Going Public: International Art Collectors in Sheffield

As part of a city-wide collaboration with major international art collectors, Site Gallery is partnering with dslcollection who, over the last ten years, have built one of the most significant collections of Chinese art in the world. Led by Dominique and Sylvain Levy, their promotion and pioneering of established Chinese artists, often rarely seen in European galleries, alongside emerging Chinese artists makes their evolving collection exciting and relevant. This work is underpinned by a commitment to archiving, researching and communicating the value of the work of this region.

Curated by dslcollection collaborator Martina Kopple Yang, the exhibition at Site Gallery presents contemporary art from Guangdong Province, formerly known as Canton. Located on the South China Sea, far away from the nation’s political centre, the area is known for its revolutionary figures and reform movements. Open to foreign influence, Canton became a laboratory for the Chinese Government’s economic reform after the Cultural Revolution in the 1970s. Artists from this region occupy an unusual position of being both marginal and pioneering.

The works on display reflect upon the conceptual and ideological foundation of China’s rapid development and question underlying assumptions about ‘progress’.

Openness, the nomadic and a belief in sharing are ideas are central to the work of Cantonese artists. These concepts are also at the heart of the dslcollection.

Comprising five exhibitions and an international summit, Going Public will highlight some of Europe’s finest private collections of twentieth century and contemporary art.

The project brings together the collections of four leading art patrons:
Nicolas Cattelain (London)
, Dominique and Sylvain Levy (dslcollection, Paris)
, Egidio Marzona (Berlin), 
Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo (Turin).

Site Gallery and Sheffield Institute of the Arts Gallery at Sheffield Hallam University will present a survey of leading contemporary Chinese artists from the dslcollection.

At Site Gallery:

Jiang Zhi
Yang Yong
Zhou Tao

Curator, writer and dslcollection collaborator, Martina Köppel-Yang, has shared insights into each piece of work. If you would like to walk around Site Gallery and listen on your smart phone as you experience the works, there are headphones available at reception.
Click here to listen to the tour.

At Sheffield Institute of Arts:
Cao Fei
Chen Shaoxiong
Duan Jianyu
Jiang Zhi
Liang Juhui
Lin Yilin
Xu Tan
Yang Jiechang
Zheng Guogu
Zhou Tao

Earlier this year, the Going Public team visited the Levys in Paris to interview them about the dslcollection, how it was conceived and what it looks like today:

Sheffield Cathedral will display significant installations by Jake and Dinos Chapman, Maurizio Cattelan, and other leading contemporary artists, drawn from the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo collection.

Rarely-seen Marcel Duchamp works and archives, from the vast collection of Egidio Marzona, will form a focused exhibition at the Graves Gallery.

Highlights from Nicolas Cattelain’s collection including Sol LeWitt’s Serial Project #1 A 6, Do Ho Suh’s Wielandstr. 18, 12159 Berlin among others will go on display at the Millennium Gallery.

On 12 October 2015 Sheffield Hallam University will host a summit bringing together a variety of voices from the international art world for a day of debate and discussion. The event will explore the role of private philanthropy for the arts in the 21st century. Please check back for more information on booking and further events.