51 Personae
51 Personae is a collaborative art project, publishing initiative, and cooperative platform. It started as a Shanghai Biennale off-site program, composed of 51 events in urban Shanghai based on individual/group experiences/actions within the context of urban transformation (2016-2017). Since 2018 onwards, it has evolved into a self-sustaining independent art publishing project, believing that publishing is both an urgent and valid artistic practice in contemporary cultural practice. It places special emphasis on life experiences in Asia and the Third World, as well as marginalized voices under suppression. It collaborate with individual artists, designers, translators, collectives and self-organized social forms in Asia and beyond, exploring the forms, possibilities and potential of realism in art as expressive actions today.
Gong Yi (Guangzhou, China), The Weaving Realities (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), Susuo (Shanghai, China), Hole On The Wall, Seed of Memory, Three Stories, 51 Personae, 2025, © Gong Yi (Guangzhou, China), The Weaving Realities (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), Susuo (Shanghai, China)
Installation View of some of the publications of 51 Personae at BookBau Festival, Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe, Jan 31, 2025
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marielle, 51 Personae: Tarwewijk, 51 Personae & ook_, 2024, © marielle
51 Personae: Tarwewijk is a trilingual (Dutch, Chinese, English) booklet of writing and images, based on solitary walks through a small neighborhood in South Rotterdam.
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Gong Yi, Journey to Wenzhou, 51 Personae, 2024, © Gong Yi
Journey to Wenzhou explores anarchy and the concept of "de-production" through a dystopian future or alternate present, where chance, imagined consensus, supernatural forces, and disjointed fragments of life intertwine.
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