A university art museum was once primarily the caretaker of the school’s “study collection.” As a central part of a teaching museum, the study collection offered students, faculty, and other researchers an opportunity to observe physical artifacts and art objects in close proximity and to link such observations to abstract ideas and concepts. Though NYU Shanghai currently lacks a study collection, ROOM 100 re-conceives the city of Shanghai as a resource and presents a series of objects, lent by artists, commercial galleries, a collector, and a museum, for open study.

The first art object in the Study Sessions series will be introduced by Michelle Hyun, Director/Curator of the NYU Shanghai Art Gallery, followed by a conversation with the artist DUAN Yingmei.  Light refreshments will be served.

Duan Yingmei in collaboration with WANG Shihua, CANG Xin, GAO Yang, Zuoxiao Zuzhou, MA Zongyin,  ZHANG Huan, MA Liuming, ZHANG Binbin and ZHU Ming,
To Add One Meter to an Anonymous Mountain, 1995.
Live Performance with Beijing East Village Artists.
Performance documents. Pigment ink on archival paper; 83.3 x 59.9 cm. Photo: LÜ Nan. Video, color; 9 minutes 13 seconds.
Courtesy of the artist and Capsule Shanghai.

One afternoon in May 1995, 26-year-old Duan Yingmei joined nine other East Village artists on top of the Miaofeng Mountain in the western suburb of Beijing. Composedly lined up, undressed and weighed themselves, the artists lay one by one facing down on the ground in sequence from the heaviest to lightest, piling their naked bodies on top of each other and forming a human mountain peak. The height of their bodies piled together changed the total height of the mountain from 86.397 to 87.393 meters, thus “adding one meter to an anonymous mountain.”

Object(s) available for viewing 22 February - 12 March.