CHEN ZHEN's Danser la Musique
Title: Danser la Musique, 2000-2009Size: 500 x 500 x 350 cm (h)
Medium: Steel, Iron, Nylon, Hemp, Cannon Shells, Bullet Shells, Buddhists bells
Edition: Numbered 1/3
Building Period: October-November, 2009
Site: Yitian Holiday Plaza, Shenzhen, China
Exhibiton’s Date: 06.12.2009 -28.02.2010
The Playground has been realized thanks to Mrs Liu Ying Mei, Shanghai, China with the support of the Association des Amis de Chen Zhen, Paris.
The artist is represented by Galleria Continua / Italy, Beijing, Le Moulin.
Chen Zhen strongly believed that art has the power to surpass politics and science, bringing people's feelings to consciousness. Using his wise hands and intense mind, Chen has put at the center of his creations the concern for humanity, society, nature and destiny, his vision of oriental and western cultures, a multi-cultural approach, the desire of eliminating odium through an equality-based dialogue.
The installation Danser la musique by Chen Zhen is composed by a square trampoline, four large Buddhist bells with cannon shells hanging in its four corners, hundreds of smaller bells with bullet shells hanging on the trampoline, Children dance on the trampoline and the sound of the music coming from the bells.
Danser la Musique (model, 2000)From 2000 on, ART for The World has organized a serie of travelling exhibitions of more then 40 artworks on the theme of Playgrounds&Toys designed by artists and architects from all over the world. In every place in which the exhibition is held, a local jury choose his favorite playground. In January 2001, during the venue at the Andersen Museum in Rome, Chen Zhen's project Danser la Musique was chosen from a jury composed by UN, UNHCR and UNESCO’s representatives, Giordano Boetti, the son of the artist Alighiero Boetti and the Children Psycanalist Prof. Giovanni Bollea.
Danser la Musique aims to combine both the form and the function of dance and music. The work expresses the artist’s concern for disadvantaged children suffering from social injustices and for those living in the most unacceptable conditions in various regions of the world. The hope is that this playground will help to turn sorrow into happiness, making children still feel the joy and strength of life while facing poverty and war.
Danser la Musique aims to combine both the form and the function of dance and music. The work expresses the artist’s concern for disadvantaged children suffering from social injustices and for those living in the most unacceptable conditions in various regions of the world. The hope is that this playground will help to turn sorrow into happiness, making children still feel the joy and strength of life while facing poverty and war.
The children dancing on the trampoline make the brass bells strike against each other and against the small bells placed on the ground, creating a fantastic and happy music. Four people can play the big buddhists bells at the four corners of the trampoline, giving life to the big dancing musical instrument and intensifying the theme of the work, which exemplifies a material world that is within sight but beyond reach. The "bell tone" of the church and the "thunder" of guns arise one from another, as in the unavoidable reality in which live many children of numerous countries and regions of the world. The brilliant and sweet rings of the little bells, together with the sounds and rhythms of happy dancing, awake their innocence and senses, relieving their little hearts from the despair of poverty and war. 
Artist’s biography
Chen Zhen was born in 1955 in Shanghai where he studied and then taught at the Shanghai Fine Arts & Crafts School and at the Shanghai Theatre Academy. In 1986, he moved to France where he studied at the Institut des Hautes Etudes en Arts Plastiques of Paris. He then worked as Professor at the Institut and Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts in Paris and at the Ecole Nationale Superieure D'Art in Nancy. Between 1990 and 2000, Chen was awarded six art scholarships from French and American institutions and participated to nearly one hundred exhibitions, where he presented internationally acclaimed installations. He was listed as one of the most influential installation artist of the Nineties. His unrestricted style walks through the Chinese and western cultures, seeking a balance between unifying the senses of the audience and presenting the artist’s unique language and philosophy. Chen’s work brings to the extreme the idea of diversity that pervaded the art world during the last years of his life.
Chen Zhen was born in 1955 in Shanghai where he studied and then taught at the Shanghai Fine Arts & Crafts School and at the Shanghai Theatre Academy. In 1986, he moved to France where he studied at the Institut des Hautes Etudes en Arts Plastiques of Paris. He then worked as Professor at the Institut and Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts in Paris and at the Ecole Nationale Superieure D'Art in Nancy. Between 1990 and 2000, Chen was awarded six art scholarships from French and American institutions and participated to nearly one hundred exhibitions, where he presented internationally acclaimed installations. He was listed as one of the most influential installation artist of the Nineties. His unrestricted style walks through the Chinese and western cultures, seeking a balance between unifying the senses of the audience and presenting the artist’s unique language and philosophy. Chen’s work brings to the extreme the idea of diversity that pervaded the art world during the last years of his life.
