the City Museum and Art Gallery and Saltram House, is the perfect location to explore and question our relationship with China through contemporary art. Through form and decoration in chinoiserie we can look at issues such as value and taste, fantasy, replication and stereotyping of images. We can also look at the darker elements of chinoiserie such as identity politics, racism, trade and production values, authorship and the contested territory of the exotic.

SINOPTICON image 35 — SINOPTICON (2012), Laura White, Ed Pien. Photo credit: Dom Moore.

SINOPTICON image 31 — SINOPTICON (2012), Meekyoung Shin, Issac Julien. Photo Credit, Dom Moore.

Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery installation shot SINOPTICON Plymouth 2012 photo credit Dom Moore — SINOPTICON (2012). Meekyoung Shin, Gayle Chong Kwan. Photo credit: Dom Moore

SINOPTICON image 23 — SINOPTICON (2012), Karen Tam, Satlram House. Photo Credit, Dom Moore.

SINOPTICON image 20 — SINOPTICON (2012), Ed Pien, Saltram House. Photo Credit, Dom Moore.

SINOPTICON image 15 — SINOPTICON (2012), Erika Tan. Photo Credit, Dom Moore.

SINOPTICON image 10 — SINOPTICON (2012), Tsang KinWah installed at Plymouth Arts Centre. Photo Credit, Dom Moore.

SINOPTICON image 11 — SINOPTICON (2012), Tsang KinWah. Photo Credit: Dom Moore.

SINOPTICON image 6 — SINOPTICON (2012), Karen Tam, Plymouth Arts Centre. Photo Credit, Dom Moore.

‘Sinopticon’ is a construct of ‘Sino’ meaning China and ‘optics’, meaning ways of seeing. This exhibition, across four partner venues, Plymouth Arts Centre, Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery and National Trust's Saltram House, looked to unpick these themes through the work of contemporary artists and to shed light on how pervasive Chinese culture, industry and aesthetics are in our everyday lives

Sinopticon was a long-term research project founded by Gayle Chong Kwan, Stephanie Douet and Eliza Gluckman. Funded by Arts Council England (National Lottery) and National Trust.

MIRROR (previously The Gallery at Plymouth College of Art) presented the work of Tsang KinWah and Erika Tan.