Chen Zhen, transcultural dialogues under construction. Critical reception of his first exhibition in Spain

Abstract

Chen Zhen (1955 Shanghai−2000 Paris) emigrated to France in 1986. His work engages with the notion of ‘cultural homelessness’ and transcends the boundaries between the physical and the psychic. This idea of ⁣⁣being in movement between different cultures links directly with the term ‘Transexperience’, coined by Chen Zhen, which refers to a new way of considering the emotions and experiences that emerge from the experience of the immigrant as he/she makes new cultural connections. He uses art as a form of cultural resistance, that is, an instrument to generate debate and critical thinking. This article explores the exhibition discourse of his first show in Spain Chen Zhen: In-Between (2014−2015), and its impact on the media. It examines the artist reception and draws on the notion of transculturalism to analyse recurrent post-Orientalist clichés.