[Qiu Zhijie, “Map of Utopia,” 2012. Courtesy of the artist] Prompts & Triggers, Qiu Zhijie, Blueprints (2012) :: June 28 – August 19, 2012 :: Opening: June 28; 5:00 – 8:00 pm :: Witte de With | Center for Contemporary Art, Witte de Withstraat 50, 3012 BR Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

For the second edition of Prompts & Triggers, Qiu Zhijie (b. 1969, Fujian), one of China’s most versatile artists, draws from major political and historical narratives to produce large-scale, ink-based maps. From Confucianism to Enlightenment, Qiu Zhijie charts new paths, centers, nodes, and relationships, scrutinizing the mutable boundaries that outline histories of world thought. The concepts on which Qiu Zhijie bases the series of mappings of the contemporary world are summarized in the maps titled Map of 21st century, Map of Utopia, Map of Total Art, Map of Chinese History, Map of Nanjing Yangzi River, and Map of Spirit Renew. These maps also form the departure point for the 9th Shanghai Biennale, with ‘Reactivation and Energy Collection’ as its central theme. Blueprints is presented as part of Prompts & Triggers — a series of propositions by visual artists that activate reflections on the defense lines on the European continent and enables possibilities for comparative readings from across the globe.