Professional Documents
Culture Documents
China
Wu Hung
As a consequence of socio-economic Current fundamental changes taking place economy. However, it was only in the mid-
transformation, new types of exhibition in contemporary Chinese art are not limited 1990s when the consequences of this
spaces have appeared in China's cultural to art media and styles but also concern transformation were fully felt. Numerous
landscape. Wu Hung explores the social forms and channels of exhibitions. These private and joint-venture businesses have
basis of these changes and reviews the concerns reflect a new direction for overwhelmed state enterprise; money, not
rapidly evolving system which has led to a Chinese experimental art towards normal- Communist ideology, has become the
great variety of possibilities for presenting ization and systematization. Instead of mover of social progress. Major cities such
experimental art. As he examines the issues pursuing a social revolution, independent as Beijing and Shanghai have been
behind each type of exhibition space, we curators and avant-garde artists have reshaped, showing off their newly gained
witness the interplay of complex social and become more interested in building up a global confidence with glimmering shop-
artistic relationships and its role in social basis that would guarantee regular ping complexes and five-star hotels.
expanding the influence of experimental exhibitions of experimental art and reduce Changes have also taken place in people's
art in a changing society that is China interference from the political authorities. A lifestyle. While private real estate was
today. Distinguished professor of Chinese number of factors in Chinese art have abolished during the Cultural Revolution,
Art History at the Department of Fine Arts, encouraged this interest: the deepening the most popular commercial items these
University of Chicago since 1994, Wu globalization of Chinese experimental art; days are houses and apartments. Holly-
Hung holds an M.A. in Art History from a crisis in the official exhibition system; the wood films have conquered Chinese
the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing appearance of new types of exhibition cinemas; fashion shows and beauty
(1980) and a Ph.D. in Art History and space as a consequence of China's socio- pageants are ranked among the most
Anthropology from Harvard University economic transformation; and the emerg- popular television programmes. Although
(1987). Among his books covering the pre- ence of independent curators and their the government still insists on the Com-
modern period are: Monumentality in Early growing influence on the development of munist ideology, in many people's minds, a
Chinese Art and Architecture, which was contemporary art. These factors all interact, final giving way of this ideology is only a
nominated as one of the `the Best Books of contributing to new kinds of exhibitions matter of time. Generally speaking, China
the 1990s' in Artforum, and selected by that have been planned to expand existing in 2001 is no longer a socialist monolith, but
Choices as `Outstanding Academic exhibition spaces and to forge new a huge mixture of old and new, feudal and
Publication' in 1996; Three Thousand exhibition channels.2 post-modern, excitement and anxiety. The
Years of Chinese Paintings of which he was country's future will depend on the out-
the co-author and for which he received come of negotiation between conflicting
the Haskin Award in 1998 from the Socio-economic conditions of new social forces.
Association of American Publishers. His exhibition spaces
publications on modern and contemporary These words also describe the current
art issues include: Remaking Beijing: The advocates of these new types of situation of art exhibitions in China:
Tiananmen Square and the Creation of exhibitions believe that China's socio- important progress is definitely taking
Political Space (London, Reaction Books), economic transformation has created and place, but the government is far from
and, as editor, A New Beginning: Chinese continues to create new social sectors and ready to give up its pre-eminent role in
Art of 2000 (Beijing, Chinese-art.com). As spaces which can be exploited for this area. In China, any art exhibition is
chief curator, he is working on the developing experimental art. It is now defined first of all by its physical location.
forthcoming Chinese Art of the 90s: A possible to develop a new exhibition My survey of current exhibition spaces of
Retrospective (The First Guangshou system because of these new conditions experimental art has yielded the following
Documenta Exhibition, Guangzhou in the country. classification.3
Provincial Museum ± November 2002),
and, as co-curator, on Art of Mu Xin: This transformation started in the 1970s and
Landscape Paintings and Prison Notes, also 1980s, soon after the Cultural Revolution Spaces for public exhibitions (or `open'
a forthcoming exhibition at the Yale was over, when the post-Cultural exhibitions) of experimental art
University Art Museum and Smart Museum Revolution generation of Chinese leaders
of Art, University of Chicago.1 made a dramatic turn to develop a capitalist Licensed exhibition spaces:
ISSN 1350-0775, Museum International (UNESCO, Paris), No. 211 (Vol. 53, No. 3, 2001) 19
ß UNESCO 2001
Published by Blackwell Publishers, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1JF (UK) and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148 (USA)
Wu Hung
• Major national and municipal galleries The main exhibition channels of experi-
(e.g. the National Art Gallery in Beijing, mental art in the early 1990s ± the period
the Shanghai Art Museum, the He immediately after the crackdown on the
Xiangning Art Gallery in Shenzhen). June 4th Movement ± were private or
• Smaller galleries affiliated with univer- closed shows, whose audience were
sities and art schools (e.g. the Capital mainly artists themselves, their friends,
Normal University Art Gallery and the and foreigners. Terms such as `apartment
Contemporary Art Gallery in Beijing). art' and `embassy art' were invented to
• Semi-official art galleries (e.g. the Yan- characterize these shows. Starting from
huang Art Gallery in Beijing, the Art 1993, however, exhibitions began to be
Gallery of Beijing International Art held in various public spaces. Commercial
Palace, and the Chengdu Contemporary galleries started to appear, and some of
Art Gallery). them supported experimental art projects
• Versatile exhibition halls in public that were not aimed at financial return.
spaces (e.g. the Main Hall of the former Some university galleries became major
Imperial Ancestral Temple in Beijing). sites of experimental art, mainly because
their directors took the role of supporting
Privately owned galleries and exhibition this art upon themselves. Sympathizers of
halls: experimental art also emerged in state-run
exhibition entreprises.
• Commercial galleries (e.g. the Courtyard
Gallery, the Red Gate Gallery, and the Although many `private' or `closed'
Wan Fung Art Gallery in Beijing). exhibitions still exist, greater effort has
• Non-commercial galleries and exhibi- been made to organize experimental art
tion halls (e.g. the Upriver Art Gallery in exhibitions in public spaces over the past
Chengdu and Taida Art Gallery in three years. Following this general direc-
Tianjin).4 tion, independent curators may work with
licensed `official' or `semi-official' exhibi-
Public, non-exhibition spaces: tion spaces, and try to convert their
directors into supporters of experimental
• Open spaces (e.g. streets, subway art. Alternatively, they may devote their
stations, parks, etc.). energy to help privately owned exhibition
• Commercial spaces (e.g. shopping spaces to develop interesting pro-
malls, bars, supermarkets, etc.). grammes. A third strategy is to use `non-
• Mass media and virtual space (e.g. exhibition' spaces to bring experimental
television, newspapers and websites). art to the public in a more flexible manner.
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Reinventing Exhibition Spaces in China
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Wu Hung
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Reinventing Exhibition Spaces in China
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ß Wu Hung, University of Chicago Media Centre, Audiovisual Department Wu Hung
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Reinventing Exhibition Spaces in China
the space. Only because the latter sees Chinese Experimental Art at the End of the
benefit from the proposed exhibition ± Twentieth Century, pp. 13±16, Chicago, The
the prospect of bringing in more David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, 1999.
customers or gaining the image of being Generally speaking, this art is defined by its
a `cultured' businessman ± could the `border' position in relation to four other
negotiation reach a happy conclusion. major traditions in contemporary art, namely:
On the part of the curator, however, this (a) official art; (b) academic art; (c) popular
negotiation is approached as an integral urban visual culture; and (d) an `international'
component of the experiment, because commercial art. Experimental art is motivated
only through this process can a by the desire to break away from the visual
commercial space be transformed into a modes and ideology of these four traditions.
public exhibition space.
3. I should emphasize that this survey only
I have called these shows `experimental covers spaces that have been used for
exhibitions' because their focus of experimental art exhibitions in recent years.
experimentation has shifted from the Thus the varieties listed here do not represent
content of the exhibition to the exhibition all types of exibition space in China.
itself: its site, form and function.7 Issues
about these aspects of exhibitions loom 4. It is important to note that the `non-profit'
large in present-day China because of an status of these galleries is defined by their
increasing conflict between a rapidly owners, who fund the galleries and their
developing experimental art and a back- activities by using part of their business
ward, decaying system of art exhibition. income. A gallery in this category usually does
An exhibition of experimental art in not have an independent licence, and should
present-day China is therefore always a be considered a `non-profit' enterprise within
complex social and artistic phenomenon. a larger licensed `business for profit' (qiye in
Instead of simply displaying a group of art Chinese) sector.
works in a public or private space, it is a
heavily contested social event which 5. Shanghai Art Museum, Announcement of
implies the interplay of interconnected Shanghai Biennale 2000, Shanghai, Shanghai
social relationships, offering advocates of Art Museum, 1999.
experimental art a powerful means to
expand their influence in a rapidly 6. These are the Upriver Art Gallery in
changing society. ■ Chendu, the Taida Art Gallery in Tianjin, and
the Dongyu Museum of Fine Arts in
Shenyang. Among them, the Dongyu Museum
Notes focuses more on building up a private
collection of contemporary Chinese art. See
1. For a fuller discussion of the issues touched Robert Bernell, `Interview with Wang Yigang,
upon in this article, see Wu Hung, Exhibiting Managing Director of the Dong Yu Museum
Experimental Art in China, Chicago, The of Fine Arts in Shenyang', Chinese Type
David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, 2000. Contemporary Art Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 3,
May/June 1999, pp. 19±22.
2. For a full discussion of the concept of
`experimental art', see Wu Hung, Transience: 7. See Wu Hung, op. cit., pp. 12±17.
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