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His installation in 2007, Shanghart Supermarket, is a replica of a Shanghai convenience store fully stocked with packaging that have been emptied of their contents, yet sold at the original price.

"Since the early 2000s, Xu Zhen, with his unique combination of skepticism, action, contemplation and involvement, has produced some of the most compelling and self-knowing art contemporary China has ever seen," says UCCA director Philip Tinari, who co-curated the exhibition.

Xu attended Shanghai Arts and Crafts Institute as a teenager. When he graduated in 1996, he decided to move to Beijing, to mingle with a new art circle.

"I couldn't see myself spending my life painting from a model in a school," Xu once said in an interview. Instead of making artworks, he made friends with musicians and poets in school. When he moved back to Shanghai a year later, he worked in design companies to earn a living.

In 1998, he co-founded the independent, nonprofit BizArt Art Center with a young Italian artist Davide Quadrio. It was the first organization of its kind in Shanghai. In 2006, he helped initiate the online contemporary art forum, Art-Ba-Ba, which is one of China's leading Web platforms to discuss and criticize contemporary art.

"Many people tend to compare China's contemporary art scene with that of the West, which gives analyses and conclusions about the problems of China's contemporary art scene. I don't agree. Because of different history and culture, China's contemporary art scene grows in its own way. It does have problems, and it's good to force Chinese artists to think and figure out ways to survive," he says.

Now, as the head of MadeIn, Xu directs about 30 employees working in such areas as research and development, artistic production and archives. He says the identity transition from an independent artist to a commercial company boss is very helpful and inspiring for him.

"When I jumped out of the art system in China, I saw many more possibilities. New directions and ideas keep coming up, which reaffirm my decision to end my career as an independent artist," Xu says.

In 2014, MadeIn will launch a few new projects, including opening a gallery and a museum.

IF YOU GO

The exhibition, Xu Zhen: A MadeIn Company Production, will open on Jan 19 at UCCA. 798 Art District, 4 Jiuxianqiao Lu (Road), Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-5780-0200.

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