All The Country’s An Art Exhibit

Some experts remain skeptical of the government's newfound openness. Pi Li, who worked with China's Ministry of Culture to curate shows of Chinese contemporary art at the Venice Biennale and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, says that during his collaboration with the government, works were tightly screened and often changed at the last minute from their original proposals. And there are still instances of censorship; earlier this year authorities for unspecified reasons abruptly pulled a show of performance artist Zhang Huan, who returned from abroad to open a large studio in Shanghai.

Still, there are signs that contemporary art is growing deeper roots in China. Cai Guo-Qiang, who works in gunpowder and is one of the best-known Chinese artists abroad—he recently had a show at the Guggenheim in New York—was asked to help devise the fireworks display for the Olympics opening ceremonies. The controversial Xu Bing, who lived in exile in the United States in the 1980s and '90s, has returned to teach at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. "I think the whole country is now less uptight about cultural policing," says Johnson Chang, whose Hanart gallery in Hong Kong was one of the first to show contemporary Chinese art and who was invited to curate this year's Guangzhou Triennial. "The government is experimenting with contemporary art as a civic space. They may not endorse it officially, but they certainly have been very tolerant and quietly consenting."

He should know. This year's Triennial (through Nov. 16) features 170 artists under the banner "Farewell to Post-Colonialism." Unusually for China, 140 of the works are by foreign artists, including 30 film and video works by young Middle Easterners. Keynote pieces include an installation by Shanghai artist Liu Dahong composed of a giant tent, which all visitors have to walk through, featuring images of Chinese political leaders painted in the style of Christian triptych icon paintings. "It's a very sarcastic look at the foundation of Chinese modernity, the Western roots of communism, the obsession with the end of history and salvation," says Chang.

Critics caution that without more infrastructure, China's soaring art market could be headed for collapse. The country still lacks a system of gallery endorsement and museum hierarchy, says Chang: "Artists leap immediately from their studios into a biennial in Venice or whatever." Sigg agrees that China, which has no public museums with major collections of contemporary domestic art, lacks credible institutions that could help balance the market in setting values for art. But it's tough to argue with a buyer willing to pay $150,000 for a tattooed man.

© 2008