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Past Exhibitions

Browse the chronological list of past exhibitions at the Â鶹´«Ă˝ Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCRA), or search for a specific exhibition. Click “View” for more information about an exhibition. If you need further information about an exhibition, please contact us.

Miao Xiaochun: The Last Judgment in Cyberspace

Miao Xiaochun: The Last Judgment in Cyberspace

February 3, 2008 to May 18, 2008

Chinese artist Miao Xiaochun asked himself an interesting question: "How would Michelangelo’s The Last Judgment appear from behind?" To explore this premise, Miao Xiaochun rendered a 3-D digital model of his own body. Then he mapped this model onto all 400-plus of the figures in Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel painting, creating a virtual space according to the composition of the painting. From this virtual space he produced several large-scale digital C-print images of the scene from various vantage points, as well as a video in which the viewer "flies through" the painting. The artist describes it as "a visual and intellectual recreation of a different order—a two-dimensional representation is translated into a three-dimensional representation, a standard religious theme becomes the subject of personal speculation, a conclusion is turned into a question, a still canvas is made into active images, and an ancient work is taken as the site of a contemporary discourse."

Curator and art historian Wu Hung describes The Last Judgment in Cyberspace as a re-representation of an existing work of art. Contemporary digital and video technology allows contemporary artists to reflect upon and respond to earlier art forms, transforming paintings and sculptures into animated images with enhanced visual immediacy. Miao Xiaochun’s approach enables the viewer to enter Michelangelo’s painting as a participant, and allows one to adopt otherwise impossible viewing angles. This allows for imaginative play: what is the experience of judgment from the point of view of one of the blessed, or one of the damned, or one of the heavenly cohort?

Furthermore, new critical perspectives are introduced, both of Michelangelo’s painting, and of the questions about ultimate meaning it raises. Miao Xiaochun becomes all of the characters—the divine, the demonic, the saved, and the damned. The repeated use of the same model "automatically abandons the distinctions between high and low, left and right, good and evil, honorable and humble, east and west, ancient and modern," according to the artist. Miao Xiaochun leaves the figures in his "re-representation" in a relatively rough state, with an almost marble-like appearance. The C-prints and the video blend qualities of cutting-edge technology with sublime and apocalyptic imagery.

The Last Judgment in Cyberspace has been exhibited in Beijing, Berlin, and Chicago. MOCRA is only the second American venue for this pioneering work. MOCRA is grateful to the Walsh Gallery, Chicago, for its assistance in bringing this exhibition to St. Louis.


Artist Miao Xiaochun was born in Wuxi, Jiangsu, China in 1964. He has been featured in solo and group exhibitions worldwide, including shows in China, Korea, Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Presently he teaches in the Photography and Digital Media Department at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing.

Curator Wu Hung is the Harrie A. Vanderstappen Distinguished Service Professor in Chinese Art History at the University of Chicago, and Consulting Curator at the Smart Museum. His research interests include both traditional and contemporary fields and he has published several books in addition to numerous catalogue essays. He has curated major exhibitions of contemporary Chinese art.

What do the figures in Michelangelo’s Last Judgment ... see at this fatal moment? To Miao Xiaochun, to answer these questions means to enter the painting and to assume the varied gazes of the painted figures. | Wu Hung

above:
Installation view of Mia Xiaochun: The Last Judgment in Cyberspace at MOCRA, 2008. Photo by Jeffrey Vaughn.


Related programming

Wu Hung: What is Contemporary Chinese Art?


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People everywhere were captivated as Amanda Gorman delivered her poem The Hill We Climb on the steps of the Capitol on Inauguration Day. Her cascading cadences of imagery alluded to orators of the past but unequivocally asserted her own voice in addressing the present moment. A short phrase from...
Tom Kiefer: Pertenencias / Belongings

Tom Kiefer: Pertenencias / Belongings
September 03, 2021 to December 19, 2021

In July 2003, fine art photographer Tom Kiefer started working part-time as a janitor and groundskeeper at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing facility near Ajo, Arizona. In mid-2007, he was given permission to collect food confiscated from migrants and asylum seekers and donate it to...
Double Vision: Art from Jesuit University Collections

Double Vision: Art from Jesuit University Collections
February 16, 2022 to May 22, 2022

Three museums and seven centuries of art Double Vision: Art from Jesuit University Collections speaks to the unique role of art in Jesuit teaching as an instrument for finding meaning in life through imagination, feelings and reflection. The exhibition features 28 works ...
Lesley Dill: Dream World of the Forest

Lesley Dill: Dream World of the Forest
August 24, 2022 to October 16, 2022

MOCRA is pleased to present three new collage-paintings by Lesley Dill, an American artist who works at the intersection of language and fine art in sculpture, printmaking, installation and performance, exploring the power of words to cloak and reveal the psyche. Dill transforms the emotions of t...
Jordan Eagles: VIRAL\VALUE

Jordan Eagles: VIRAL\VALUE
October 26, 2022 to December 18, 2022

Medium and Message Jordan Eagles is the master of a most unlikely medium: blood. His signature preservation technique permanently retains the organic material’s natural colors, patterns, and textures. In recent years, he has produced works made with donated human bloo...
This Road Is the Heart Opening: Selections from the MOCRA Collection

This Road Is the Heart Opening: Selections from the MOCRA Collection
August 24, 2022 to December 18, 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic has illuminated harmful systemic inequities and our responsibility to name and respond to them. Simultaneously, we are recognizing the importance of attending to our own well-being in mind, body, and spirit, a holistic vision of human wellness that Ignatian spirituality refe...
Vicente Telles and Brandon Maldonado: Cuentos Nuevomexicanos

Vicente Telles and Brandon Maldonado: Cuentos Nuevomexicanos
March 19, 2023 to June 25, 2023

Engaging a Living Tradition Artists Vicente Telles and Brandon Maldonado are forging new links in the chain of the continuing story of the people of New Mexico. Telles is firmly rooted in the Santero tradition (the making of santos, or images of saints), w...
Open Hands: Crafting the Spiritual

Open Hands: Crafting the Spiritual
January 28, 2024 to May 19, 2024

Open Hands: Crafting the Spiritual assembles the work of six intergenerational artists from across the country who use everyday materials, found objects, and elements of craft production to explore issues related to faith and spirituality, personal and cultural identity, and tradition and ...
Selections from the MOCRA Collection

Selections from the MOCRA Collection
September 06, 2023 to December 17, 2023

Enjoy a look at some of the most popular works in the MOCRA collection, along with recent acquisitions and lesser known gems. In particular, we pay tribute to the late James Rosen (1933–2023). In a career spanning more than six decades, Rosen demonstrated a keen under...