ABOUT THE Exhibition
Tan Tian: Atlanta, the Second Technological Revolution, and an Eastern Translator
Duration: July 4, 2025 – August 31, 2025
Address: TANK Shanghai, 2380 Longteng Ave
“When Tan Tian described his artworks inspired by his passion for the American TV show Atlanta, my initial thought wasn’t of race itself, but of Wu Zelin—that anthropological trailblazer who deeply investigated this topic and authored seminal works. It made me realize: what truly matters is not the issue per se, but who engages with it.
Today, a tacit consensus seems to have taken hold: Africa’s social issues demand African artists; Asia’s problems are the domain of Asian scholars; similarly, America’s racial complexities are America’s to confront; and men seemingly have no place in feminist dialogue.
Amidst the clamor of recent years—decolonization, degendering, deglobalization (and various other “de-” movements)—the legitimacy of, and empathy for cross-cultural engagement and mutual understanding have eroded. What parades as respect for the “Other” often becomes its thorough objectification, insulating them from our lived worlds, leading inexorably to mutual withdrawal—each individual stranded on their own island.
The irony? This stance serves its proponents poorly. The demise of the “Other” brings with it the diminishment and loss of the “Self.” When you cease to engage with experiences beyond your own, you forfeit the subjectivity to think meaningfully about the world. When you stop striving to understand the “Other” you encounter, you forfeit the subjectivity essential for genuine dialogue…
Back to the topic: Tan Tian’s commitment to being a contemporary artist compels a response to our present reality. Hence the question: where should this exhibition take root?
Perhaps abroad? Tan Tian once pondered: Who in China would be interested in seeing a solo exhibition centered on Western themes?
No. I countered Tan: On the contrary, precisely within domestic art institutions does the potential lie to fully realize this exhibition’s proposition—to be explicit, it’s to reconsider the subjectivity of Chinese contemporary art (and artists) by taking the West as the Other.”
By He Beili
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Tan Tian
Tan Tian (b. 1988, Beijing, China) received his BFA from Kingston University in London in 2012, his MFA from Hunter College in New York in 2019, and is now working at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing.
Through his works, Tan Tian hopes the viewers can see the parts of things they expect, the parts they ignore, and the parts they tend to avoid all at the same time. He hopes this will push the viewers to stand and understand the complex, multi-faceted, and unknown nature of any one thing. In addition to his creative work, he also works as a college teacher. In the classroom, he constantly tries to get his students to look at any given issue from various perspectives and does his best to stop them from taking a stand. He hopes his students will remain in this state of being in every situation where they need to have an attitude. He also encourages them to appreciate people with the same qualities, to develop a tacit understanding in between, and to build a platform for them to communicate with each other.
Solo Exhibitions
2025
Atlanta, the Second Technological Revolution, and an Eastern Translator, TANK Shanghai, Shanghai, China
2024
Junior Students in Experimental Art vs Tan Tian, Yuan Art Museum, Beijing, China
I Will Not Sing English Songs, Cai Jin Space, Beijing, China
Parent-hood, PLATESPACE, Beijing, China
2023
C-Man Nap in IKEA, SPURS Gallery, Beijing, China
2022
(Billboard, Manifesto, Joke), SPURS Gallery, Beijing, China
2016
Welcome, White Space, Beijing, China
2015
Jump to Second Solo Show, White Space, Beijing, China
Group Exhibitions
2025
Left the Group Chat, Arete Space, Beijing, China
2024
The Atlas of Mountains and Seas, Zhaomu Art Museum, Sanya, China
Pictures of the Post – 80s Generation — Generational Leap, TANK Shanghai, Shanghai, China
Art Class, Meilun Art Museum, Changsha, China
The 14th National Exhibition of Fine Art, China Art Museum, Shanghai, China
The Journey of A seed — Meta Point, MOCA Yinchuan, Yinchuan, China
The Present, Artecal Foundation, Hong Kong, China
2023
Guanlan International Print Biennial Nomination Exhibition 2023, China Print Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
Soul Art Festival, Soul Art, Beijing, China
Sailing: Contemporary Echo of Maritime Silk Road, Zhangjiagang Art Museum, Zhangjiagang, China
The Power of Painting, Ennova Art Museum, Hebei, China
Ideal Images, Epoch Art Museum, Wenzhou, China
Up in the Air, SPURS Gallery, Beijing, China
Tiny Steps, Yuan Art Museum Triennial, Yuan Art Museum, Tianjin, China
2022
When All at Once I Turn My Head, I Find Her There Where Lantern Light is Brightly Shed, Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts, Nanjing, China
New Youth — The 4th Academic Experimental Art Documentary Exhibition, Taoxichuan Art museum of CAFA, Jingdezhen, China
2021
Handmade, Taoxichuan Art museum of CAFA, Jingdezhen, China
ZHI-XU, Nali Patio, Beijing, China
Carry on, Yuan Art Museum, Beijing, China
2020
Yidong, Yuan Art Museum, Tianjin, China
Reconstruction, Epoch Art Museum, Wenzhou, China
The C, Tank Shanghai, Shanghai, China
étude, Aranya Art Center, Qinhuangdao, China
2019
Glocal Living Room, de Pot, Shanghai, China
Horizon, Yuan Art Museum, Beijing, China
Story: Born After the ’85 New Wave Generation Y of Contemporary Chinese Art, National Agricultural Exhibtion Center, Beijing, China
A White Space Odyssey, White Space, Beijing, China
The 5th China Youth Prints Exhibition, China Prints Museum, Shenzhen, China; China Cultural Center in Den Haag, Den Haag, Netherlands
Do You Believe in Life After Love?, 205 Hudson Gallery, New York, USA
Roadside Picnic, Owen Gallery, Maine, USA
2018
Replay, White Space, Beijing, China
Optimism, EFA Project Space, New York, USA
Becoming, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
We, Activeast, New Wight International Biennial, Broad Art Center, Los Angeles, USA
Encounter Asia Multo-vision of Youth Art, Museum of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing, China
Knowhow, C-Space, Beijing, China
Sculpture Projects Ping Yao, Ping Yao, Shanxi, China
On Paper 2, White Space, Beijing, China
Flaneur’s Square, Hive Center for Contemporary Art Beijing, Beijing, China
Seminar On Painting, Art Museum of Nanjing Universitiy of the Arts, Nanjing, China
The Reconfigured Selfhood, 205 Hudson Gallery, New York, USA
Modern Expressions of Traditions, Metropolitan Pavilion, New York, USA
2017
Roadside Picnic, Chambers Fine Art, New York, USA
Film Screening and Symposium in Conjunction with Judith Hopf, The Institute of Fine Art, New York, USA
Progress Everyday, Zhuzhong Museum, Beijing, China
Social Theatre, Chongqing Biennale of Young Artist, Art Museum of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing, China
Rebuild & Transition, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China; Art Museum of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing, China
I Do (Not) Want To Be Part of Your Celebration, QIAO SPACE, Shanghai, China
Post-production Manoeuvre, Minority Project Space, Beijing, China
China Youth Experimental Art Exhibition, Shandong-Taiwan Convention and Exhibition Center, Weifang, China
2016
Toward The Emergence of Resistance, Taikangspace, Beijing, China
Neo-Eden, Suzhou Jinji Lake Art Museum, Suzhou, China
Overpop, Yuz Museum, Shanghai, China
The Art of Living, Artnet & Loris, Berlin, Germany; New York, USA
Turning Point: Contemporary Art in China Since 2000, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China
The Exhibition of Annual of Contemporary Art of China 2015, Minsheng Art Museum, Luo Zhongli Museum, Jiangsu Museum of Modern Art, Beijing, Chongqin, Nanjing, China
Nán Kàn, Surplus Space, Wuhan, China
B-Movie, J: GALLERY, Shanghai, China
Trick or Treat, Yang Art Museum, Beijing, China
Utopia, UCCA, Beijing, China
Infinitive, Hong Museum in Chengdu, Chengdu, China
2015
Scenarios of Time: Inter-Subjectivity, 2015, The Fourth Art-Sanya, Sanya, China
Evolution of Model, A+ Contemporary, Shanghai, China
Mutual Cooperative, Rong-Space, Beijing, China
The Artist, Linda Gallery, Beijing, China
Fat Choi, A307 Space, Beijing, China
Base, UCCASTORE, Beijing, China
Breaking The Image, Si Shang Art Museum, Beijing, China
Void: There’s Nothing More Left, But A Little Trace from Human Being, Ginkgo Space, Beijing, China
Creating for the Future: Thinking About the Unthinkable, MOMENTUM Berlin, Berlin, Germany
The 2nd “CAFAM Future” Exhibition, CAFA Art Museum, Beijing, China
2014
2014 Art Nova 100, National Agricultural Exhibition Center, Beijing, China
From The Manic Ego to The Wise Superego, Times Art Museum, Beijing, China
Start Ups, Matthias Kuper Gallery, Beijing, China
The Second Tomorrow Contemporary Sculpture Award, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing, China
Attached, Force Gallery, Beijing, China
Memo II, White Space, Beijing, China
2013
Art Sanya — A Group of New, Sanya, China
Art Sanya — Encounters, Sanya, China
Transformation, Deshan Art Space, Beijing, China
Stories around relationship, Hongik University, Seoul, South Korea
2012
Show+ing, SW1 Gallery, London, UK
New arrival, Knight Park, London, UK
Home, Bookable Space, London, UK
2011
History was no longer real, Toilet Gallery, London, UK
2010
BYOP, Waggon and Horses, London, UK
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