J U L Y / A U G U S T 2 0 1 3 VOLUME 12, NUMBER 4 INSI DE Special Feature: Contemporary Art in Hong Kong Who Invited Andy Warhol to China? The Hotan Project Conversation with Feng Mengbo Reviews of Zhao Yao, Duan Jianyu and Hu Xiaoyuan, Song Dong US$12.00 NT$350.00 PRINTE D IN TAIWAN 6 VOLUME 12, NUMBER 4, JULY/AUGUST 2013 CONTENTS Editor’s Note 16 Contributors 6 Apotheosis of the Bona Fide: Contemporary Art from Hong Kong Pamela Kember 16 "No Outside" for Socially Engaged Art Practices? The Reception of the Aesthetic Regime of Art and Its Frequent Malfunctions in Hong Kong 43 Frank Vigneron 33 On Producing Strategy: Sun Yuan and Peng Yu’s “Hong Kong Intervention” Stephanie Bailey 43 Who Invited Andy Warhol to China? A Conversation with Alfred Siu Zheng Shengtian 56 56 The Hotan Project—Evaluating Interdisciplinary Research: A Conversation with Hou Hanru and Ou Ning Clara Galeazzi 69 The Technological Society Revisited: A Conversation with Feng Mengbo Lisa Claypool 77 Zhao Yao: Spirit Above All Voon Pow Bartlett 77 87 A Potent Force: Duan Jianyu and Hu Xiaoyuan Edward Sanderson 100 Wall-gazers and Nothing-doers: A Review of Song Dong Doing Nothing Liz Park 107 Chinese Name Index 100 Cover: Liu Xiaodong, East (detail), 2012, oil on canvas, 300 x 250 cm. Courtesy of the artist. We thank JNBY Art Projects, Canadian Foundation of Asian Art, Chen Ping, Mr. and Mrs. Eric Li, and Stephanie Holmquist and Mark Allison for their generous contribution to the publication and distribution of Yishu. Vol. 12 No. 4 1 Editor’s Note YISHU: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art Katy Hsiu-chih Chien Infoshare Tech Law Office, Mann C.C. Liu Ken Lum Hong Kong has a history of contemporary art that long precedes its “handover” to -- Keith Wallace Zheng Shengtian mainland China, yet the extensive attention Julie Grundvig Kate Steinmann given to the latter over the past twenty years Chunyee Li has created a sense of uncertainty within ⁽ ⁾ Carol Yinghua Lu the Hong Kong cultural community. In the Chunyee Li past few years, however, that uncertainty Chen Ping Debra Zhou appears to be shifting, and Yishu 57 opens Larisa Broyde with three texts that explore various aspects Michelle Hsieh of the Hong Kong art scene today—from Maryon Adelaar Chunyee Li its growing profile internationally and its socially engaged art practices to the Judy Andrews, Ohio State University growing issue of its migrant workers. Melissa Chiu, Asia Society Museum John Clark, University of Sydney Lynne Cooke, Museo Reina Sofia In 1982, Andy Warhol made a visit to Hong Okwui Enwezor, Critic and Curator Britta Erickson, Independent Scholar and Curator Kong and mainland China, but it is not Fan Di’an, National Art Museum of China widely known how and why he went there. Fei Dawei, Independent Critic and Curator Gao Minglu, University of Pittsburgh Zheng Shengtian, in his ongoing research Hou Hanru, Critic and Curator Hu Fang, Vitamin Creative Space and the shop on the influence of foreign visitors on Katie Hill, University of Westminster contemporary Chinese art, speaks with Claire Hsu, Asia Art Archive Martina Köppel-Yang, Independent Critic and Historian Hong Kong businessman Alfred Siu about Sebastian Lopez, Critic and Curator Siu's invitation that year to one of the Lu Jie, Long March Space Charles Merewether, Director, ICA Singapore world’s most famous artists and, ironically, Ni Tsaichin, Tunghai University how little attention was paid to Warhol Apinan Poshyananda, Ministry of Culture, Thailand Philip Tinari, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art during his visit to Beijing. Chia Chi Jason Wang, Independent Critic and Curator Wu Hung, University of Chicago Pauline J. Yao, M+, West Kowloon Cultural District Clara Galeazzi speaks with Hou Hanru Art & Collection Group Ltd. and Ou Ning about their Hotan Project. 6F. No. 85, Section 1, This ambitious, collaborative multi- Chungshan N. Road, Taipei, Taiwan 104 disciplinary artistic/ethnographic endeavour Phone: (886)2.2560.2220 Fax: (886)2.2542.0631 engaged with a part of mainland China— E-mail: [email protected] southwestern Xinjiang—that is located at a Jenny Liu strategic historical and cultural crossroad Alex Kao between China and Central Asia, but it Joyce Lin Perry Hsu previously received little attention from Betty Hsieh the art world. Lisa Claypool talks with Feng Chi Wei Colour Printing Ltd. Mengbo about his ongoing development http://yishu-online.com of ideas around art, the body, and new Design Format technologies, an area in which he has been 1683 - 3082 a pioneer in China. Wrapping up Yishu 57 Yishu is published bi-monthly in Taipei, Taiwan, and edited in Vancouver, Canada. The publishing dates are January, are three substantive reviews of exhibitions March, May, July, September, and November. All subscription, from London, Shanghai, and New York that advertising, and submission inquiries may be sent to: examine the work of artists Zhao Yao, Duan Yishu Editorial Office 200–1311 Howe Street Jianyu, Hu Xiaoyuan, and Song Dong. Vancouver, BC, Canada V6Z 2P3 Phone: 1.604.649.8187 Keith Wallace Fax: 1.604.591.6392 E-mail: offi[email protected] 1 year (6 issues): $84 USD (includes airmail postage) 2 years (12 issues): $158 USD (includes airmail postage) 1 Year PDF Download (6 issues): $49.95 USD (http://yishu-online.com) Erratum, Yishu 56: In the 2014 Biennial listing Leap Creative Group on page 103, Ryuichi Sakamoto should be listed Raymond Mah as Guest Director and Shihoko Iida as Associate Gavin Chow Curator for the Sapporo International Art Philip Wong Festival. For details, visit: http://www.sapporo- internationalartfestival.jp/en/. No part of this journal may be reprinted without the written permission from the publisher. The views expressed in Yishu are not necessarily those of the editors or publisher. Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art 200251 2 4 6 16 (Larisa Broyde) (Chunyee Li) 33 (Philip Tinari) (Judy Andrews) (Britta Erickson) (Melissa Chiu) (Sebastian Lopez) 43 (Claire Hsu) (John Clark) (Pauline J. Yao) 56 (Martina Köppel-Yang) Lynne Cooke Okwui Enwezor 69 Katie Hill Charles Merewether Apinan Poshyananda 77 856 87 : (886) 2.2560.2220 (886) 2.2542.0631 [email protected] Yishu Office 100 200-1311 Howe Street, Vancouver, BC, V6Z 2P3, Canada : (1) 604.649.8187 (1) 604.591.6392 : offi[email protected] 107 Leap Creative Group, Vancouver 6 http://yishu-online.com Design Format Contributors Stephanie Bailey has an M.A. in Lisa Claypool teaches and curates Chinese art contemporary art theory from Goldsmiths at the University of Alberta. Her publications College, University of London, and a B.A. in explore science and imagery, interculturalism classical civilization with English literature and visuality, and exhibitions in modern from King’s College, London. Between 2006 and contemporary China. She recently and 2012, she lived in Athens, Greece, where completed her first book manuscript, she played a formative role in designing and Figuring the Social Body: Painting Manuals in managing the BTEC-accredited Foundation Late Imperial China, and is working on her Diploma in Art and Design at Doukas second, Artifactual Art: Painting and Science Education while writing on contemporary in Modern China. She is the author of “Ways art production and its discourses from of Seeing the Nation: Chinese Painting in the around the world as Art and Culture Editor National Essence Journal (1905–1911) and of Insider Publications and as a freelance Exhibition Culture,” which was published in critic and essayist. She is currently Managing the Winter 2011 issue of positions: east asia Editor of Ibraaz, and her writing has cultures critiques. appeared in publications including ART Clara Galeazzi is a freelance art writer PAPERS, Aesthetica, ARTnews, Artforum, currently based in Milan. She studied at Frieze, LEAP, Modern Painters, Notes on the School of Oriental and African Studies Metamodernism, and Yishu: Journal of (SOAS), University of London, where she Contemporary Chinese Art. worked on the topic of contemporary Chinese Voon Pow Bar tlett, Ph.D., is an artist, curator, art, documentary, and film. She is now lecturer, and writer, as well as an associate focusing specifically on Chinese new media. member of the Institute of Chartered Pamela Kember is an independent art Accountants in England and Wales. She was historian and critic as well as a Ph.D. candidate born in Beijing and educated internationally. at the University of the Arts London. Her Her focus is on exploring an expanded field research focuses on the connections among in the study of the complex causal framework home, memory, and identity within a spatial influencing global discourses on fine art. She context for Hong Kong’s transnational artists. currently works at Tate Research Centre: Asia She is on the Advisory Board of the Asia Art Pacific, in London. Archive, Hong Kong, and a Contributing 4 Vol. 12 No. 4 Editor of the Benezit Dictionary of Asia Artists Académiciens et Lettrés: Analyse comparative (New York, 2012). de la théorie picturale du 18e siècle en Chine et en Europe (2010), and I Like Hong Kong . Liz Park is a curator and writer committed Art and Deterritorialization (2010). to creating discursive spaces and generating forums for the discussions of contemporary Zheng Shengtian, Managing Editor of Yishu, political and social realities. She received an is a scholar, artist, and independent curator. M.A. in art history and curatorial studies For more than thirty years he worked at at the University of British Columbia. In China Academy of Art as Professor and Chair 2011-12, she was Helena Rubinstein Fellow of the Oil Painting Department. He was a in the Curatorial Program at the Whitney founder and board member of the Vancouver Independent Study Program.