Paris-Beijing Photo Gallery

	Chen Jiagang Diseased City
	The most serious urban disease in the 21st century is mental illness. Nearly 20 years of development in China, and the massive expansion of cities, have taken place amidst two dominant struggles. The first is the conflict between the profit-driven private capitalists and the interests of the State. The government encourages people to seek after riches, fortifying the people’s desperate pursuit of material wealth. But the country has turned the wealth created by private capitalists into state interests through complex policies, and by sacrificing the wealth creators who are charged with « original sin ». The second is the conflict between the local governments and the central government over such interests. Local governments and the central government share tax revenues, a practice which is rare in the world. Local governments thus have the motive for insane development, which has in turn generated « original sins ». Once there is any conflict between the local and central governments over tax revenues, the representative of the local interest will be sacrificed for their « original sin » for the sake of the overall development of other places. China has traveled down this road and accomplished in 20 years what took the western world 200 years to acheive. Through the process of these two conflicts, our cities have undergone unprecedented development and change. While this development has changed the cities physically, it has also brought about mental deseases such as: the lack of a moral bottom line; cops and thieves forming special interest groups; development at the cost of men and women’s dignity; environmental pollution; indifference and estrangement in human relationships; deviation from traditional values and decorum; and many others. These are the « urban diseases » that artists can do nothing about. The only thing they can do is to express their criticism and reflection on these problems through the images in their work. First of all, there must be an « observing place ». While the Western world uses « symbols » to represent factors in China, we place « conceptual stories », or rather fables, into grandiose urban places, and then photograph them. The images taken from these scenes have a kind of fixed certainty, as well as the uncertainty that arises at the scene without pre-determination. This reflects the certainty of the development of Chinese society, as well as the uncertainty brought about as a result of development. Secondly, my pictures need « space ». As a graduate of architecture school, I have a better understanding of space than ordinary people. I used more than ten or twenty 8x10 inch sheets of film to shoot each scene, with a horizontal viewing angle wider than 210, and a vertical viewing angle greater than 101. When all the pictures are ready, I pieced them together in the digital darkroom to create the effect of « superspace ». On the one hand, I want to express the super-experiment of China’s development, on the other hand, I want to show the sociability of the Chinese people. You should know that the life of Chinese people is more sociable than that of any western country, i.e. they have some kind of social « blood relationship ». Additionally, my pictures bear a sense of « time ». Because of the fast development, each section of time records various fractions of the result caused by the two conflicts, and epitomizes all walks of life in China. So when I took the pictures, I tended to shoot across time and space. Even if I shot at one place, I would shoot from multiple angles and scenes. Then I would piece them together to create the « Ukiyoe » of Chinese society. Luckily, we have the means through photography to display the existing problems in China. At least, the spirit we can sense from the pictures is no longer the disease of one person, and solitude is no longer that of one person, but the solitude of the group. The « Diseased City » is a virtuous one, a city of feeling for the artist to reflect on the collective unconsciousness.

	Diseased City-Seminar, Chen Jiagang C-Print Size A: 600x150cm Edition: 6 Size B: 400x100cm Edition: 12 Size C: 200x50cm Edition: 18


	Diseased City-Biennial Exhibition, Chen Jiagang C-Print Size A: 600x150cm Edition: 6 Size B: 400x100cm Edition: 12 Size C: 200x50cm Edition: 18


	Diseased City-Wedding Banquet, Chen Jiagang C-Print Size A: 600x150cm Edition: 6 Size B: 400x100cm Edition: 12 Size C: 200x50cm Edition: 18


	Diseased City-Birthday Celebration, Chen Jiagang C-Print Size A: 600x150cm Edition: 6 Size B: 400x100cm Edition: 12 Size C: 200x50cm Edition: 18


	Diseased City-Cheng Du, The Cop and the Thief, Chen Jiagang C-Print Size A: 600x150cm Edition: 6 Size B: 400x100cm Edition: 12 Size C: 200x50cm Edition: 18


	Diseased City-Pan Zhihua, Taking Pictures before Retiring, Chen Jiagang C-Print Size A: 600x150cm Edition: 6 Size B: 400x100cm Edition: 12 Size C: 200x50cm Edition: 18


	Diseased City-Shanghai, Hooligan Foreigners, Chen Jiagang C-Print Size A: 600x150cm Edition: 6 Size B: 400x100cm Edition: 12 Size C: 200x50cm Edition: 18


	Diseased City-Chong Qing, The Migrant Worker and the City Administrator, Chen Jiagang C-Print Size A: 600x150cm Edition: 6 Size B: 400x100cm Edition: 12 Size C: 200x50cm Edition: 18


	Diseased City-Halidom, Chen Jiagang C-Print Size A: 600x150cm Edition: 6 Size B: 400x100cm Edition: 12 Size C: 200x50cm Edition: 18


	Diseased City-Shangri-LA, Chen Jiagang C-Print Size A: 600x150cm Edition: 6 Size B: 400x100cm Edition: 12 Size C: 200x50cm Edition: 18


	Diseased City-Deqin, Chen Jiagang C-Print Size A: 600x150cm Edition: 6 Size B: 400x100cm Edition: 12 Size C: 200x50cm Edition: 18


	Diseased City-Wedding, Chen Jiagang C-Print Size A: 600x150cm Edition: 6 Size B: 400x100cm Edition: 12 Size C: 200x50cm Edition: 18


	Diseased City-Beautiful Encounter, Chen Jiagang C-Print Size A: 267x160cm Edition: 6 Size B: 183x110cm Edition: 12 Size C: 67x40cm Edition: 18