Curatorial Statement
31 December 1974, Beijing. A cold winter night. A group of young artists secretly bring their paintings to a one-day private viewing in Zhang Wei’s home in the Fusuijing Building, Xidan. Calling themselves No Name Group, they have been organising gatherings to paint together, creating art for art’s sake that also defies the style of official art in China. This bourgeois liberalisation has put them in political danger, but has also opened up a slim window for free expression, sowing the seeds of an artistic awakening in the years to come.
Today, contemporary Chinese art is one of the liveliest and most diversified art phenomena in global art history. In the past forty years, it has experienced an unprecedented development, evolving rapidly in ways that it took Western art centuries to do.
There is a distinctive bond between art and society in the trajectory of contemporary Chinese art. The repressive sociopolitical conditions of the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) created a strong desire for intellectual liberation, and this became a catalyst for the emergence of underground art collectives, such as No Name Group and Friday Photo Salon, in the mid-1970s. This sparked a modernist awakening and prompted the nationwide 1985 avant-garde art movement, which culminated in the 1989 China/Avant-Garde exhibition at the National Art Gallery in Beijing. Post-1989, contemporary Chinese art gathered attention outside of China and gained a prominent presence in the international art ecology, continuing after the 1990s and the 2008 Summer Olympics. As the country keeps growing and integrating with the globalised world, contemporary Chinese art relentlessly confronts new challenges that globalisation has brought along. It often maintains its provocative nature,operating in underground conditions and consisting of independent voices striving to act as checks and balances for society. Contemporary Chinese art is not an isolated field, and it progresses and evolves alongside social histories.
This online exhibition is an experiment to explore contemporary Chinese art and its complexities, using multiple entry points. Featuring selected paintings, sculptures, videos, and installation works from the M+ Sigg Collection, it provides a timeline allowing users to trace the development of this extraordinary art historical phenomenon, and the trajectory of individual artists. By tightly interweaving artworks with both art movements and important events, the exhibition creates a spatial structure to visualise multiple possible intersections. This encourages new understandings of the backgrounds that have informed some of the characteristics and recurring themes of contemporary Chinese art—its ambitiously large scale, its radicalism, its legacy of cultural revolution and individual history, its responsiveness to consumerism and urbanisation, and its reinvention of tradition.
Isabella Tam
Associate Curator, Visual Art
Credits: Design and development by HATO
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策展人的話
1974年12月31日，北京一個寒冷的冬夜，一群藝術家秘密地將畫作帶到張偉在西單福綏境大樓的家，參與為期一日的私人畫展。這群藝術家以「無名畫會」為自稱，舉辦繪畫聚會，為創作而創作，挑戰當時中國官方的藝術風格。這種資產階級自由化做法令他們身陷政治險境，但同時為自由表達稍稍打開了一扇窗，為日後的藝術覺醒播下種子。
時至今日，當代中國藝壇之活力充沛、百花齊放，在全球藝術史上數一數二；過去40年來發展之蓬勃前所未有，堪比西方藝術歷時數世紀的蛻變。
在中國當代藝壇的發展軌跡中，藝術與社會之間的連繫顯而易見。1966至1976年文化大革命期間，在壓抑的社會環境和政治箝制下，令人們深切渴望思想解放，因而於1970年代中期催生出「無名畫會」和「星期五沙龍」等地下藝術團體。這些自我組織團體的出現，激發了現代主義的醒覺，掀起席捲全國的「八五新潮」藝術運動，並以1989年於在北京中國美術館舉行的「中國現代藝術大展」為該運動的高峰。1989年後，中國當代藝術備受外國關注，在國際藝術的大環境中獲得顯著地位，由1990年代一直延續至2008年北京舉辦奧林匹克運動會後。隨中國內地繼續發展並融入全球一體的語境中，中國當代藝術持續直面全球化帶來的種種新挑戰，依然堅持其引發思考的本質，繼續以非官方的形式活躍於社會中，當中蘊藏的獨立聲音竭力發揮制衡社會的作用。中國當代藝術並非與外界隔絕的領域，而是一直隨社會歷史發展和蛻變。
這個網上展覽是一項實驗，嘗試以多個切入點探索中國當代藝術和箇中複雜面貌。展覽精選M+希克藏品中的繪畫、雕塑、錄像和裝置作品，以年表的方式讓觀眾追溯這段非凡的藝術發展歷程，以及個別藝術家創作生涯的演變。展覽以歷史上的藝術運動和社會大事為經緯，將藏品交織其中，以視覺方式呈現它們之間各種可能出現的交匯，令觀眾能重新認識造就中國當代藝術特色和常見主題的背景脈絡，這些特色和主題包括作品尺寸宏大、激進的前衛藝術形式、從文化大革命和個人歷史遺留的痕跡、對消費主義和都市化的回應，以及對傳統的重新演繹等。
時至今日，當代中國藝壇之活力充沛、百花齊放，在全球藝術史上數一數二；過去40年來發展之蓬勃前所未有，堪比西方藝術歷時數世紀的蛻變。
在中國當代藝壇的發展軌跡中，藝術與社會之間的連繫顯而易見。1966至1976年文化大革命期間，在壓抑的社會環境和政治箝制下，令人們深切渴望思想解放，因而於1970年代中期催生出「無名畫會」和「星期五沙龍」等地下藝術團體。這些自我組織團體的出現，激發了對現代主義的醒覺，掀起席捲全國的「八五新潮」藝術運動，並以1989年於在北京中國美術館舉行的「中國現代藝術大展」為該運動的高峰。1989年後，中國當代藝術備受外國關注，在國際藝術的大環境中獲得顯著地位，由1990年代一直延續至2008年北京舉辦奧林匹克運動會後。隨中國內地繼續發展並融入全球一體的語境下，中國當代藝術持續直面全球化帶來的種種新挑戰，往往堅持其引發思考的本質，繼續在地下狀態運作，當中作為獨立聲音竭力發揮制衡社會的作用。中國當代藝術並非與外界隔絕的領域，而是一直隨社會歷史發展和蛻變。
這個網上展覽是一項實驗，嘗試以多個切入點探索中國當代藝術和箇中複雜面貌。展覽精選M+希克藏品中的繪畫、雕塑、錄像和裝置作品，以年年表的方式讓觀眾追溯這個段非凡的藝術發展歷程，以及個別藝術家創作生涯的演變。展覽以歷史上的藝術運動和社會大事為經緯，將藏品交織於其中，以視覺方式呈現它們之間各種可能出現的交會，令觀眾能重新認識造就中國當代藝術特色和常見主題的背景脈絡，這些特色和主題包括宏心勃勃的大規模創作、激進的前衛藝術形式、從文化大革命和個人歷史遺留的痕跡、對消費主義和都市化的回應，以及對傳統的重新演繹等。
譚雪凝
M+視覺藝術副策展人
Curatorial Statement
31 December 1974, Beijing. A cold winter night. A group of young artists secretly bring their paintings to a one-day private viewing in Zhang Wei’s home in the Fusuijing Building, Xidan. Calling themselves No Name Group, they have been organising gatherings to paint together, creating art for art’s sake that also defies the style of official art in China. This bourgeois liberalisation has put them in political danger, but has also opened up a slim window for free expression, sowing the seeds of an artistic awakening in the years to come.
Today, contemporary Chinese art is one of the liveliest and most diversified art phenomena in global art history. In the past forty years, it has experienced an unprecedented development, evolving rapidly in ways that it took Western art centuries to do.
There is a distinctive bond between art and society in the trajectory of contemporary Chinese art. The repressive sociopolitical conditions of the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) created a strong desire for intellectual liberation, and this became a catalyst for the emergence of underground art collectives, such as No Name Group and Friday Photo Salon, in the mid-1970s. This sparked a modernist awakening and prompted the nationwide 1985 avant-garde art movement, which culminated in the 1989 China/Avant-Garde exhibition at the National Art Gallery in Beijing. Post-1989, contemporary Chinese art gathered attention outside of China and gained a prominent presence in the international art ecology, continuing after the 1990s and the 2008 Summer Olympics. As the country keeps growing and integrating with the globalised world, contemporary Chinese art relentlessly confronts new challenges that globalisation has brought along. It often maintains its provocative nature,operating in underground conditions and consisting of independent voices striving to act as checks and balances for society. Contemporary Chinese art is not an isolated field, and it progresses and evolves alongside social histories.
This online exhibition is an experiment to explore contemporary Chinese art and its complexities, using multiple entry points. Featuring selected paintings, sculptures, videos, and installation works from the M+ Sigg Collection, it provides a timeline allowing users to trace the development of this extraordinary art historical phenomenon, and the trajectory of individual artists. By tightly interweaving artworks with both art movements and important events, the exhibition creates a spatial structure to visualise multiple possible intersections. This encourages new understandings of the backgrounds that have informed some of the characteristics and recurring themes of contemporary Chinese art—its ambitiously large scale, its radicalism, its legacy of cultural revolution and individual history, its responsiveness to consumerism and urbanisation, and its reinvention of tradition.
Isabella Tam
Associate Curator, Visual Art