I was recently invited by the editors of Afterall to

contribute to a book they are preparing on the

monumental 1989 exhibition “Magiciens de la
terre” with a text reflecting on the impact of this
exhibition on the practice of Chinese artists. On
that occasion I had a discussion with Chinese

01/09
critic Fei Dawei, who had introduced the curator
of the show, Jean-Hubert Martin, to many of the
key artists of the ‘85 movement in China prior to
the exhibition and worked as one of its regional
advisors. As one of the earliest attempts to
exhibit contemporary art from non-Western
parts of the world in the West and to deal with
the possibility of multiculturalism, this
exhibition set an important precedent for many
Carol Yinghua Lu projects to come with its ambition of offering a

Back to global vision for contemporary art.

What concerned Fei and the many artists
Martin encountered on his visit to China was the
Contemporary: question of how to formulate the image of the
contemporary in Chinese art. For this purpose,

One Fei deliberately set up studio visits for Martin to

first meet with artists such as Wu Guanzhong,

Contemporary
who worked in the modernist tradition or were
part of the official art circuit in China, before
leading him to meet the artists and critics of the

Ambition, Many ‘85 movement. At that time, both Fei and the
artists consistently tried to convince Martin that

Worlds
contemporary art was something unfolding in the
most lively manner in the country and that it
represented the most current climate of artistic
thinking and energy in the country – not folk art,
Back to Contemporary: One Contemporary Ambition, Many Worlds

not traditional art.

This visit left a strong impression on Martin.
In the end, Chinese artists Huang Yongping, Gu
e-flux journal #11 — december 2009 Carol Yinghua Lu

Dexin, and Yang Jiechang were invited to

participate in the exhibition, which also featured,
for example, tribal art from Africa. It was a
fortunate setup for Chinese contemporary artists
– the relevance of their practice, which had
previously developed in isolation, bound to
circulate only within China, was situated and
viewed in an international context for the very
first time. This would also have a lasting impact
on how Chinese contemporary art would be
represented in the many exhibitions and
occasions that followed in the West.
In 2006, German art historian Hans Belting
pioneered a project entitled “Global Art and the
Museum” in an attempt to document the global
changes in contemporary art and its institutions.
Acknowledging the fact that economic
globalization has – along with its own
institutional practices – taken contemporary art
practice beyond the restrictions of national
borders, he states:

With the new geography of auction houses,

the art trade acts on a global scale, art
museums, by contrast, operate within a

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 national or urban framework in which they model using experiences from elsewhere, or even
encounter the most diverse audiences. to approach art from the perspective of a
While art collecting has become en vogue multitude of models.
on an unprecedented scale, it often lacks a As a participant in the workshop, I became
common notion of art. Contemporary art more aware of my own specific local context,
also invades former ethnographic which is China, a country whose own position in

02/09
museums, which are forced to remap their challenging and redefining multiculturalism and
areas of collecting. As yet, the novelty of global contemporality, both back in 1989 and
the situation defies any safe categories.1 twenty years later in 2009, has always been in
question. Perhaps it’s not simply a matter of
This ongoing project, consisting of a series of creativity and what artworks are being produced,
panel discussions, lectures, conferences, and it’s also a matter of perspective and
publications, will lead to an exhibition at the methodology: how to view the works produced in
ZKM in 2011 (whose vision to present what could this context and, more importantly, how to
possibly be the global image of contemporary art develop a way of working that is perceptive with
today is an enormous challenge in itself). Belting, regard not only to the works but also to their
who back in 1983 proposed the end of art history context, one that is closer to the works’ internal
and the end of art’s historical narrative, has complexities and constant transfigurations than
again stressed in this context that the German to their external features and general
perspective is a local one, and that Western art applications.
history is a time-based and culture-specific In the following text, I would like to respond
concept whose sensitivity and relevance to other to the question “what is contemporary art?”
periods of time and cultures should always be re- through a historical self-reflection and by looking
examined. A workshop he led on global art at the at the specific scenario in China through a very
ZKM this past summer proposed a paradigm local perspective.
shift; we were reminded to no longer think about Even though China was absent from much
the West as the singular model to be applied of modernism’s chronological progression, it has
worldwide, but to reflect on how to expand this followed a unique track and used a set of

Cyprien Tokoudagba, Voodoo Pantheon. The sculpture group shows the Voodoo gods Zangbeto (with Horns, in the background),
and Legba, sitting naked, judging a sinner. The group was originally crafted for “Magiciens de la terre” in 1989. from here.

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coordinates that fuse Western and Chinese Once art leaves its cultural motherland, it
experiences. Today’s Chinese artists are more will surely die out. Exiled culture and arts
than ever before deeply entrenched in an ever- have always happened in the macro
evolving and gradually more autonomous system cultural background in Europe. You [the
of art production and circulation, invigorated artists and critics travelling abroad]
simultaneously by the continuous inflow of represent new issues. What I want to know

03/09
international knowledge and capital, but even are opinions from every party. Although
more so by the sheer excess of local interest, they were working against the same overall
investment, and imagination. background, Warhol and Beuys each
Artists, dealers, galleries, museums, art carried their respective cultural identities.
magazines, auction houses, biennials, and art Of course this is discussed on the condition
fairs are interwoven into a tighter and tighter that we acknowledge the new international
network, eagerly replicating the mature model system of value. Nationality is not the kind
established in the West, while continuously and promoted by the government, but it does
uninhibitedly adapting it to the practical and exist. We can’t follow the postmodernist
philosophical needs of specific local conditions. styles in the contemporary West using the
The unparalleled imaginativeness and potential so-called principle of modernism. In the
of this local system constantly defines and world today, nothing can be considered
redefines the method of working here. avant-garde. No matter what you do, it
Incidentally or not, just prior to the opening always appears to be familiar.2
of “Magiciens de la terre” in 1989, a regrettable
transition occurred in China that resounded At a time when international companies already
throughout many folds of public life, spread their wings all over the world, speculating
fundamentally shaping the collective political, upon and investing in a near future when they
social, cultural, and psychological landscape of would reap the benefits of building and
China with a series of disheartening closures and becoming part of a global market, some Chinese
departures. Cultural, spiritual, and artistic intellectuals still clung to the idea of cultural
aspirations became secondary to a quickly locality, in doubt of this “new international
spreading and highly infectious mood of market system of value.” Such claims sounded extremely
optimism and global trade. Economic nationalistic and profoundly arrogant, lacking in
development became an effective instrument for curiosity or desire to understand the outside
diverting people’s attention from intellectual world. Unable to picture the West as an equal
Back to Contemporary: One Contemporary Ambition, Many Worlds

pursuits and enlightenment. The disregard for partner in cultural exchange, Li spoke about the
knowledge and intellectual pursuits planted West as both irrelevant and, at the same time, an
during the Cultural Revolution continued to impossible standard for the Chinese art world to
e-flux journal #11 — december 2009 Carol Yinghua Lu

manifest itself in a new wave of brainless emulate and be on par with. He certainly touched
entertainment. Ignorance became understood by upon the issue of the impossibility of a
many as a fashionable state of being. contemporary avant-garde with his statement
Meanwhile, 1989 generated many drastic “no matter what you do, it always appears to be
turns in terms of intellectual dynamics as well as familiar,” which remains a relevant point that
personal choices. It was the year when the constantly shakes up our decisions and
preceding decade of ideological opening-up and judgments today.
cultural enlightenment came to an abrupt and Here I quote Li Xianting again:
disillusioning end. Yet the prospect of a new
beginning for everyone remained irresistible, But we all cherish your activities abroad.
offering instant and tangible compensations and Maybe every kind of effort has its value. We
achievements. The market economy introduced a are all cornerstones and nothing (we do)
system of quantification and evaluation would be worth international attention. Do
according to materialistic value. A pragmatic and you really believe that you yourself have
functionalist mindset was firmly established. had an impact on the Western art world?3
A 1991 correspondence between Beijing-
based art critic and curator Li Xianting and Paris- In this condescending letter, Li Xianting was not
based curator Fei Dawei, both of whom were only referring to Fei Dawei but to a group of
involved in the curating and organization of the Chinese artists and intellectuals who left China
“China/Avant-Garde” exhibition in February of in the 1980s and ‘90s to pursue their careers in
1989, clearly revealed their differences, not only foreign countries. Among them were Huang
in their geographical positions but more Yongping, Chen Zhen, Wang Du, and Hou Hanru in
profoundly in their intellectual judgments and Paris; Cai Guoqiang in Japan; Xu Bing, Zhang
value systems. In 1991, Li Xianting wrote: Huan, and Ai Weiwei in New York, and so on.

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 The conception of Chinese art as being the fall of the Chinese art market. It was a
unworthy of international attention or unable to necessity of the so-called “cultural multiplicity”
have an “impact on the Western art world” was that the West was pursuing for their society to
to quickly change with the increase in help sustain and glorify their global market
international attention on the political and social activities. Chinese contemporary art was simply
situation in China. In no time, Chinese a souvenir one had to have to showcase one’s

04/09
contemporary art was embraced by the international lifestyle. But the question of how
international art market as a hot item – not actual contemporary art practice in China is
particularly for its artistic value, but for its relevant and valuable to that of the Western
ideological and sociological revelations. In this world remains unanswered.
way, the label of Chinese art became extremely Since the 1990s, a newly developed and
crucial to works that would command unconstrained art market took over the Chinese
international recognition. For many years, even art world as it was still in its infancy, before it
up until today, most Chinese artists, many of had achieved the institutional diversity that
whom thrive in the art market, maintain a very characterizes longer-established art
strong national identity as compared to a very infrastructures in other countries. As a result,
underdeveloped professional and individual contemporary art in China has become almost
identity. The biggest danger of all would be to entirely dependent on market forces, which have
then equate one with the other and enjoy artistic set themselves up as the dominant, and virtually
success based on identity politics without the only system of evaluating and crediting
realizing its true nature. artworks and the success of artists. The vibrancy
The fad of buying and exhibiting Chinese art of the market gave a huge boost to the
on an international level didn’t really speak to the confidence and ambition of the players and fed
quality of artistic thinking and working in the into the “bigger means better” frenzy. There were
country, but instead indicated the growing bountiful resources available to open galleries of
importance of Chinese economic and social 1,000 square meters, stage expensive
power. The consequences of this dimension of productions, mount large-scale exhibitions,
the Chinese art world are strongly felt today with produce bulky catalogues, and host luxurious

Zhang Huan, Berlin Buddha, 2007. Aluminium, 370 x 260 x 290 cm.

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opening-night parties. All of a sudden, everything artists rushed to assimilate disjointed and
was possible. Artists responded to such sometimes misinterpreted information and
optimism with attempts at mega-productions. adapted it to the social, historical, and cultural
Artworks and art practices were discussed and specificity of the country in order to shape their
received, not from an artistic and conceptual own methodology. Modernism, postmodernism,
point of view, but on the basis of misplaced classical philosophy, eighteenth-century

05/09
criteria such as size, production budget, market European Enlightenment, liberalism, anti-
price, and the preferences of collectors. imperialism, and other intellectual movements
Concerning artistic production itself, the from the Western world were introduced into
advancement of contemporary art practice in China all at once to become parallel and mixed
China hasn’t followed the linear logic of Western influences on the practices of artists.
art history. Intellectual development was The 1989 “China/Avant-Garde” exhibition
basically stagnant and taken hostage by political can be considered a rather extensive and reliable
movements during the preceding decades of gauge of the mixture of styles and thinking that
Communist rule. This situation worsened with contemporary Chinese artists were keenly
the launch of the Cultural Revolution in 1966, exploring during the 1980s. All of it, however, was
which severed not only the link between the charged with a great sense of randomness,
country’s intellectual life and the outside world, which was telling with regard to the intellectual
but also the bloodline that connected it with its state of the artists. Their system of knowledge
own history and cultural traditions. Education was fragmented. On one hand, they suffered
was suspended and knowledge and ideas were from the missed opportunity for education
dismissed. during the Cultural Revolution and from a
Thus, when the country reopened its doors missing link to the traditions that were wiped out
and resumed its interest in culture at the end of by it. On the other hand, the sudden shift from
the 1970s, there was already a great discrepancy having one type of visual and cultural experience
between what was going on in the heads of (the omnipresent revolutionary realism) to being
Chinese artists and intellectuals and what was exposed to a dazzling diversity of aesthetic and
happening in the rest of the world. Chinese conceptual possibilities presented the artists

Ai Weiwei, White House, 1999. From the series “Finger,” B/W Print, Edition of 10, 51 x 61 cm / 90 x 127 cm.

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with the challenge of having to decide what to the formation of the art system in China.
choose. Often the choice was made based upon It was around this time, in 1991, when Li
an instinct or an attitude, and this would become wrote the letter to Fei quoted above. It reflected
the operational basis on which artists would a rather conservative and functionalist mindset,
form their own artistic structure and language. one that rejected and critiqued the position of
Although parallel practices continued to those artists and intellectuals who worked

06/09
exist from the 1990s up to the present day, the outside of China. He attributed the temporary
international interest and art market have been inactivity of Chinese artists residing overseas to
mostly focused on works that prioritize socially the fact that they were outside of their context.
and politically charged subject matter over Fei pointedly responded by saying that the
stylistic experimentation and conceptual inability to respond to new contexts was deeply
investigation. Artists that created cynical realist, rooted in the education and ideology these
social realist, political Pop that feeds into a kind artists were subjected to in China, and argued
of collective imagination of a Chinese society that only when the artists were able to surpass
have been gaining so much recognition since the their given cultural and social contexts would
early nineties that the artists even strove to they be able to truly succeed internationally. As
minimize technological and formal complexity in Fei himself put it:
order to focus the attention of the viewer on the
depicted content. Their method of referring to Most Chinese artists who have left China
social content has become the central theme couldn’t fully realize their talents as they
that runs through their entire practice and leaves did back in China. Besides the issues of
little room for anything else. language and practical life, the main reason
Li Xianting, who wrote the above-quoted was precisely the particular intellectual
letter in 1991, was an important figure in the quality and way of thinking that were
1980s whose editorial work in art publications cultivated in their intellectual native land. It
such as Meishu (Fine Arts) gave crucial visibility prevents them from entering the
and endorsement to promising young artists and contemporary cultural issues in a new
artist groups. It was a time when artists and context. This kind of creative “drought”
critics seemed to venture hand-in-hand into comes from the inability of these artists to
completely new territory, later overlooked by the turn what they have learned in their own
political hype of proceeding years. This new country into something that can transcend
territory involved recovering the normal need to the cultural gap and continue to be
Back to Contemporary: One Contemporary Ambition, Many Worlds

express and experiment artistically without effective. Yet this “inability” is exactly the
being bound by ideological or political result of the long-term influence of the
obligations. Formal and conceptual closed and conservative cultural spirit
e-flux journal #11 — december 2009 Carol Yinghua Lu

investigations were considered to be a matter of unique to Chinese society. Thus, I think

intellectual awakening. what you said might be reversed: “Art must
The “China/Avant-Garde” show was less a die out without leaving its cultural
thematic group exhibition than a platform and motherland.”
occasion, as well as a valid context, for an
outburst of emotional and spiritual energy pent Naturally, what I meant by “leaving” is that
up in the previous decades. art must have a side that transcends its
Just two years after the “China/Avant- native culture in order to develop. The world
Garde” exhibition, reality seemed much farther today is in the era of globalized culture and
away. Contemporary art somehow took a back openness. We can only truly discover our
seat to what the country was occupied primarily own uniqueness and enable our native
with, namely, economic development. There were culture to gain momentum by perceiving
considerably fewer chances to exhibit publicly and being involved in those common issues
within China, and those who had been actively that transcend culture . . . To reflect on
involved in the 1980s took the time to reflect on ourselves while keeping the door closed is
building group dynamics and collective ways of like a person facing himself in a mirror. No
working such as through political activism, which matter how he thinks of himself, it is
offered a source of emotional comfort and eventually making himself believe in
courage. Artists and critics were also pondering himself. Although this can be regarded as
and searching for a new future in the absence of “sticking to one’s native culture,” it is
a clear model to follow. It would take a few more actually no more than a self-tortured
years before the knowledge, understanding, and psychological habit developed in a long-
capital from the Western art structure, along term situation of being closed-minded. In
with what Li called “the International system of my view, only when the “native culture”
value,” would trickle down to have an effect on walks out of its “native culture,” can it

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 become the real “native culture.” It’s time collective situation. Collectivism is about the
to reverse what Lu Xun proposed in the loss of individual desires, as well as of individual
thirties, “what is more national is more responsibility.
international” into “what is more As for the Chinese artists based abroad, it
international is more national.” would take longer for them to be recognized.
However, the functionalist and results-oriented

07/09
What we are doing, and what we want to do, mentality prevalent in China was also hindering
is to gradually place issues brought from leading critics like Li himself, who was once
the Chinese context into the larger cultural among those making headway by looking beyond
background of the world, in a lively and his given reality. Less than two decades later,
creative way, so that it can set in motion a many of the “exiled” artists who left China to live
process of becoming “common” and and work abroad in the 1980s and ‘90s have
“extensive.”4 gradually returned to major cities in China, many
with admirable international careers behind
There was a great deal of idealist passion as well them. More importantly, these figures brought
as critical understanding of one’s own cultural back not only their practice and artistic ideas,
context running through Fei’s appeal. Cultural updated and shaped by their time overseas, but
specificity shouldn’t be a defining trait of one’s also a formidable number of possibilities for
existence and thinking; it can however be influencing the art scene within China.
valuable when placed in an international context In the case of Zhang Huan, an artist who
to be scrutinized and renewed, in constant lived in New York between 1998 and 2005, he had
interaction and dialogue with an external cultural left China for the United States after gaining
sphere. prominence in the performance art movement of
Throughout the past two decades, under the early nineties China. Once in New York, it didn’t
influence of the art market, an infrastructure for take long for him to be invited to perform and
contemporary art has slowly taken shape. Yet work with important American and international
although it bears all the familiar characteristics institutions. He proved able not only to overcome
of a mature art system – with galleries, the constraint of cultural contexts, but also to
contemporary art museums, art magazines, transition effortlessly between two cultures, in
collections, art centers, archives, and so on – a either direction. In 2005 he moved back to
lot of them are just forms without real Shanghai and established a fifteen-acre studio
substance. Art magazines run informational and production center on the outskirts of the
Back to Contemporary: One Contemporary Ambition, Many Worlds

articles, which are rarely critical, and feature city. Zhang’s continuing international success is
neither reviews nor art criticism. Art museums the object of envy for many local artists and his
operate by renting out exhibition spaces and way of working has certainly presented a new
e-flux journal #11 — december 2009 Carol Yinghua Lu

filling programs with paying shows, completely model for the local art scene. Here, he hired and
lacking in curatorial framework or presentation. trained skilled workers and technicians from
Art centers accept shows supported by gallery various regions across the country, whose
money or the investment of private art dealers technical competence complemented his own
and so-called collectors (who are actually thinking. This sophisticated and well-managed
speculators). Art archives and triennials are production workshop churned out a great
initiated, funded, and curated by private number of Zhang’s physically imposing oversized
gallerists who seek to feature their own sculptures.
represented artists in a broader and apparently Although made in China, Zhang’s current
more authoritative context. Art historians works are rarely exhibited inside the country,
compile bulky histories of contemporary art even though he exhibits actively and sells work
heavily informed and influenced by their close on an international level. His first solo exhibition
circle of contacts. in China, planned last year for the Shanghai
While these roles in the scene are often very Museum of Art, was eventually cancelled due to
blurry, the more profound and problematic sensitive content. The last decade of market
aspect is that no matter what motivation or inflation has given a lot of people false
scheme lies behind all of these institutions, the confidence and false belief in the sustainability
quality of their projects is always the lowest of the local system. Here the lack of criticality
priority, and almost always compromised. and intellectual scrutiny is replaced by an
It’s interesting to observe this dynamic in overemphasis on networking, the formation of
the art scene by examining the way Chinese personal alliances, and the necessity of strategic
society is organized. In recent years, the interest maneuvering in order to tease a primitive market
in individuality that has arisen from a capitalist appetite. It is this very way of being that
economy has met with a strong tradition of characterizes the local art system, which seems
surrendering one’s own desires to those of a to have a hard time finding a way to

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contextualize, understand, and present the finally examine the same sets of concerns and
international artistic language and practice of issues on the same level, and to finally make the
Zhang Huan. He remains an enigma for the art transition to the contemporary.
scene in China today. ×
Meanwhile, many people in the Chinese art
scene are still perplexed and constrained by

08/09
doubts of a general and primitive nature. One
afternoon when I walked through the art district
of Beijing, the few people I ran into – gallerists,
directors of art spaces – coincidentally told me
the same thing: now that the market is down,
they want to discover new talent and work with
young artists. This is as much an illusion as the
idea that older and more established artists are
no longer active or involved, and have thus lost
their value. Like anywhere else, people are
obsessed with youth and emerging talent, yet the
difference is that the Chinese art structure
hasn’t diversified enough to gain the intellectual
and theoretical momentum necessary to address
the ongoing practice of already established
artists and their relevance. The roles of the
institutions are not clearly defined and everyone
is competing for the same resources, while being
simultaneously unable to develop a stable
discourse through which to position the actual
work.
What Fei Dawei argued almost two decades
ago is unfortunately still a valid premise and goal
for those of us working in China: how do we
examine and activate our own cultural conditions
and contexts in a global discourse, rather than
Back to Contemporary: One Contemporary Ambition, Many Worlds

emphasize our own uniqueness and become

burdened by it? It’s not international attention
that will release us, but our self-discipline and
e-flux journal #11 — december 2009 Carol Yinghua Lu

critical engagement with our own practices and

ideas that will possibly make us active
participants in the global art scene, artists who
do not lose sight of the rest of the world. Maybe
it’s less relevant to ask what is “Chinese art”
than to think about what is contemporary in our
own particular context and how it relates to the
larger context of the world.
It seems that we are living in a
contemporary world just like everyone else, and
we have the same kind of exposure to news and
information and entertainment; if we look hard
enough, we find that we drink the same kind of
coffee and are sensitive to similar kinds of
things. But for many of us living in China, it’s as if
we are only beginning to make the journey to the
contemporary. For China, the 1960s and ‘70s
were periods of temporary suspension and
removal from the modernist movements – and
more importantly, from the transition from the
modern to the contemporary – that took place in
other parts of the world, and this distance
proved to be devastating. In the past few
decades, we have slowly built up a degree of
confidence and resources, sufficient perhaps to

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 Carol Yinghua Lu is an independent curator and art
writer based in Beijing. She is the co-editor of
Contemporary Art & Investment magazine and a
frequent contributor to a number of international art
magazines such as Frieze, Contemporary, and Today
Art. Her texts on contemporary art have appeared in
many art catalogues, books and magazines. A

09/09
graduate of the Critical Studies program at the Malmö
Art Academy, Lund University, Sweden, she was the
China researcher for Asia Art Archive from 2005 to
2007. Her curatorial work includes “The Temperament
of Detail” in Red Mansion Foundation, London,
“Foreign Objects” in the Project Space of Kunsthalle
Wien in Vienna, “The Weight of Reality” in Marella
Gallery, Beijing, two curatorial projects in ARCO'06 and
ARCO'07, Madrid, “Community of Taste” at The
Inaugural Exhibition of Iberia Center for Contemporary
Art, Beijing, and “There is No Story to Tell: An
Exhibition of International Artists” in Tang
Contemporary, Beijing. She has co-taught the 2007
summer course for BA and MA art and architecture
students from the California College of Art, acted as
the art consultant for the Olympic Museum Lausanne
on a major exhibition about China, and is on the jury
for Pro Helvetia Swiss Arts Council for selecting
cultural projects for its "China 2008–2010" program.
Back to Contemporary: One Contemporary Ambition, Many Worlds
e-flux journal #11 — december 2009 Carol Yinghua Lu

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