Rewind five years and imagine Sydney’s gallery scene without White Rabbit. It’s tough.
This tenth exhibition of the contemporary Chinese art gallery revolves around the idea of reformation — the succession of a new wave, the establishment of fresh ideas, a complete overhaul of the old ways of doing and thinking. White Rabbit’s shows rotate different parts of the Neilson family’s private collection, which includes Ai Weiwei’s huge mound of tiny ceramic sunflower seeds, and Shi Zhiying’s oil painting of an all-consuming, horizonless, grey-scale ocean, High Seas.
The gallery consistently minimises the ‘shrug factor’ — that moment upon entering a gallery, glazed-eyed, when you have no idea how to engage with the work. White Rabbit doesn’t replace the shrug factor with shock factor, it just curates some of the most adventurous contemporary artists working in China and smashing together the political and the personal, history and present, today.
White Rabbit's biannual opening parties are famous and a famously good time (as long as you don't mind a crush of people). Be prepared to queue, preferably well before 6pm.
Reformation is one of the five blockbuster art shows we're most looking forward to this year. Check out the rest here.