Arts on the Ave’s squatting monks remind us about empathy and global unity

This type of meeting requires your “Asian squat” to be on point.

Wang Shugang’s The Meeting installation is part of a collaboration between the Vancouver Biennale and Arts on the Ave that is scheduled to be set up and leave Edmonton’s Alberta Avenue’s green space this spring. The showcase along Edmonton’s 118th Avenue also features artworks like Cosimo Cavallaro’s Love Your Bean installation.

The Meeting is a set of bronze life-sized monks sitting “static and crouching with cupped hands”. Seven of the statues are arranged in a “spiritual circle”, while an eighth figure views the group from a distance. The arrangement of the statues is somewhat reminiscent of a Planet Earth researcher observing animals in their natural habitats. 

Another view of the installation might suggest that by looking at differing viewpoints, we can learn to empathize more and find unity in diversity. This is especially important in times like these where hurtful opinions are unfortunately amplified. Either way, The Meeting gives way to a variety of interpretations, both humorous and serious.

All eight figures are painted Chinese Red, a hue Vancouver Biennale describes as a range “from a vivid red to a red-orange” like vermillion or cinnabar. According to Shugang, it is a bright reminder of the terror during China’s Cultural Revolution and the “faded lettering praising Mao on the ceilings of the factories.” On the other hand, it also symbolizes happiness, like the “coats of the Buddhist monks and the colour of wedding decorations.” 

Shugang was one of China’s leading contemporary artists in the politically-charged Cynical Realism movement of the mid-1990s, along with Yue Minjun and Ai Weiwei. The movement’s amusing mockery of historical and political events like the Cultural Revolution and Maoist China definitely applies to The Meeting, which debuted at the 2007 G-8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany. As the Vancouver Biennale puts it, many felt that there was a “subtle irony” in the three-day summit’s goal of global unity and the protests regarding its relevance and substance.

Shugang draws influences from his time spent living in the Ruhr-area of Germany as well as his roots in Beijing, China. These influences are seen in many of his works, from Western art and contemporary 20th century realism to Buddhist iconography and Chinese culture. Works such as Sweep the Floor (2008) and Turn to Happiness (2008) show another side to The Meeting’s squatting monks, with Sweep the Floor illustrating the monks’ ritualistic cleaning practice while Turn to Happiness imagines them in an ancient-Rome-inspired Star Wars universe.

If you feel inspired to try and outdo the monks’ Asian squat, make sure to visit The Meeting on Alberta Avenue while it’s still there. You can also get a free latté from The Carrot Community Arts Coffeehouse (118 Avenue and 94 Street) when you provide a picture of yourself at the installation.