COLUMBIA ART HISTORY Summer 2020 COLUMBIA JOURNAL of ART HISTORY Summer 2020 The Columbia Journal of Art History May 2020 Volume 2, No. 1 Published by the Columbia Art History Initiative New York, New York Art demolishes the walls between people - Subodh Kerkar Katherine Ko Co-Editor-in-Chief, Founder Clara Maria Apostolatos Co-Editor-in-Chief Noah Percy Lead Editor, Publisher Yasemin Aykan Lead Editor Assistant Editors Brianna Schmidt Amiee Morris Jung Kim Han Wen Zhang Sophia Fung Cover Illustration Trinity Lester A Letter from the Editorial Board Dear Readers, With this issue, we are excited to officially distribute our first independent publication of the Co- lumbia Journal of Art History. We are immensely grateful to our editors for all their hard work in assembling this issue, particularly in light of the COVID-19 developments which abruptly disrupted our time at Columbia and displaced us across the globe. We are incredibly proud of how our editors and authors were able to work through these unexpected challenges, coming together virtually to support each other and create the best edition yet. This year we published six scholarly works covering a range of topics in the art history field, includ- ing the conservation of ephemeral art, iconoclasm in early Islam, and Shanzhai ‘counterfeit’ culture in contempo- rary China. Chosen from a record high number of submissions, these essays were selected for their depth, rigor, and breadth in exploring artworks from a variety of time periods and regions. Read together, they help paint a picture of the different methodologies and areas of research within the field. Additionally, we are also proud to display the work of CC’20 Art History and Visual arts double major Trinity Lester on our cover. This volume inaugurates a tradition of showcasing works by emerging student artists along with the art history research of their peers. We hope you enjoy these essays as much as we did. Once again, congratulations to our authors and thank you for your hard work. Happy Reading, Katherine, Clara, Noah and Yasemin CONTENTS Zhengqi (Ian) Li 4 The Two Faces of Shanzhai— UC Berkeley ‘19 Deceit and Rebellion: Transforming Intellectual Property Rights in China Through Shanzhai Art Sophie Richard 17 Two Truths and a Lie Smith College ‘20 Iconoclasm in Early Islam: The Case of Christian Churches in Jordan Cecilia Mou 33 Virtual Pilgrimage University College London ‘21 Through the Senses in Medieval Manuscripts Amelia Griese 45 Time’s Up Virginia Tech ‘19 Artist’s Intentions and the Ethics of Preserving Ephemeral Art Yixuan Doris Tang 60 Mirroring Tales of the Boudoir Smith College ‘21 Painting Women in Gardens in the Chinese Southern Song Dynasty Solène Hababou 76 The End is in Sight St. Andrews ‘21 Representations of Death in Robert Mapplethorpe’s Late Self-portraits The Two Faces of Shanzhai— Deceit and Rebellion Transforming Intellectual Property Rights in China Through Shanzhai Art Zhengqi (Ian) Li Abstract This paper works into the “play” between reductive notions of fake and real, fraudulent and legitimate, and deceit and rebellion. By focusing on one unauthorized, fraudulent exhibition, titled “草间弥生&村上隆艺术作品双 联展” (YAYOI KUSAMA X MURAKAMI TAKASHI Collection JOINT ART EXHIBITION Wuhan Station), in Wuhan, China, this paper speculates as to whether the unauthorized joint exhibition signifies more than a blatant, crude plagiarism, copyright infringement, and financial fraud. Could this exhibition, in fact, be considered a sophisticatedly organized, avant-garde conceptual performance, which not only critiques the hegemonic artistic norms and the globalizing IPR regime, but is also subsumed under and wea- ponized as a state narrative in order to make national progress in contempo- rary post-socialist China? This paper investigates the ways in which this phenomenon chal- lenges the prevailing legal norms regarding artistic creativity and intellectual property rights (IPRs), and thus reconsiders the shanzhai culture—or the counterfeit/piracy culture—in contemporary China. This paper explores Figure 1: “草间弥生&村上隆艺术作品双联展” (YAYOI KUSAMA X MURAKAMI TAKASHI Collec- tion JOINT ART EXHIBITION Wuhan Station) was held at 东原乐见城 (Wuhan Dongyuan Lejian City), a real estate sales office in Wuhan, Hubei Province, the People’s Republic of China, from May 26, 2018 to June 9, 2018. The theme of this joint exhibition is “为热爱, 而活!” (“Live for Love”). Images @ 荆楚网 (Cnhubei Co,.Ltd.). Columbia Journal of Art History 5 whether any global treaty, convention, principle, value, or moral is viable, when each context or nation-state is neither fixed nor identical. Ultimately, this paper asks is it perhaps that values, norms, or forms are constantly un- der negotiation, and shanzhai is part of such negotiation, rather than being simply fraudulent? Overall, by acknowledging shanzhai as an iconoclastic socio- cultural practice, which reveals the deconstructive and collective dynamic of creativity that is in direct opposition to the kind of creativity espoused under the global regime of IPR, this paper aims to present an alternative model of understanding and conceptualizing the notions of shanzhai in contemporary China within the global context. Introduction: The Yayoi Kusama–Takashi Murakami Joint Exhibition as Shanzhai Deceit Starting in November 2017 and up to as recently as October 2018, a series of exhibitions titled “草间弥生×村上隆双联展” (The Yayoi Kusama–Ta- kashi Murakami Joint Exhibition) were held in multiple cities across China, including Shenzhen, Qingdao, Wuhan, Tianjin, Shanghai, Changsha, and Guangzhou, and were billed online as a joint production by Japanese artists Yayoi Kusama and Takashi Murakami. However, the entire exhibition series was “fake.” On November 2, 2018, the Yayoi Kusama Foundation issued a press release; an investigation by the Foundation revealed that forgeries of Kusama’s artworks had been exhibited at these unauthorized exhibitions without the permission of the artist or the Foundation.1 Yoshifumi Onodera, Kusama’s attorney, declared that neither Kusama nor Murakami had any involvement in the exhibitions, and that the displayed works were believed to be fakes.2 The Foundation condemned the actions of the unidentified organizers of these exhibitions. According to Akira Tatehata, the Director of the Yayoi Kusama Museum, forged artworks and fraudulent exhibitions of an avant-garde artist with such international recognition were “a serious infringement of the artist’s copyright,” and such actions have also caused significant damage to “the international brand and reputation” of Kusama.3 The Foundation concluded that “these dishonest acts are a violation of public morals and decency of a notably malicious nature, and are a contemptible transgression of the originality and copyrights of all artists.”4 In the aftermath of the press release, 1 Yayoi Kusama Foundation, "Declaration against Exhibitions of Forged Yayoi Kusama Works," press release, November 2, 2018, Yayoi Kusama Foundation, http://yayoi-kusama.jp/ pdf/181102/02nov2018_kusamafoundation_declaration_en.pdf. 2 Sayuri Kodama, "Fake Yayoi Kusama and Takashi Murakami Exhibits Pop up in China," Nikkei Asian Review, October 24, 2018, https://asia.nikkei.com/Life-Arts/Arts/Fake-Yayoi- Kusama-and-Takashi-Murakami-exhibits-pop-up-in-China. 3 Yayoi Kusama Foundation, "Declaration against Exhibitions of Forged Yayoi Kusama Works." 4 Ibid. 6 Li, The Two Faces of Shanzhai both Kusama and Murakami were considering legal action against the par- ties involved. Kusama’s attorneys have already shut down the exhibitions in Shanghai and Changsha, which both began in mid-September 2018, and plan to pursue civil and criminal action once they identify the parties re- sponsible. Meanwhile, Hiroshi Kamiyama, Murakami’s attorney, concurred with Kusama that “this is extremely malicious, and we are considering a similar response.”5 Intellectual property rights (IPRs) have been acknowledged and protected in China since 1979. However, it was not until 1992 that China formally enacted an intellectual property law and became a signatory mem- ber of the Berne Convention.6 In 2001, China became a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and engaged in the TRIPS agreement.7 However, despite the Chinese government’s continuous attempts to crack down on IPR offenses, in recent years, the spectacular rise of China as a “fak- ing nation” is often mystified in ahistorical, essentialist claims about China’s “cultural tendency” to violate IPRs.8 To be sure, I do not aim to voice an assumption of unity in con- temporary Chinese culture. By focusing on one unauthorized, fraudulent exhibition in Wuhan, I speculate as to whether the joint exhibition signifies more than a blatant, crude plagiarism, copyright infringement, and financial fraud. Could this exhibition, in fact, be considered a sophisticatedly orga- nized, avant-garde conceptual performance, which not only critiques the he- gemonic artistic norms and the globalizing IPR regime, but is also subsumed under and weaponized as a state narrative in order to make national progress in contemporary post-socialist China? In this paper, I investigate the ways in which this phenomenon challenges the prevailing legal norms regarding artistic creativity and IPRs, and thus reconsiders the shanzhai culture—or the counterfeit/piracy cul- ture—in contemporary China. I explore whether any global treaty, conven- tion, principle, value, or moral is viable, when each context or nation-state is neither fixed nor identical. Ultimately, I ask is it perhaps