UCCA Dialogue | "Field Observations of Chinese Contemporary Art" Series: What exactly does that mean?

In the face of the many forms and ever-expanding boundaries that art refers to, the art theorist Irit Rogoff expressed the doubts that many people have about what art possesses: "What does that mean?" From the 20th century onwards, the form of art has been like the universe after the Big Bang, expanding, splitting, and being captured by other different systems of knowledge to form new "galaxies." Defining "art" in its entirety has become an impossible task, but we can still paint a system around which art arises. China's art system gradually took shape in the process of marketization in the 1990s, and today it has developed a diverse ecology. At the beginning of the "Live Observation of Chinese Contemporary Art" series of public projects, UCCA will work with guests to guide the audience to a general understanding of the art system. While sorting out the basic ideas, it paves the way for the discussion of the series of projects and even the emergence of new ideas and insights: Are there new possibilities in the existing inductions?

"Common Scene: UCCA 15th Anniversary Council Collection Exhibition", UCCA Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, 2022. Photography: Sun Shi.

On May 8, 2022, UCCA was honored to invite curator Liu Chunfeng, Beijing Commune Director Lv Jingjing, Macalline Art Center Director Yang Beichen and artist Zhao Yao, under the auspices of Zhu Yujie, anchor, writer and curator of "Art Folding", to restore a basic "art world" picture for the audience from different aspects of art ecology.

"Common Scene: UCCA 15th Anniversary Council Collection Exhibition", UCCA Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, 2022. Photography: Sun Shi.

About the guests

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Liu Chunfeng

Researcher, Deputy Director of the Exhibition Department of the National Art Museum of China

Doctor of Art Theory, Researcher, Deputy Director of the Exhibition Department of the National Art Museum of China, Art Historian, Curator, Critic, Representative of the 15th People's Congress of Beijing Municipality, selected by the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee for the 2019 National "Cultural Masters and Four Batches" of the "Ten Thousand People Plan • Youth Top-notch" Talents, Theoretical Members of the China Artists Association, Members of the Theoretical Art Committee of the Beijing Artists Association, and Members of the China Literary and Art Criticism Association. He graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts with bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees, and in 2013 received a certificate of completion of the training of art management leaders jointly issued by the Ministry of Culture, the National Art Museum of China, the Central Academy of Fine Arts and the School of Media of the Free University of Berlin, Germany. Since 2007, Liu Chunfeng has worked at the National Art Museum of China, engaged in academic research and exhibition planning. Since around 2000, she has represented the country in more than 100 modern and contemporary art projects and academic activities in important art museums in Brussels, Paris, Tokyo, Seoul, Busan, Rome, Lyon, Vienna, Berlin, New York, Turin and other places, and has paid long-term attention and participation in the development of Chinese art. Among the more important exhibition projects are: "Floating Tour - Selected Chinese Contemporary Art" held at the National Museum of Art in Korea in 2007, "Upward - Selected Chinese Contemporary Art" held at the National Gallery of Singapore in 2008, "Facing Reality - Selected Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Art" held at the National Gallery of Contemporary Art in Vienna in 2008, "Mirror Flower And Water Moon - Chinese Contemporary Women's Art Exhibition" held at the European Center for Contemporary Art in Belgium in 2009 under the framework of "Europaria Year of China". In 2010, in order to celebrate the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, she was selected as the final candidate for curator of the Chinese Pavilion at the Meridian International Center in Washington, D.C., the "@what- New Generation of Chinese Art Exhibition" held at the National Arts Council Art Museum in South Korea in 2013, and the Asian Special Section of the 2014 Busan Biennale. In 2017, he became the curator of the Chinese Pavilion of the 12th Curitiba International Biennale held by the National Art Museum of Curitiba, Brazil, curating "Pulse: Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition", in 2017, he curated the "Key Exhibition Project of the 15th Asian Art Festival: Vientiane Complex View - Asian Art Invitation Exhibition" held at the Ningbo Art Museum, and in 2018, he curated the "Purification: A New Generation Exhibition of Chinese Art" held at the Art Museum of the Oriental Art Foundation in Portugal. In 2020, he planned the contemporary art project of Suzhou Jinji Lake Biennale and so on. She has also written a large number of critical articles and art criticism for the national core journals, edited and co-edited more than sixty albums and anthologies related to modern and contemporary art, and published four personal academic monographs.

Lv Jingjing

Director of Beijing Commune

Graduated from Shanghai University of Chinese with a master's degree in English Language and Literature. Prior to his career in the primary market of contemporary art, he was active in the non-profit artist project space, and was the director of the public education department of Zendai Museum of Modern Art in Shanghai, and the director of the Beijing Commune Gallery since 2009. He maintains a strong interest and observation of contemporary art and its relationship between the market and social culture, and has written for professional art media such as Artforum and Contemporary Art and Investment.

Yang Beichen

Curator, Director of Macalline Arts Center

Researcher and curator living in Beijing. He is currently the Director of the Macalline Arts Center and a member of the Thought Council of the Fondazione Prada.

Zhao wants

artist

Born in Sichuan in 1981, he graduated from the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in 2004 and now lives and works in Beijing. His solo exhibitions include "51 Sq. Ft.: 3# Zhao Yao" at Taikang Space in 2010, "Zhao Yao: I Am Your Night" and "Zhao Yao: You Can't See Me, You Can't See Me" in Beijing Commune in 2011 and 2012, "Zhao Yao: Spirit Above All Else" at Pace Gallery in London in 2013, and "The Power of Nature: 10,000 Square Meters of Works in Beijing" in Beijing Workers' Stadium in 2018 and "There Is a Signal of God, a Signal of God" at Beijing Commune. His works have been exhibited at the Fremantle Art Centre, the Pinchuk Art Centre, the ZKM Art and Media Centre, the UCCA Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art, the Boiman Van Buningen Museum, the Palais de Tokyo and the Whitechapel Gallery.

compere

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Good luck

Anchor, writer, curator of "Art Folding"

Writer, curator, art criticism and curatorial major at Central Saint Martins College. He has published works such as "Letter from Yu", "Everything Is Happy", "The World Is Never Silent", "People Will Look Good when They Arrive at the Art Museum", and translated works such as "Sensationalism", "Renaissance People", and "Simplicity as a Photo". VisitBritain China's Social Media Influence Friendly Ambassador, hosts the British culture documentary series ZHU in Britain.