DECEMBER 2006 WINTER ISSUE INSIDE Singapore and Shanghai Biennales Documenta 12 Magazines Special Feature on Education Interviews with Fumio Nanjo, Liu Dahong, Samuel Kung, Cao Fei Features on Hang Rui, Liu Ding, Cao Fei, Xu Jiang US$12.00 NT$350.00 Editor’s Note 4 Contributors igapre ad shaghai biennales 7 A Tale of Two Biennales: Singapore and Shanghai p. 10 Joe Martin Hill 18 Interview with Fumio Nanjo, Artistic Director of the Singapore Biennale Susan Kendzulak 21 The Undesignable Zhang Qing documenta 12 magazines special faur on duaion 28 Who is the Next Freshman in Art and Culture? The New Trend in Graduate Programs in Art and Culture in Taiwan Wu Yin-Hui and Yu Wie p. 25 38 Dialogue: Dispute over the “Dumped” Graduation Theses of Twelve Students in the Oil Painting Class of Art Institute of Shanghai Normal University Ma Jun faure ariles 48 Interview with Samuel Kung, Chairman and Director, Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai Zheng Shengtian 56 Mao, Money, and Censorship After the “Domestic Turn” in Beijing’s Art World Ling-yun Tang 69 Eager Paintings, Empathetic Products: Liu Ding’s Critical p. 44 Complicity David Spalding 73 Realities and Other Absurdities: A Conversation with Cao Fei Joni Low 82 Heroes of the Mundane: The Syncretic Imagination of Cao Fei Maya Kóvskaya 86 Crossing the East/West Divide: On the Art of Xu Jiang Edward Lucie-Smith rviw p. 82 89 No Matter from Which Side, It Is Still Possible To See: A Review of Karen Smith’s Nine Lives: The Birth of Avant- Garde Art in New China Paul Gladston 94 Symphony of Riddles: Wu Shanzhuan: Red Humour International Joni Low 98 A Short Review of From Reality to Fantasy: The Art of Luis Chan Lai Mei- Lin 103 Hong Lei at Chambers Fine Art Jonathan Goodman p. 96 Editor’s Note YISHU: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art Volume 5, Number 4, December 2006 With biennales and triennales becoming so Katy Hsiu-chih Chien pervasive, in Asia as much as anywhere else, fu r Ken Lum the challenge to debut a new entry into the r Keith Wallace arena is no easy task. Singapore introduced its r Zheng Shengtian first biennale in September 2006, and following a r Julie Grundvig it within days were the Shanghai and Gwangju Kate Steinmann ar Larisa Broyde Biennales, each in their sixth edition. In this issue, rii r Joyce Lin we are presenting a report on the Singapore and inter Chunyee Li Shanghai Biennales, an interview with Fumio Nanjo, Artistic Director of the first Singapore Judy Andrews, Ohio State University Biennale, and a reprint of one of the catalogue John Clark, University of Sydney Lynne Cooke, Dia Art Foundation essays for the Shanghai Biennale. Okwui Enwezor, San Francisco Art Institute Britta Erickson, Independent Scholar & Curator Fan Di'an, Central Academy of Fine Arts Yishu 19 also includes our second contribution Fei Dawei, Guy & Mariam Ullens Foundation Gao Minglu, New York State University to the documenta 12 magazines project with Hou Hanru, San Francisco Art Institute two special features on art education that each Katie Hill, University of Westminster Martina Köppel-Yang, Independent Critic & Historian address very different topics. In the first article, Sebastian Lopez, Daros-Latinamerica AG Lu Jie, Independent Curator Wu Yin-Hui and Yu Wie examine some of the Charles Merewether, Australian National University shifts that have taken place in Taiwan’s university Ni Tsaichin, Tunghai University Apinan Poshyananda, Ministry of Culture, Thailand and college curricula in recent years. Anticipating Chia Chi Jason Wang, Independent Critic & Curator a growing future for the cultural and creative Wu Hung, University of Chicago industries, Taiwan is investing in media design, hr Art & Collection Group Ltd. digital manipulation, and arts management d i Leap Creative Group courses for their growing art programs. We also raiv dirr Raymond Mah ar dirr Gavin Chow present an extensive interview with Liu Dahong digr Karmen Lee addressing the public scandal that arose over a i ula relaITconsulting, Vancouver conflict between his teaching methodology and ig Chong-yuan Image Ltd., Taipei the expectations of the art institution where he i -2 holds a professorship. Yishu is published quarterly in Taipei, Taiwan and edited in Vancouver, Canada. The publishing dates of Yishu are 5th of Speaking about institutions from another March, June, September and December. perspective is Samuel Kung, Director of the Editorial inquiries and manuscripts may be sent to the Editorial Office: Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai. Our Yishu interview with him reveals how he positions 410-650 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC Canada V6B 4N8 his institution after its first year of operation as Phone: 1.604.649.8187; Fax: 1.604.591.6392 E-mail: [email protected] a privately funded museum, a relatively new [email protected] phenomenon in China. Subscription inquiries may be sent to either the Vancouver address or to Hawai’i: Artist features are always an important Journals Department University of Hawai’i Press component of Yishu. The four in this issue include 2840 Kolowalu Street, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA Phone: 1.808.956.8833; Fax: 1.808.988.6052 a discussion of censorship in an exhibition E-mail: [email protected] of work by Huang Rui, Liu Ding's ambitious The University of Hawai’i Press accepts payment by Visa or conceptual project Products, the most recent Mastercard, cheque or money order (in U.S. dollars). work of Cao Fei, and the cross-cultural paintings Advertising inquiries may be sent to either Vancouver or Taiwan address: of Xu Jiang. Finally, we have included three book Art & Collection Ltd. reviews, two of them by a new and ambitious 3F. No.85, Section 1, Zhongshan N. Road, Taipei, Taiwan 104 Phone: (886) 2.2560.2220; Fax: (886) 2.2542.0631 publisher, the Asia Art Archive, based in Hong E-mail: [email protected] Kong. www.yishujournal.com No part of this journal may be published without the written We close 2006 with our nineteenth issue of Yishu, permission from the publisher. and I want to take this opportunity to thank the Subscription rates: one year: US $48; two years: US $86 many contributors who make this journal possible. Subscription form may be downloaded from our Website You are what make Yishu an important voice in We thank Mr. Milton Wong, Mr. Daoping Bao, Paystone Technologies Corp., for their generous support. the evolution of contemporary Chinese art. Cover: Zhan Wang, Buddhist Pharmacy: Western Medicine, installation (detail), 2006,. Courtesy of the Shanghai Art Museum. Keith Wallace 2 r Jonathan Goodman is a poet and writer who is currently teaching at Pratt Institute and Parsons School of Design. He has been writing about contemporary Chinese art for ten years, authoring reviews and articles for such magazines as Art in America, Sculpture, and Art Asia Pacific. His essays have covered the work of such artists as Xu Bing, Cai Jin, and Tseng Kwong Chi. Paul Gladston is Senior Lecturer in critical theory and cultural studies and Director of the Institute of Comparative Cultural Studies at the University of Nottingham, Ningbo, China. He studied fine art at Edinburgh College of Art and Yale University before receiving an M.A. and a Ph.D. in critical theory from the University of Nottingham. His recent publications include Art History After Deconstruction (2005) and “Sublime Ruins—Monumental Follies: The Photo(historio)graphy of Erasmus Schroeter,” in Post-Conflict Cultures: Rituals of Representation (2006). JOE Martin HILL is the founder of Vision Connect, a management and curatorial consulting firm based in New York. An active writer and lecturer, he is also on the team assisting Robert Storr in the preparation of the 2007 Venice Biennale. Maya KÓvskaya is an art critic, independent curator, writer, and anthropologist. She is currently writing a book on Chinese contemporary art and revising her novel Broken Shoes, which won a best novella award on Zoetrope Virtual Studios (2004), for publication. Her writing has appeared in numerous art catalogues, books, journals, and magazines, including ChinaNow, Beijing Scene, and positions: east asia cultures critique. Her Chinese language column in Art Map introduces Western literary fiction to China. SUSAN Kendzulak is an artist and writer based in Taipei. Her M.A. thesis focused on Chinese conceptual art, and she writes extensively about contemporary art in Taiwan for local and international publications. LAI MEI-LIN holds a B.A. and M.Phil. in art history from the University of Hong Kong. She is currently pursuing her doctorate in modern Hong Kong ink painting at the University of Sydney. Since 2000, she has been teaching Western art history at Hong Kong Art School of the Hong Kong Arts Centre. Her articles on twentieth-century Chinese and Hong Kong art can be found in various Hong Kong art magazines and exhibition catalogues. JONI Low is a freelance writer based in Vancouver and a volunteer at the Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, also known as Centre A. Edward LUCIE-SMITH is an internationally known art critic and historian as well as a published poet (member of the Académie Européenne de Poésie, winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize), anthologist, and practicing photographer. A number of his art books, among them Movements in Art since 1945, Visual Arts of the Twentieth Century, and A Dictionary of Art Terms and Art Today, are used as standard texts throughout the world. MA JUN is an editor and a journalist for Y Weekend. He has a Master's degree in Chinese Literature at Beijing Normal University and a Bachelor's degree in History at Northwest University (China). David Spalding is an art critic, independent curator, and educator from San Francisco now based in Beijing.