Year of the Rat
                      Thursday 7 February 2008
The Rat is the first sign of the Chinese zodiac. Legend has it that the Jade Emperor invited the animals for a party. The first of the twelve animals that comprise the Chinese zodiac to arrive was the Rat. Those born in the Year of the Rat are clever, ambitious, hard-working, charming, sociable and are motivated by money and status.
Chinese New Year Special Offer!
To mark 2008 Year of the Rat, Chinese Arts Centre is celebrating the first animal to make it to the party with a very special offer for the first ten people to come in and wish us ‘Happy New Year of the Rat’ for the first four days of the Chinese New Year.
From Thursday 7 February to Sunday 11 February the first ten people to visit Chinese Arts Centre and bid us ‘Happy New Year of the Rat’ will receive a free limited edition canvas bag designed by Hong Kong artist Joey Leung Ka Yin. The eco-friendly stylish tote specially commissioned by Chinese Arts Centre features a striking line drawing design with the speech bubble ‘So I won’t love you anymore plastic bag’. The quirkily designed shopper normally retails at £8.
Gordon Cheung – Death by a Thousand Cuts
Until 23 March 2008
Rats are motivated by money and so are likely to succeed in this capitalist business-driven world. The Year of the Rat is especially symbolic given the current global climate and China’s rapid economic development. In his first solo exhibition at Chinese Arts Centre, Death by a Thousand Cuts, Gordon Cheung responds to China as potentially the next superpower and how its socialism is mutating into social capitalism. The Financial Times stock listings, which form the foundation of all Cheung’s paintings, is used as a metaphor for our contemporary world. The stock listings, ink, spray, acrylic, and gel collide to form epic to form epic techno-sublime vistas.
Breathe Residency
In collaboration with Birth Rites
Ping Qiu
Until 28 February
Open Studio 17 – 21 February
Inspired by her time spent with cult midwifery figure Ina May Gaskin at The Farm Midwifery Center in Tennessee, Ping Qiu is using her residency to create works that meditate on the very beginnings of life. Ping's provocative large ceramic vessels communicate a sensuality of the human form and playfulness and openness of the female and male body. For her open studio Ping will be exhibiting the new works and screening footage of her moving performance and installation work.
First Step Exhibition
Woun Gean Ho
Until 15 April
Chinese New Year draws our attention to the animals of Chinese zodiac. Giving these animals personality traits and attributes, like we do in other cultural circumstances and more personally with pets, creates an emotional bond. As a practising vet and artist, Wuon Gean Ho is moved to make works which meditate on animal life, death, memories and nostalgia, often generating a storyline in her paintings.
ENDS
For email interviews, images and further information on Chinese Arts Centre, please contact Felicity Clarke at Chinese Arts Centre on:
+44 (0) 161 832 7271
marketing@chinese-arts-centre.org
www.chinese-arts-centre.org
Listings information
Chinese Arts Centre, Market Buildings, Thomas Street, Manchester, M4 1EU
+44 (0)161 832 7271
Mon-Sat 10am – 5pm and Sun 11am-4pm
Notes for editors
Chinese Arts Centre was established in 1986 and acts as the national agency to promote, commission and exhibit Chinese artists. Following on from a £2.5 million Lottery grant it opened it's new Centre in November 2003 and received a RIBA award for architecture and was a finalist for the accessible building of the year in 2004. In 2006 Chinese Arts Centre was proud to receive a Pearl Award for Creative Excellence. During 2007 Chinese Arts Centre celebrated its 21st Anniversary.
©Chinese Arts Centre 2008 Confidential
Established in 1986