Admonition and the Academy: Installation, Video, and Performance Art in Reform Era China By Karin Grace Oen M.A. Modem Art History, Connoisseurship, and the History of the Art Market Christie's Education New York, 2001 B.A. Urban Studies Stanford University, 2000 SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN HISTORY, THEORY, AND CRITICISM OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE AT THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SEPTEMBER 2012 02012 Karin Grace Oen. All Rights Reserved. The author hereby grants MIT permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of this thesis document in whole or in part in any medium now known or hereafter created. Signature of Author: Department of Architecture / 'August 10, 2012 Certified by: 6 Caroline A. Jones Professor of History, Theory, and Criticism of Art Thesis Supervisor Accepted by: Takehiko Nagakura Associate Professor of Design and Computation Chairman, Committee for Graduate Students 1 Dissertation Committee Caroline A Jones, PhD Professor of History, Theory and Criticism of Art Chair Arindam Dutta, PhD Associate Professor of History, Theory, and Criticism of Architecture Qianshen Bai, PhD Associate Professor of Art History, Boston University 2 Admonition and the Academy: Installation, Video, and Performance Art in Reform Era China By Karin Grace Oen Submitted to the Department of Architecture on August 10, 2012 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History, Theory, and Criticism of Art and Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Abstract China's Reform Era (1978-present) has seen the reinvigoration of academic, and artistic practice, and a rapprochement between the Chinese Communist Party and the intellectual elite. At its beginnings in the early- to mid-1980s the new availability of foreign texts and media led to Culture Fever, a widespread phenomenon throughout the intellectual and artistic spheres characterized by enthusiasm for the philosophy, literature, and art of the West and pre-Communist China and the simultaneous uptake of discrete Western and Confucian philosophies. These discussions often addressed modernity and modernism in China, a crucial homology to early twentieth century Chinese negotiations in literature and the arts and the development of an amalgamated "Chinese modernism" comprised of elements of both Confucian and Western philosophy and aesthetics. As this dissertation argues, key early experimental works of the Reform Era by Zhang Peili, Wu Shanzhuan, and Zhang Huan reveal a proclivity for subtle and indirect admonitory messages about China's socio-political climate - a contemporary inhabitation of the traditional elite scholar-artist and his obligation to criticize immoral or unjust policies or actions. This admonitory practice was built by artists educated in elite academies (specifically, the Central Academy of Fine Art in Beijing and the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Art in Hangzhou) yet utilized completely new and non-academic media. What this thesis terms as an "art of admonition" utilized traditional tropes, including direct remonstrations of officials, withdrawal from official life in protest, and the concept of the "middle hermit" - a scholar who admonishes official policy subtly and indirectly. The experimental practices of artists after their graduation from elite academies stemmed from the extra-curricular resources made available to them, especially the schools' libraries. The connection of these unofficial works to the official academies, their validation by art market success, and the subsequent official endorsement accorded to these and other artists in the later Reform Era blurs the distinctions between official and unofficial artistic practice in China, suggesting a strong endorsement of the dissident artist's role as "middle hermit." Thesis Supervisor: Caroline A. Jones Title: Professor of the History of Art 3 Preface As with many scholarly works that deal with Chinese people, places, concepts, and Chinese language materials, this dissertation employs romanization with some inconsistencies. In general I have implemented the Hanyu Pinyin romanization system. Exceptions occur in the cases of some place names, personal names (especially of historical figures), and certain nouns that are recognizable in English in their older romanized forms, for example "tai chi" instead of "taji" and "Confucius" instead of "Kong Fuzi." I have endeavored to refer to scholars and artists with Chinese names per their own convention, with many following the Chinese order that places the family name before the personal name, but some following the Western order that places the family name last. I have provided the Chinese characters at the initial mention of important translated concepts and Chinese language publication titles for reference purposes. KGO 4 Acknowledgements My interest in modem and contemporary Chinese art pre-dates this dissertation, but the form that this interest has taken is the result of the rich academic environment at MIT's History, Theory, and Criticism (HTC) section of the Department of Architecture. I would particularly like to thank my intrepid advisor, Caroline A. Jones, whose questions, challenges, and comments have pushed my work into unexpected and fruitful directions, and whose unwavering support has been an invaluable asset throughout my time at HTC. I owe special thanks to Qanshen Bai, a dedicated committee member who has helped form my understanding of the relationship between Chinese art and history who's insights first helped me to articulate the theme of admonition as an important component of Reform Era art. Thanks also to Arindam Dutta for his kind support and his help in shaping my particular take on examining institutions and the individuals that shape them. The faculty at HTC have provided intellectual leadership while forming a kind and dedicated community of scholars, and I thank them all, particularly Nasser Rabbat, Mark Jarzombek, David Friedman, Kristel Smentek, and Erika Naginski. The students at HTC are a formidable cohort, and it has been a pleasure learning from and with them over the years. Jordan Kauffman, Ben Matteson, Christian Hedrick, and Razan Francis have been especially integral to the completion of this work. My "elders," includingJohn L6pez, Fabiola L6pez-Duran, Michael Osman, Winnie Wong, and Azra Aksamija have been extremely helpful as I charted my path through the dissertation process, as have my contemporaries: Anneka Lenssen, Iris Moon, Rebecca Uchill, Ana Maria Le6n, Nicola Pezolet, Alla Vronskaya, Deniz Turker, Ila Sheren, Shiben Banerji, Sebastian Schmidt, Michael Kubo, Niko Vicario and Igor Demchenko. Special thanks also to Stephanie Tuerk for our valuable and productive epistemological discussions. All the work at HTC is done with the support of Kate Brearley, Anne Deveau, and Renee Caso, and to them I offer my sincere gratitude. Outside of HTC, I have benefited from the support of many dedicated scholars, including Cole Roskam, Midori Oka, Ray Williams, and Ding Yuhua. My archival research was made possible with the help of many. I would especially like to thank Anthony Yung and Linda Lee at the Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong, as well as Prof. Gao Shiming at the China Art Academy in Hangzhou. Taliesin Thomas at AW Asia in New York has been a valuable resource, colleague, and friend, and our conversations about specific artists and the state of the Chinese art market has been of enormous help. I would also like to thank the HTC, MIT's Department of Architecture, MIT-China, and the MIT Center for International Studies for the financial support that made my research possible. Zhang Peili has been enormously gracious and helpful, as has Ethan Cohen, who first encouraged my interest in the rich period of Reform Era China. My profound thanks to my friends and family whose encouragement and support has made my work possible, and I dedicate this dissertation to them, writ large. Boston, August, 2012 5 Table of Contents Chapter 1 8 The Reform Era, the Market, and the Cultural Antecedents of Admonition Art by the numbers: early experimental installation, video, 8 and performance art in the Reform Era Modernism and the Reform Era: The BureaucraticSyle of Work Must be Dropped 12 Admonition and Chinese Art 24 And now, a word from the Contemporary Chinese Art Market 28 The Estella Collection and the Global Craze for Contemporary Chinese 33 Oil Painting Dissent and the Artist in Contemporary China 38 Chapter 2 42 Eremites, Hermeneutics, Alienation, and Art Academies in the Twentieth Century Art Academies in China 45 The Education Sector, Scholar-Artists and the State: 50 Prolegomena to a Semi-Autonomous Intellectual Sphere in Reform Era China New Culture Movement Policies and Prescriptions 55 College Students of the Nanjing Decade and their imprint on the 1980s 57 Artistic and Intellectual Autonomy in the Semi/Public Sphere of the 1980s 66 The Chinese Artists' Association and Art in the Official Sphere 71 The Pond Society and experimentation in local niches 73 Eremitic Participation in the Semi-Official Art World 75 Chapter 3 79 Academic Media in Modern China, the Art Academy in the People's Republic, and Wu Shanzhuan's Installations Fairyland, Woodcuts, and the Avant-Garde in the 1930s 82 Mao's Talks at Yan'an and Art Academies in the People's Republic 92 The Academy in the Visual Chaos of the Cultural Revolution 97 Zheng Shengtian and ZAFA in