“The Silent Strength of Liu Xia,” the touring exhibition of 26 photos by the dissident Chinese photographer, artist, and poet, traveled in its original form from New York to Madrid, Spain, where the Ayuntamiento de Madrid presented it in the Sala de los Arcos of the Centro Cultural Galileo, Calle de Fernando ‘El Católico’ 35 (Chamberí district), opening on September 20, 2012.
For technical and logistical reasons, the set of original prints with which this show premiered in Boulogne-Billancourt, France on October 20, 2011, and which then went to the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America, based at Columbia University in New York City for the spring 2012 U.S. debut, had to return to the European Union after its brief sojourn in the U.S. So, at the end of summer 2012, that set went from the States to Spain, and will remain in the EU hereafter, for showings at venues to be announced.
The Madrid show ran through October 28. Co-curator Guy Sorman, who organized the extraction of these prints out of Beijing, attended and participated in that opening.
Materials available from this exhibition:
- Press release from the Ayuntamiento de Madrid (PDF), September 20, 2012.
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Press response to the Madrid showing has proved substantial and (mostly) favorable. Here are links to some of those reports and reviews, arranged chronologically:
- ABC.es: “La artista Liu Xia expone en Madrid fotografías vetadas en China,” September 21, 2012.
Masdearte.com: “Liu Xia expone en Madrid fotografías vetadas en China,” September 21, 2012.- Ocio por Madrid: “‘La fuerza silenciosa’ de Liu Xia, en el Centro Cultural Galileo,” September 21, 2012.
- Cuentameloya.es: “Se exponen en Madrid una serie de fotografías vetadas en China,” by Johanna Almache, September 21, 2012.
- MadridPress.com: “La artista Liu Xia presenta una muestra de 25 imágenes que no puede exponer en su país,” September 23, 2012.
- El País: “El arte es libre, el artista no siempre,” Silvia Hernando, September 24, 2012.
- SerPlus: “La artista china Liu Xia expone sus ‘bebés feos’ en el Galileo,” September 25, 2012.
- TSF Rádio Notícias: “A força silenciosa,” by Fernando Alve, September 26, 2012.
- Diario El Aguijón: “Guy Sorman: ‘Nos hacen creer que los chinos aman a sus amos comunistas, lo cual no es cierto,'” by Raquel Moraleja, September 28, 2012.
- La Madrid Morena: “La rebelión silenciosa,” October 21, 2012.
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