This interview was conducted at Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai on 28 October 2007.


Biography:

Xu Tan (b. 1957, Wuhan, Hubei Province) is an artist who lives and works in Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

In 1979, Xu was admitted to the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, where he received his B.A. and M.A. degrees in Oil Painting in 1983 and 1989 respectively. In 1993, Xu joined the Big-Tail Elephant Group, organized by Chen Shaoxiong, Lin Yilin and Liang Juhui, among others. Xu participated in two 'Big-Tail Elephant Group' exhibitions held in 1994 and 1996.

Xu often uses text, images, video, performance and installation in his work to express his concern for a range of social issues. Xu’s works have appeared in major exhibitions such as ‘Cities on the Move’ (Vienna, Bordeaux, New York, Copenhagen, Bangkok and Thailand, 1997–1999), the 1998 Taipei Biennial, the third Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (Brisbane, 1999), the second Berlin Biennial (2002), the fourth Gwangju Biennale (South Korea, 2002), the second Guangzhou Triennial (2005), and the 50th and 53rd Venice Biennales (2003, 2009).


簡歷︰

徐坦，1957年生於湖北武漢。藝術家，現於廣州及深圳生活和工作。

1979年入讀廣州美術學院油畫系，分別於1983及1989年獲得學士及碩士學位。1993年加入由陳劭雄、林一林、梁鉅輝組成的「大尾象工作組」，並於《沒有空間：大尾象》（1994，廣州）及《可能性：大尾象》（1996，廣州中心大廈）展出作品。
 
徐坦從事多種媒介的創作，包括文字、圖片、錄像、行為、裝置、網絡等。 徐坦的作品自九十年代在多個大型展覽中展出，包括《運動中的城市》（1997-1999，維也納，波而多，紐約，哥本哈根，倫敦，曼谷）；《1998台北雙年展》（1998）；第三屆《亞太當代藝術三年展》（1999，昆士蘭）；第二屆《柏林雙年展》（2002）；第四屆《光州雙年展》（2002）；第二屆《廣州三年展》（2005）及第50屆、第53屆《威尼斯雙年展》（2003，2009）等。