Chinese-German sculptor Zhou Xiaoping has been traveling between China and Germany, creating sculptures, since 2003. She has created more than 80 large, urban sculptures, each of which has become a vivid carrier of urban memories. During the past decade, she has focused on creating free-form sculptures, and she has launched a global, cross-disciplinary-artist-collaboration project, which has involved the preservation of archives for contemporary artistic creation.
Bond with Sculpting
As a child, Zhou had a keen interest in painting. After she joined the Shanghai Children's Palace painting class, at age 7, she was drawn to the sculpting class, which was next door to her painting class. "I was very curious about sculpting, and I often went there to knead clay and watch how sculpting tools were used," she recalls.
In 1985, Zhou was admitted to the sculpting department of the College of Fine Arts, Shanghai University. She was one of the first students in the newly established department.
"There were only six students in the sculpting department, and I was the only girl. Almost everyone was assigned two instructors," she says. Under the guidance of the strong faculty, Zhou built a solid foundation as a sculptor.
During her undergraduate years, a trip from Dunhuang, in northwest China's Gansu Province, to southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, was the catalyst for her first sculpture.
"My classmates and I traveled by bus across the Gobi Desert, leaving behind unforgettable youthful memories. My graduation piece, the wood carving, Emotions of Xizang People, was inspired by this trip," Zhou says. Her sculpture was selected for the art exhibition that marked the 40th anniversary of Shanghai's liberation. Having her work selected for the exhibit boosted her confidence in pursuing sculpting as a career.
After she graduated, in 1989, Zhou joined the Shanghai Academy of Landscape Architecture Science and Planning, where she specialized in creating sculptures. During her second year with the academy, she was assigned the task of designing a sculpture for the main hall of the Shanghai Liberation Daily Building.
The modern design of the building's glass-curtain wall called for matching artistic expression. After repeated reflection and revisions, her proposal was finally adopted. The experience caused Zhou to ponder deeply, "My existing knowledge seems insufficient. I need to pursue further studies."
After three years of work with the academy, she had mastered the standards and logic of landscape design. Her pursuit of more creative artistic expression drove her to study at the Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg, in Nuremberg, Germany, in 1993.
In Germany, she studied the forging and welding techniques, used to sculpt steel, under steel-sculpture master Tim Scott. He helped Zhou gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between materials and structure. Immersion in contemporary artistic concepts, and advanced forging technologies, opened up new horizons for Zhou.
Her experiences while studying abroad became the nourishment for her creativity, and led to the sculpture, Königstraße in Nuremberg. The piece depicts a piglet caught in epiphyllum branches and leaves. The sculpture served as a metaphor for Zhou's life as an international student.
"Königstraße is home to banks, law firms and telecommunications companies, so handling related matters often requires visits there. During my first few years in Germany, due to the language barrier, I had to repeatedly go over the German logic in my mind before I pushed open the doors of a bank or a law firm. It felt like 'being left hanging on a branch' — helpless and unsure. I had no choice but to face it, but I gradually overcame it," Zhou explains.
Given her solid foundation and unique artistic expression, she gradually made a name for herself in the German sculpting community. Her work, Rhythm, won a German sculpting award in 1998.
Carrying Memories
In 2003, Zhou began creating sculptures in both China and Germany. In China, she participated in the artistic planning of many areas, including Shanghai Municipality, Fenghua District, in Ningbo, in east China's Zhejiang Province, and Fukang, in Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
"A sculpture is an important carrier of urban memory. It must be deeply rooted in the soil of the times, and it must bear the memories of the place," Zhou says. This concept has guided her as she has created more than 80 large urban sculptures.
Sweet Watermelon, created in 2006, is one of her most representative urban sculptures. At that time, during preparations for 2010 Shanghai World Expo, as part of urban renewal, residents of Laochengxiang, the old city of Shanghai, were relocated to the suburbs of Pudong New District, to accommodate construction ahead of the Expo.
"The selflessness of the Laochengxiang residents, who left their original homes, deeply moved me," Zhou says. She used the imagery of "the sweetest part of a watermelon" to create the sculpture, Sweet Watermelon. "Just as people always like eating the sweetest part of a watermelon first, this sculpture embodies the spirit of dedication of Shanghai's residents," she says.
The following year, Zhou explored how art can improve public spaces, through a renovation project in a dimly lit area of Shanghai Railway Station. "I didn't want the sculpture to just stand there. I wanted it to be a messenger of light," she says. Her creation, New Health Horizon, which combined perforated steel plates with lighting design, has enhanced the area's nighttime brightness, and it has indirectly improved safety in that section of the station.
During the Ninth China (Beijing) International Horticultural Exposition, in 2013, Zhou focused on the vibrant and open-minded urban characteristics of Shanghai as she created the sculpture, Little Girl. The dynamic design, featuring "water dripping from the toes and ripples spreading below," conveys Shanghai's vitality. The sculpture earned Zhou both the expo's design award and excellent-work award.
Five years later, she returned to the expo with her follow-up piece, Urban Beauty. Zhou used the visual narrative of "a little girl growing up" to present the evolution of Shanghai's temperament.
In 2016, Shanghai Baoshan Ferroalloy Steel Plant closed, and it was transformed into a park. Zhou showcased its transformation and rebirth through the sculpture, Steel Butterfly.
Zhou adopted the original materials and techniques from the steel plant to create the piece, with the "cocoon to butterfly" design symbolizing the plant's transformation. The park (where the sculpture is located) won the 2017 China Habitat Environment Model Award.
"Each land nourishes its own people. Creators should focus on the history of the land, and they should explore its deeper value, making their works a witness to the life of the land," Zhou says.
Close to the Public
"Urban sculptures meet the public every day, and they need to eliminate the sense of distance from the people," Zhou says. That insight, she adds, was gained from years of dedication to public art creation. Her 2003 sculpture, Listening to Water, embodies that philosophy.
In 2003, Zhou was commissioned to create a sculpture for Mengqing Park, a living-water park by Suzhou Creek, in Shanghai. In one corner of the park, 26 rusted exhaust vents were scattered, which detracted from the landscape.
Zhou chose white, stainless-steel tubes, in varying diameters, to transform the vents into wave-like curves, which were flowing in the same direction. When visitors lean close, and press their ears to the openings of the pipes, they can hear the flowing water of Suzhou Creek. This has transformed the once-jarring industrial fixtures into an interactive art piece, which is both audible and visually appealing.
In 2010, Zhou created the colorful, mixed-metal sculpture, Embroidery. A four-meter-high "embroidery needle" pierces the ground, with colorful threads tied to its eye, and two arched stitch marks emerge from the ground. The two stitch marks serve as seats, allowing people to rest and experience the sculpture's approachable charm.
Other sculptures, including Bean Stool, in Lujiazui Park, and Red Apple, in Sanlin Town, allow people to sit and appreciate the art. "The core of public art is people. It must be beautiful, interesting and, above all, practical," Zhou says.
Zhou has devoted more time to creating free-form sculptures, and seeking artistic value in ordinary objects, in recent years. In her work, Dancing Banana Peel, she excavates vitality from discarded peels, as she conveys the idea "even ordinary things can be free and joyful."
In 2014, Zhou initiated the cross-disciplinary, "sculpture-plus-painting" project, inviting artists to recreate based on her sculptures, and documenting the artists' reflections and creation processes through video, text and other media. To date, 42 Chinese and international artists have participated.
When asked why she chose pillows and chairs as the foundational forms, Zhou says it stemmed from an expression of her personal state of mind. "I am a modest person, but I have inner convictions. My persistence is as direct as a chair, yet it maintains a bottom line, while my tolerance is as soft as a pillow."
The idea for the cross-disciplinary collaboration originated from her reflections on archival work during her studies in Germany. "Germany excels in archival documentation. I hope to preserve precious records for Chinese art history as well. So, I decided to document the creations and thoughts of contemporary artists through collaboration," Zhou says.
Today, Zhou still gives lectures at universities, both at home and abroad. "When I lectured at the design department of my alma mater, in 2004, there were dozens of students in the class, with a noticeable increase in girls. Nowadays, in various art majors, the gender ratio among students has become more balanced. Art is no longer rigidly defned. This is a refection of social progress in the field of art," Zhou says.
Photos from Interviewee
(Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition/Women of China)
Editor: Wang Shasha
