ALM17 CHINA (BEIJING) INTRODUCTION President Xi Jinping—labelled in 2016 as the “core” of the Chinese Communist Party—demonstrably consolidated his grip on power. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection continued “cleaning up the house”—its broad anti-corruption campaign initiated in 2013—that now defines Chinese politics. China’s 13th Five- Year Plan was approved in March; it aims to move towards advanced technologies, greater environmental protection, and a stronger social safety net. Despite a stable economic slowdown, China is flexing its muscles in diplomacy, international commerce and world affairs. In July a tribunal in The Hague provoked fierce rebuttals from China when it ruled in favour of the Philippines in relation to a dispute over ownership of areas of the South China Sea, where Chinese is transforming reefs into miniature islands where it is building harbors and runways. Fears of an aging demographic had prompted the Chinese Communist Party to officially end its thirty- five-year “one child policy,” starting from January 1, 2016. In the cultural realm, museums and galleries are increasingly choosing to base themselves in Shanghai over Beijing. In November, Hong Kong gallery Edouard Malingue opened a new space in Shanghai on the West Bund. The West Bund is rapidly cementing itself as a key cultural location with the help of government incentives. A flurry of concurrently running art fairs, biennales and big exhibitions further emphasised Shanghai’s increasing prominence. Shanghai billionaire Liu Yiqian expanded the Long Museum brand inland, with a new space opening in Chongqing in late May, with another planned for Wuhan in 2018. In June, Belgian collector Guy Ullens announced that he would be removing his patronage from the Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art (UCCA) in Beijing and selling the institution—along with his 2,000–piece collection that including many significant works by Chinese artists. In September there was furore over an exhibition at the Central Academy of Fine Arts Museum (CAFAM) of the works of Anselm Kiefer, with Kiefer claiming the exhibition was organized “without [his] involvement or consent”; nonetheless the exhibition, which had been organized by two museums in Germany, went ahead. Beijing’s domestic auction houses are wielding increasing influence in the regional market and making ambitious expansion plans. Despite uncertainty in the marketplace China Guardian’s 2016 spring auctions concluded with a total of RMB2.19 billion (USD 318.4 million) in sales, an increase of 16.8 percent over the previous year. A new headquarters, the Guardian Art Center, designed by German architect Ole Scheeren and scheduled to open in 2017, will sit directly across from the National Art Museum of China and host auctions, exhibitions, academic research and art restoration. Its competitor, the state-owned Poly Culture Group, saw sales of RMB2.85 billion (USD 414.3 million) through its auction houses in Beijing, Hong Kong and Macau. Broad censorship remains in force. The exhibition “Christian Lemmerz and Norbert Tadeusz: Meat” (9/16–12/15) at the Faurschou Foundation saw almost all of Tadeusz’s paintings censored by the Chinese Cultural Bureau. In response the organizers exhibited a series of empty frames in Beijing and organized for the paintings to be shown at a pop-up exhibition at the art space Starprojects, in Shatin, in Hong Kong (9/18–10/30). MUSEUMS & NONPROFITS As Beijing maintains its tight stance on what is acceptable cultural production, China’s museum infrastructure is still growing in cities across the country. Yet the art scene is still largely spearheaded by commercial ventures and a handful of project spaces in Beijing and Shanghai. Major state art institutions located in the heart of the capital include the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), which put on almost 100 shows over the course of the year. Among the slew of conservative and nationalistic exhibitions was an exhibition focused on Lu Xun, “China’s greatest Modern writer,” in “Use Bright Red to Depict the Great Prospect of Revolutionary Art: Exhibition Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the Death of Lu Xun” (3/8–5/22); items exhibited came from the NAMOC and the Lu Xun Museum, also in Beijing. Another highlight was an exhibition focused on pioneering early-20th-century painter Chen Shizeng (1876–1923), who combined modernist discourses from Japan with Chinese ink-wash painting (11/11–12/20). Nearby on Tiananmen Square is the National Museum of China (NAMOC), which hosted a mix of large-scale international shows, such as Venice and the Venetian School” (3/24– ), which featured 73 artworks including pieces from Titian and Giovanni Bellini, and those with a strong nationalistic historical narrative such as “Exhibition of ‘Chinese Epic’ Artworks” (11/20–12/11), which offered a 5,000-year history of the nation through a vast range of works. A little further outside of Beijing’s center is the Central Academy of Fine Arts Museum (CAFAM), which hosted the controversial show “Anselm Kiefer Coagulation” (11/19–1/8/17). Earlier it showed sculptural works by key figures in the development of modern sculpture in China, Wang Linyi and Wang He’nei (3/4–4/3), CAFAM also hosted the first Beijing Media Art Biennale (BMAB), with the guiding theme “The Ethics of Technology” (9/24–10/30). The BMAB was organized in association with Beijing Design Week (9/24–10/1), a government-backed program of exhibitions and events in cooperation with various cultural institutions and spaces in Beijing. The Tsinghua University Art Museum opened in September under the directorship of Feng Yuan. The inaugural show “Dialogue with Leonardo Da Vinci” (9/11–12/11; 12/22–3/19/17), featuring 60 original manuscripts and artworks including by Feng Yuan, was temporarily closed soon after opening due to a series of embarrassing spelling mistakes on the wall texts. Beijing Minsheng Contemporary Art Museum, touted as the largest private museum in the country and the bank’s third arts venue after its first two museums in Shanghai. Covering 35,000-square meters, the industrial steel-and-glass structure located in the 798 Art District held a solo show of female artist Xiang Jing curated by poet Zhu Zhu (9/18–10/22) and for the Central Academy of Fine Arts faculty member Wu Jian’an (11/4–12/11). The show “Post-Sense Sensibility: Trepidation and Will” (11/5–12/11), curated by Qiu Zhijie and Guo Xiaoyan, took a look back at the resonances of the hugely controversial 1999 exhibition “Post-Sense, Sensibility, Alien Bodies and Delusion.” The Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA) was dogged by rumours and uncertainty following the news that its owner would be selling the institution. Its biggest show for the year was “Rauschenberg in China” (6/12–8/21), which focused on the American’s 305-meter-long painting, The ¼ Mile or 2 Furlong Piece (1981– 1998). This was followed by a career retrospective of painter Zeng Fanzhi (9/19– 11/19), earlier in the year Wang Yin received the same treatment (3/29–5/27). In its “New Directions” series, emerging video artist Hao Jingban showed two recent videos about a ballroom and a factory (6/9–8/7). UCCA continues to play host to a wide range of international artists including installation duo Elmgreen & Dragset (1/24–4/17) and new-media artist John Gerrard (6/9–7/8). Also in Beijing’s 798 Art District is the smaller private museum M Woods, founded by Lin Han. Its big show was “Andy Warhol: Contact” (8/6–1/7/2017), focusing on photographs, video and installations; the marketing for this exhibition involved advertisements in London and New York. As in 2015 the young Chinese collector also put on an exhibition of works from the M Woods collection (3/27– 7/24), covering a vast range of art history, from ancient Chinese stone carvings to Giorgio Morandi to Olafur Eliasson. M Woods also organized the “Summer Art Night” (6/25), which saw numerous spaces in 798 open their spaces late into the evening, including the Goethe Institut, which hosted a performance work by Roman Hagenbrock. Other cultural institutions also held exhibitions throughout the year. The Institut Francais featured Congolese photographer Baudouin Mouanda “Les Sapeurs de Bacongo” (3/17–4/24), and the Danish Culture Institute, in conjunction with CAFA, organized the “Beijing Live: International Performance Festival” (10/14–23). Private contemporary art institutions remain active in China, despite the absence of a legal structure for nonprofit organizations to operate autonomously of the government. The 14-year-old Today Art Museum is nonprofit in name but partially funded by the Beijing district government. The performance artists He Yunchang, famous for having one rib removed, had a solo retrospective (7/8–8/31) and there was a focus on new-media art with the solo exhibitions of Hangzhou-based Wu Juehui (8/20–9/15) and Tian Xiaolei (5/28–6/15), who earlier showed cyborg and posthumanism-themed projects at Space Station gallery (1/17–3/19). Another of these private art institutions is Red Brick Art Museum, which hosted “Wen Pulin Archive of Chinese Avant-Garde Art of the 1980s and 1990s” (11/5–3/5/2017), featuring photographic and video documentation of the key artistic happenings of the 1980s and 1990s. The Museum also organized another exhibition with an historical emphasis, “Permanent Abstraction: Epiphanies of a Modern Form in Escaped Totalities” (11/6–2/19/17), an alternative history of abstract art. Earlier in the year the museum played host to large-scale exhibitions of French artists Tatiana Trouvé and Laure Prouvost (both 5/28–8/28). Beijing’s independent nonprofit spaces are most often found in the city’s narrow hutongs and their ranks are growing. In August iprojectspace organized the second “Independent Art Spaces Beijing (IAS),” a platform for independent spaces to reach a broader audience. Arrow Factory hosted three shows by Italian artist Alessandro Rolandi’s The Social Sensibility Institute (2/1–3/1; 5/11–6/15; 8/12– 9/15). Another independent space located in Beijing’s hutongs is Intellegentsia Gallery, run by the curator-artist-couple Garcia Frankowski who organized the large group show “Hypertext” (2/24–3/14) in the former Boers-Li Gallery site in Caochangdi. Also in Caochangdi is Video Bureau, which is more of an archive than an exhibition space, and have recently acquired collected video works from Guan Xiao, Soda Jerk and Yan Xing, among 12 others. A new nonprofit hutong space that opened this year is 17-square-meter Salt Projects, which focused on experimental and performance art as in the group show “Wet Dreams” (9/24–10/29). The very first domestically funded nonprofit art space in Beijing, Taikang Space offered a range of modern and contemporary art shows, including a solo show from Hao Jingban (3/17–4/16) and “Love Addict” (9/8–11/12), which brought together the works of Chen Xiaoyun and Jiang Zhi. Beijing Parkview Green Exhibition Hall, situated on the top floor of the Parkview Green mall featured sculptor Yu Yang (9/10–10/23). GALLERIES A former factory area, 798 Art District, and a former migrant village, Caochangdi, are Beijing’s two main gallery areas. In 798, Galleria Continua hosted Anthony Gormley’s “Host” (3/19–8/20), which saw the artist flood the main exhibition space with a mixture of local clay and water. In “Hidden Surface” Kiwon Park also utilised the entirety of the main exhibition hall, gutting and then covering the space with corrugated cardboard; he also presented a group of abtract paintings (9/28–2/5/17). Next door is Boers-Li Gallery, which presented solo shows of the video works of Fang Lu (6/10–7/17) and the videos and light-based installation works of Chen Shaoxiong (10/29–2/26/17) after Chen had passed away in September. Tang Contemporary Art had a show of Chen Shaoxiong’s work beginning at the same time (10/29–11/27), as well as solo shows focusing on artists on their roster, including Sichuan painter Chen Wenbo (3/12–4/30) and the installations by Zhao Zhao about a refrigerator that he installed kilometers into the Xinjiang desert (9/3–10/22). Song Dong exhibited new installation works of discarded things in “Surplus Value” at Pace Beijing (12/19/15–3/26). The gallery also hosted the group exhibition “Talking on Paper” (4/17–6/8), which presented 28 art works on paper from international and Chinese artists, including Willem de Kooning and Zhang Xiaogang. Zhang was also featured in a later show alongside Sol LeWitt (9/28–11/19). The Faurschou Foundation shares a building with Pace Beijing and early in the year saw the culmination of its Yoko Ono show (11/15/15–7/3). It would subsequently show the heavily censored exhibition by sculptor Christian Lemmerz and painter Norbert Tadeusz, “Meat” (9/16–12/15). Long March Space hosted the group show Before the Beginning and After the End II (9/17–11/27). It previously hosted Tianzhuo Chen’s multidisciplinary performance project “Ishvara” (6/9–7/10), which also travelled to two of Beijing’s most important nightclubs. Other galleries in 798 include Magician Space, which presented a solo exhibition of Jiang Zhi’s multimedia works (8/27–10/9). Platform China showed the paintings of Ma Ke (5/28–7/3). Beijing Commune presented Liang Shuo’s Temple of Candour (3/8–4/30) and a solo show Ma Qiusha’s new sculptural works (6/15–8/6). Springs Art Center of Art organized a group show of Chinese art world heavyweights: Ai Weiwei, Xu Bing, Qiu Zhijie and Zhan Wang (4/30–6/26). The highlight of the Gingko Space program was a show focusing on the installation works of Chen Yufan (6/15–7/13). In Beijing’s other main gallery area, Caochangdi, Galerie Urs Meile saw a slew of solo exhibitions from artists on its books including, Chen Fei’s illustrative paintings (3/12–5/2), Yang Mushi (9/3–10/16), a large show of Wang Xingwei’s satirical paintings held in conjunction with Platform China gallery “Honor and Disgrace” (9/10–10/23) and Li Gang’s elemental paintings and sculptures (10/5– 2/9/17). ShanghArt presented the photographic and video works of Liang Yue (3/5– 4/13), an immense set of mechanical installation works by Shao Yi (5/1–6/12) and a collection of new-media video works by Hu Jieming (9/17–11/9). De Sarthe Gallery was full of bring pink installation works for Wang Xin’s “Every Artist Should Have a Solo Show” (3/19–5/29). Earlier, more bright light was supplied by the paintings in Ma Sibo’s solo show (10/15–11/27). Just a few minutes walk from here is White Space Beijing where highlights were the installation and video works of Li Liao (3/5–4/11) and the pop art-esque paintings of young artist Gao Ludi (10/22–12/11). Inside Caochangdi’s complex of red brick building are, among other galleries, Pékin Fine Arts, Ink Studio and Chambers Fine Art. At Pékin Fine Arts Hong Kong ink painter Wesley Tongson held his first solo exhibition on the mainland (3/12–5/28). This was followed by an exhibition of paintings, installations and a new animated video work by the co-founder of the New Media Department of The Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Zhang Xiaotao (6/1–8/10). Ink Studio held solo shows for contemporary ink painting masters Li Jin (5/28–8/14) and Wang Dongling (10/17– 11/20). Chambers Fine Art simultaneously showed the works incorporate natural materials of Cu Fei and young Hong Kong artist’s drawings of horror-movie posters Ho Sintung (both 9/17–11/20). Another highlight was Wu Jian’an’s exhibition “Ten Thousand Things” (5/14–8/14), with sculptures, installations and paintings occupying both exhibition rooms. Just outside the main gallery area of Caochangdi is the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, a nonprofit owned and run by artist-couple RongRong and Inri. “Immeasurable: The 8th Three Shadows Photography Exhibition” (4/9–6/3) brought together some of the best Chinese photographers currently producing work. Outside of the two main art districts, Red Gate Gallery, one of China’s longest-running commercial galleries, celebrated its 25th anniversary (7/2–10/2). It also hosted the exhibition “Half the Sky: Chinese Women Artists” (4/23–5/8), which was organized to coincide with the publication of art historian Luise Guest’s book of the same name. In Beijing’s Sanlitun area C5 Art Centre showed realist paintings in “Ma Yonhang: Soft Skin and Elementary School” (3/5–4/5). Beijing has two annual art fairs, the 12-year-old CIGE (10/2–10/4) and the 11-year-old Art Beijing (10/27–11/1). Both largely featuring galleries that hail from greater China and lag behind competitors in Shanghai and Hong Kong. INTERNATIONAL In New York, a retrospective of modernist painter Zao Wou-ki “No Limits” (9/9–1/8/17) at Asia Society was widely acclaimed. Cao Fei’s first solo US museum show opened at MoMA PS1 (4/3–8/30), which included a comprehensive range of her most important works including video pieces RMB City (2007) and Whose Utopia? (2006). The Guggenheim Museum in New York organized “Tales of Our Time” (11/4–3/10) with seven artists/groups. Also in New York, Chambers Fine Art and Klein Sun Gallery continue to focus solely on Chinese art. At Lisson Gallery in New York was “Ai Weiwei 2016: Roots and Branches” (5/11–23/12). Another New York show, “Ai Weiwei: Laudromat” (5/11–23/12) at Deitch Projects saw Ai exhibit clothes left behind by migrants after they were forced to leave a refugee camp on the Greek-Macedonian border. The show reflected Ai’s interest in the migrant crisis; earlier in the year he set up a studio on the Greek island of Lesbos and drew much attention for publishing a photograph imitating the child Alan Kurdi whose body had, the year before, washed up on a beach on the island. Elsewhere in the United States, at Eli and Edythe Broad Museum at Michigan State University was “Fire Within: A New Generation of Chinese Women Artists” (8/27–2/12/17). In the United Kingdom rising artist Guan Xiao presented her immersive installation at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London (4/20–6/19). Outside of London, at the CASS Sculpture Foundation was “A Beautiful Disorder” (7/3–11/6), with newly commissioned outdoor sculpture by Cao Fei, Song Ta and others. On the continent, at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, was “Bentu: Chinese Artists in a Time of Turbulence and Transformation” (1/27–5/2), curated by Phil Tinari, and featuring Cao Fei, Hu Xiangqian, Yang Fudong and nine other Chinese artists. In the Netherlands, Cao Guo-Qiang showed “My Stories of Painting” (9/30– 5/1/17) at the Bonnefantenmuseum; this show coincided with him receiving the Bonnefanten Award for Contemporary Art 2016. In October the documentary film Sky Ladder: The Art of Cao Guo-Qiang was released, which followed Cao’s trials and tribulations as he tried to create a 500-meter “Sky Ladder” using his signature fireworks medium. Cai also curated the blockbuster exhibition “What About The Art?: Contemporary Art From China” (3/14–7/14) at QM Gallery al-Riwaq in Doha with sixteen artists, including were Xu Bing, Yang Fudong, Huang Yongping and Liu Xiaodong. LOOKING AHEAD M Woods will exhibit the work of Cristof Yvoré, the first time that the French artist’s work will be exhibited outside of Europe and North America. China will return to the Venice Biennale in early May, although no curators or artists had been announced at the end of 2016. In October 2017, The Guggenheim Museum is organizing a major survey exhibition, co-curated by Phil Tinari and Alexandra Munroe, “Art and China After 1989: Theater of the World.”
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