Neobiota. Fragmente des Missverstehens: / Fragments of Misunderstanding: Peking

»Day 021. The view from the window: Berlin-Marzahn in November. Outside temperature: 39 degrees« note the artists Christine de la Garenne and Via Lewandowsky three weeks into their 120-day stay in Beijing. In the context of their »Neobiota« project they observe themselves and everyday life in China with a special eye for the other. The results are 120 photographs – poetic snapshots of a society in transition that also reflect the photographers’ own process of adaption to a foreign culture. Ironic quips, critical comments, and humorous asides by the artists accompany the images. Texts by the writer Durs Grünbein, Sinologist Barbara Mittler, curator Carol (Yinghua) Lu, and art historian Gregor Jansen illuminate the project from a range of different perspectives. Cultural investigation and archiving, artistic and research-based exploration, West and East all come together in this unusual art and artists’ book.