JUNE 2005 SUMMER ISSUE INSIDE Dialogue with Hans Ulrich Obrist and Huo Hanru on the 2nd Guangzhou Triennial On Curating Cruel/Loving Bodies The Yellow Box: Thoughts on Art before the Age of Exhibitions Interviews with Michael Lin and Hu Jieming From Iconic to Symbolic: Ah Xian’s Semiotic Interface Between China and the West Place and Displace: Three Generations of Taiwanese Art US$12.00 NT$350.00 US$10.00 NT$350.00 Editor’s Note Contributors : Opening remarks Richard Vinograd p. 7 Re-Placing Contemporary Chinese Art Richard Vinograd Remarks Michael Sullivan : Prodigal Sons: Chinese Artists Return to the Homeland Melissa Chiu Between Truth and Fiction: Notes on Fakes, Copies and Authenticity in Contemporary Chinese Art Pauline J. Yao Ink Painting in the Contemporary Chinese Art World Shen Kuiyi Remarks p. 12 Richard Vinograd : Reflections on the First Chinese Art Seminar/Workshop, San Diego 1991 Zheng Shengtian Between the Worlds: Chinese Art at Biennials Since 1993 John Clark Between Scylla and Charybdis: The New Context of Chinese Contemporary Art and Its Creation since 2000 Pi Li Remarks: “Whose Stage Is It, Anyway?” Reflections on the Correlation of “Beauty” and International Exhibition Practices of Chinese Contemporary Art p. 83 Francesca Dal Lago : How Western People Support/Influence Contemporary Chinese Art Zhou Tiehai The Positioning of Chinese Contemporary Artworks in the International Art Market Uli Sigg Chinese Contemporary Art: At the Margin of the American Mainstream Jane Debevoise Remarks Britta Erickson p. 93 Artist Project: Zhou Tiehai WILL On the Edge Visiting Artists Program Britta Erickson On the Spot: The Stanford Visiting Artists Program Pauline J. Yao Review of On the Edge: Contemporary Chinese Artists Encounter the West Qing Pan Acknowledgements Exhibitions Listings p. 101 Chinese Name Index Editor’s Note YISHU: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art Volume 4, Number 2, June 2005 Yishu 13 has taken a somewhat different direction Katy Hsiu-chih Chien from past issues. It is the first time a complete Ken Lum issue has been devoted to a single theme. Keith Wallace While we don't foresee this happening with any Zheng Shengtian Julie Grundvig regularity in the future, the conference Kate Steinmann “Displacements: Transcultural Encounters in Larisa Broyde Contemporary Chinese Art” was both timely and Joyce Lin worthy of such attention. Judy Andrews, Ohio State University John Clark, University of Sydney “Displacements” was organized by Britta Erickson Lynne Cooke, Dia Art Foundation and Richard Vinograd in conjunction with the Okwui Enwezor, Art Institute of Chicago Britta Erickson, Independent Scholar & Curator exhibition On the Edge: Contemporary Chinese Fan Di'an, Central Academy of Fine Arts Fei Dawei, Guy & Mariam Ullens Foundation Artists Encounter the West held at the Iris and Gao Minglu, New York State University B. Gerald Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University. Hou Hanru, Independent Curator & Critic Katie Hill, University of Westminster The conference brought together a provocative Martina Köppel-Yang, Independent Critic & Historian Sebastian Lopez, Gate Foundation & Leiden University mix of scholars, artists, curators, and collectors Lu Jie, Independent Curator to discuss the position of contemporary Chinese Charles Merewether, Australian National University Ni Tsaichin, Tunghai University artists in the increasingly globalized world of the Apinan Poshyananda, Ministry of Culture, Thailand Chia Chi Jason Wang, Independent Critic & Curator twenty-first century, and, in particular, their Wu Hung, University of Chicago relationship to the West. Art & Collection Group Ltd. Leap Creative Group During the past fifteen years the discourse Raymond Mah around contemporary Chinese art has taken place Gavin Chow Jeremy Lee outside of China, especially after the migration of relaITconsulting, Vancouver numerous artists to other parts of the world Chong-yuan Image Ltd., Taipei where they were able to both freely make art - without the threat of censorship and to develop Yishu is published quarterly in Taipei, Taiwan and edited in successful careers. Today, with the increasing, Vancouver, Canada. The publishing dates of Yishu are March, indeed, seemingly enthusiastic acceptance of June, September and December. contemporary art by the Chinese government, Editorial inquiries and manuscripts may be sent to the Editorial Office: that discourse is now returning home. This is a Yishu 410-650 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC situation unparalleled in any other country at any Canada V6B 4N8 other time. It is an issue that has been simmering Phone: 1.604.649.8187; Fax: 1.604.591.6392 E-mail: [email protected] below the surface, but rarely outrightly discussed. [email protected] With “Diplacements” that discussion has been Subscription inquiries may be sent to either Vancouver address put into motion. or Hawaii: Journals Department University of Hawai’i Press 2840 Kolowalu Street, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA The staff of Yishu would like to thank Britta Phone: 1.808.956.8833; Fax: 1.808.988.6052 Erickson for suggesting this idea and for all her E-mail: [email protected] help in preparing material for this issue. Thanks The University of Hawai’i Press accepts payment by Visa or Mastercard, cheque or money order (in U.S. dollars). also to the speakers who agreed to have their Advertising inquiries may be sent to either Vancouver address presentations published. The conference papers or Taiwan: are accompanied by an artist project by Zhou Art & Collection Ltd. 6F. No.85, Section 1, Chungshan N. Road, Taipei, Taiwan 104 Teihai, a review of On the Edge visiting artists Phone: (886) 2.2560.2220; Fax: (886) 2.2542.0631 E-mail: [email protected] residencies by Pauline J. Yao, and a review of the exhibition On the Edge by Qing Pan. Additional www.yishujournal.com thanks to Kristen L. Olson (Educational Services No part of this journal may be published without the written permission from the publisher. Coordinator Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Subscription rates: one year: US $48; two years: US $86 Visual Arts) and Damon Palermo for transcriptions. We thank Mr. Milton Wong, Mr. Daoping Bao, Paystone Technologies Corp., Raymond Mah, and the Leap Creative Group for their generous support. Cover: Michael Lin, Three on the Bund 29.09-15.11.04-2004, skaters on emulsion on Keith Wallace wood. Courtesy of Shanghai Gallery of Art. MELISSA CHIU is Museum Director and Curator of Contemporary Art at the Asia Society Museum in New York. She has taught at Rhode Island School of Design and was recently awarded a Getty Curatorial Research Fellowship. Ms. Chiu has curated exhibitions over the last ten years that included artists from Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, China, Hawaii, and the United States, and has published widely on contemporary art in journals, magazines, and exhibition catalogues. She is also currently Guest Editor for The Grove Dictionary of Art update on Asian contemporary art published by Oxford University Press. JOHN CLARK,FAHA, CIHA, is Professor in Art History at the University of Sydney. Among his books is Modern Asian Art (Honolulu, University of Hawai'i Press, 1998). His recent work includes two book drafts: Modernities of Chinese Art and Modernities compared: Chinese and Thai Art in the 1980s and 1990s.From 2004-2006 he is working on the new Biennales in Asia under an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant. JANE DEBEVOISE is a PhD candidate in contemporary Chinese art at the University of Hong Kong. Prior to moving to Hong Kong, Ms. DeBevoise was Deputy Director of the Guggenheim Museum, responsible for museum operations and exhibitions globally. She joined the Museum in 1996 as Project Director of China: 5000 Years that was presented in 1998 at both the Guggenheim Museum New York and Bilbao. Ms. DeBevoise is a Trustee of China Institute in New York and a member of the Board of Directors of Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong. FRANCESCA DAL LAGO is a scholar in modern and contemporary Chinese art. She holds a B.A. in Chinese studies from the University of Venice and an M.A. in Art History from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, where she is about to defend her Ph.D. on visual popularization and early propaganda forms in the PRC during the 1930s and 1940s. For three years she taught Chinese modern and contemporary art history at McGill University, Montreal. Dal Lago has published scholarly and critical articles on various aspect of Chinese art and visual culture in publications such as The Art Journal, Time Magazine, East Asian History, and was the editor for the visual art section of the recently published Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture,Routdlege, 2005. She now resides in Italy where she is affiliated with the Department of East Asian Studies, Venice University. BRITTA ERICKSON is an independent scholar and curator who focuses on contemporary Chinese art, publishes and lectures internationally. In 2001, she curated the exhibition Word Play: Contemporary Art by Xu Bing for the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington, D.C., and was curator for On the Edge: Contemporary Chinese Artists Encounter the West at Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University where she has also lectured. KUIYI SHEN is Associate Professor of Art History at University of California, San Diego. He is the author and co-author of numerous books, exhibition catalogues, and articles on modern and contemporary Chinese art, including A Century in Crisis: Tradition and Modernity in the Art of Twentieth Century China (1998); The Thunder and the Rain: Chinese Paintings from the Opium War to the Cultural Revolution (2000); Word and Meaning: Six Contemporary Chinese Artists (2000); Chongqing Chilis (2003); and Zhou Brothers: 30 Years of Collabration (2004). Among the exhibitions he has curated, are A Century in Crisis: Tradition and Modernity in the Art of Twentieth Century China, and the modern section of China: 5000 Years, held at the Guggenheim Museums in New York and Bilbao in 1998.