AAP 104 REVIEWS CITY: Beijing GALLERY: Ullens Center for Contemporary Art IN BOX: The New Normal: China, Art, and 2017 “ The New Normal ” is the third iteration of what has become a tradition at the U llens C enter for C ontemporary A rt (UCCA) : to stage a large - scale group show every four years , and present a pict ure of the current state of art The previous two , in 2009 and 2013 , included only Chinese artist s ; this year , the four young curators — Guo Xi, Yang Zi, Alvin Li and Wenfei Wang — have cast the net a little wider , presenting the work of 24 artists both Chinese and foreign While not expressly stated , it wa s clear that certain events — the ascent of Donald J. Trump ; Brexit ; the rise of right - wing movements in Turkey, Hungary and the Philippines ; plus continued war s in Syria and Yemen — loomed lar ge in the curators’ minds. W ith anxiet ies about globali z ation now commonplace , and subsequent wantonly atomistic reactions coming to define our sociopolitical reality, the exhibition both explore s and reflect s those feelings. The artworks, predominantl y videos, schizophrenically jump from China to Qatar to South Korea to Icela nd to the Philippines , and rapidly onward through space (and time). Further disc oncertion arose from the ir physical arrangement ; when moving between the 23 compartments — a feeling not dissimilar to sl ogging through art fair booths — it wa s easy to get lost The English and Chinese title s of the exhibition carry different meanings, an early signal of the guiding concerns In English , “ The New Normal ” references Chinese president Xi Jinping’s doublespeak regarding the country’s decreas ing ra te of economic growth , but also functions as a sweeping definition of the art world’s (and entire world’s) current condition . The exhibition’s Chinese title , which translates a s “ States of Exception, ” takes the term from Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben , who defined periods of societal crisis within which governments f eel justified to increas e their power beyond accepted norms Almost all of the a rt wa s interesting ; whether looking backward or forward in time, it felt fresh and relevant Zhu Changquan’s vegetation - filled compartment , titled Jump from the Past (2017), saw Marco Polo and Deng Xiaoping engage in an imagined conversation. With Solar Spectrum: the Royal Ballet of the Night 2 (2017), Yao Qingmei present ed loud videos of an opera singer and a ballerina at e ither side of her section , while a third video sees the artist engaging in a n erratic deconstruction of some of the other propaganda tools used by the Sun King, Louis XIV. Dropping us back in the present , Chen Chenchen’s video installation The Mercy of Not Killing (2017) seems to place the fate of a group of male laborers in to our hands. W e enter to find a set of stairs leading to a platform. I mages of the men are projected onto the platform’s edge , creating the illusion of them hanging from the ledge We a re in a position of power, seemingly able to push them to their deaths , with foreboding background music appearing to invite this violent act . Yet the metal chains surrounding the platform , their links shaped like interlocked hands, suggest that we should help the hanging men Ultimately , our actions need to fit the artist’s designs, and we must allow th e men to live. Despite being o ne of the more optimistic works in the show, drawing on a shared humanity that Chen believes is in all of us, the work espouses uncertainty and trepidation. Lawrence Lek rounded out the show with th ree computer - generated videos, ending on a note that leaves the viewer thinking beyond the exhibition , on potential future norms and states of exceptions The prophesies presented in Sinofuturism (1839 – 2046 AD) (2016 ) , of a world dominated by endless knock - offs and addiction s to videogames , might be incomprehensible dystopian visions for those un accustomed to certain parts of East Asia , while likely engendering feelings that are less pessimistic from those who are As such , the exhibition ended with a cultural schism that the show’s title began with. An anxiety - laden exhibition at UCCA should come as no surprise, since th at air fill s the building, with the owners selling up and many staff jumping ship. Here’s to hoping that this situation has n o t become the new normal at UCCA, because exhibitions like this one show that they still have much to offer