The Art Fair Age in Chinese (Beijing: China Youth Press, 2012) (original) (raw)

Experimental Beijing Gender and Globalization in Chinese Contemporary Art

Experimental Beijing Gender and Globalization in Chinese Contemporary Art

Throughout the many years it has taken me to research and write this book, the list of people to whom I am indebted has grown in ways I could never have imagined at the outset. The traces of their intellect, imagination, generosity, and care weave through every aspect of what appears in these pages. I am humbled by the collective e ort that has sustained this endeavor and more aware than ever that knowledge and creativity are never singular pursuits. I, alone, remain responsible for any errors. First and foremost, I thank all of the art world participants-artists, assistants, teachers, students, curators, critics, and gallerists-who shared their lives and work with me, including those whose names and images appear in this book, as well as many others. I appreciate their generosity in time and spirit, often o ered before they could know I might be deserving of their trust. Those who responded with criticism and circumspection deepened my thinking and ethical commitments. Beyond those named within the text, I extend thanks to the following individuals. Song Changqing first opened my eyes. Chen Xi, Cui Xiuwen, Daozi, Feng Jiali, Lei Shuang, Tao Yongbai, and Yuan Yaomin guided my early inquiry. Zhang Zhaohui collaborated on interviews and invited me to review exhibits. Zheng Lianjie, Wei Shanghe, and Zha Ba included me as interlocutor in many memorable activities.

The Chinese photobook: publishing as an ellipsis in Chinese art history

The Centre: On Art and Urbanism in China, 2019

Book chapter in 'The Centre: On Art and Urbanism in China'. Presenting a collection of newly commissioned texts that examine modes of creative production, exhibition, curating, collecting and urban transformation, against a backdrop of critical perspectives on the historical moment and speculative futures. This volume features a range of key Chinese practitioners working today across art, design and architecture, and acts as an entry point to ongoing engagement with contemporary China. Edited by Annika Aitken, Simon Maidment, Ewan McEoin and Megan Patty. ISBN: 9781925432688

Officializing the Unofficial: Presenting New Chinese Art

Modern Chinese Literature and Culture

This essay examines the artistic, historical and political significance of the first Chinese Pavilion established by the Chinese government for the renowned international art exhibition, the Venice Biennale, in 2003. It analyzes the process behind and the content of this Pavilion, the complexity and meanings of showing only contemporary media–installation and video art–in this national project, and the political and cultural motivations behind the government’s interest to play an active role in the international art world. The essay traces the history of Chinese participation in the Venice Biennale and positions the establishment of the Chinese Pavilion as a significant turning point regarding the new development of Chinese official art. First, the cultural authorities adopted the standard curatorial practice for recent international exhibitions by empowering a few art experts as curators to take full charge of this important national project. Second, the Pavilion exclusively displayed art works made of contemporary media, which were banned from public exhibition spaces in the 1990s, and by doing so it granted a legitimate status to contemporary art in China. Finally, all art works exhibited in the Chinese Pavilion were conceptually charged experimental works focusing on themes such as uncertainty, alienation, and fragmentation, feelings inflicted by China’s rapid social transformation. All these indicate a significant change in terms of the official attitude and perception about contemporary art, a change that can be understood as the officialization of contemporary art. The author discusses the meaning and nature of this change in light of new cultural strategies invented by the Chinese authorities to accommodate the changing political, economic, and international conditions.