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[NEWS] Shanghai Art Space Shutters Amid Outcry Over Video Ranking Women by Attractiveness
June 22, 2021
A screenshot of Song Ta's Uglier and Uglier (2013). COURTESY TWITTER VIA AFRA WANG
OCAT Shanghai closed indefinitely last Friday after a public outcry over the video piece Uglier and Uglier (2013) by Song Ta, depicting over eight hours of surreptitious footage that the artist's team shot of 5,000 college women and ranking them, in his opinion, in order of their attractiveness.
The exhibition, titled The Circular Impact, included 21 artists and was organised by Dai Zhuoqun. It opened on 28 April and was due to run until 11 July. The controversial video, called Jiaohua or Campus Flowers in Chinese, has been shown several times before, including at UCCA Beijing in its 2013 group show, On | Off: China’s Young Artists in Theory and Practice, when it also generated controversy.
Artist Song Ta. Photo: Beijing Commune
In his artist statement, Song recommended visitors arrive early to the gallery, as the video begins with the women he found most attractive. “So if you want to see the campus queen, you have to go to the museum as early as possible,” Song wrote. “Otherwise, when the dusk comes, it will become a living hell in this place.”
Photo: OCAT
On Thursday night, a Weibo post by user Sanaya One criticizing the piece was shared on Twitter by Afra Wang, a co-host of the Mandarin-language podcast Chinese Murmurs. One user on the Chinese blogging platform Weibo said the show’s curator was “unable to distinguish between modern art and trash,” while others called said the video infringed on the women’s legal rights. By Friday afternoon, OCAT Shanghai took the piece off view—and subsequently closed altogether.
“After receiving criticism, we re-evaluated the content of this artwork and the artist’s explanation, we found it disrespected women, and the way it was shot has copyright infringement issues,” the museum said in a statement on Weibo. “Thank you for your concern, criticism and oversight. OCAT Shanghai will reflect upon the public issues and social concerns arising from this incident. As a museum supporting the concept of diversity, we will take this as an admonition to show more empathy towards all.”
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