Mountain River Jump! | 2022 Residency
Switzerland | Visual Arts
April 5-June 27, 2022 — Visual Arts
Nationality: China
Residency location: Zurich
Partner organization: Gleis 70, Theater Neumarkt
Mountain River Jump! is an artist duo founded in 2016 by twin sisters Huang Shan and Huang He, who were born in 1985. The duo has a variety of creative formats in art, often applying “divination consulting” as a performance to examine the potential of such art medium, and to interact with the audience at the intrinsic level. With their studies into Oriental mysticism and folklore, the artists pry open the topics of identity politics, labor issues, feminism, life politics, modernity and others. They pay attention to the embodiment of mythological clues in a daily context, attempting to carry out “psychoanalysis” of the reality, and reflecting on the materialist culture of our times and its psychological status.
Huang Shan and Huang He presently work and live in Foshan, Guangdong. Currently, they attend an Applied Psychology post-graduate programme at Jinan University, Guangzhou while in 2008, Huang Shan received her B.F.A degree at Chengdu Academy of Fine Arts and Huang He received her B.F.A degree at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. The Recent participated projects of Mountain River Jump! include: the second part of We Do Not Dream Alone, Asia Society Triennial, New York, 2021; The Exhibition of Annual of Contemporary Art of China 2019, Pingshan Art Museum, Shenzhen; More, More, More, Tank Shanghai; A Thunder and Eaglewood, Canton Gallery, Guangzhou. Their practice was introduced by ArtAsiaPacific issue 108, ArtForum online ,etc.
Apart from interactive divination art pieces, Mountain River Jump! is also recognized for performances. The duo plans to conduct a performance that is associated with analytical psychology and the tradition Wettkämpfe der Eringer Kühe in Switzerland, to highlight the power of the primitive female spirit. The concepts that define their artistic practice have been significantly influenced by analytical psychology as propounded by Swiss psychotherapist Carl Gustav Jung. Consequently, they cited Jung when describing the contextual framework for their creations. Ever since their adolescence, they have displayed a keenness for Jungian theories. Concepts of “synchronicity” and “collective unconsciousness” were direct inspirations for their divination installations. Many of Mountain River Jump!’s works originated in ideas that developed from Hero’s Journey and Great Mother Archetype. They are excited to find out about the annual tradition Wettkämpfe der Ehringer Kühe in Switzerland. In this event, strong Herens cows fight with each other until one wins the final battle. For them, this embodies people’s sentiment towards nature and the worship of the Great Mother Archetype. In their proposal, they will turn themselves into two cattle-headed goddesses, fight and sing during their performance. Besides, they are going to visit Carl Gustav’s living space at The Museum House C.G. Jung and the Picture Archive in the C.G. Jung Institute, Zurich.
