art.blogging.la
Posted by guest at March 17, 2005 11:45 AM
Regeneration Review by Melissa Goldberg
[image] Chen_Anti-terror.jpg

Regeneration: Contemporary Art from China and the US is a window into
the progress of contemporary art in China, but only a few of the 26
artists on view at Otis’ Ben Maltz Gallery truly stand out with
originality and impact.

The tradition of art making is not a new thing for China. But Chinese
artists have become more verbose in the last 30 some years after the end
of Mao’s communist regime. The show is a survey of 48 contemporary works
by artists with foundations in China, specifically Beijing, Shanghai,
and Gounghzhou. The exhibition is organized by Dan Mills and Xiaoze
Xie—who is also an artist in the exhibition— and is on display at Ben
Maltz through April 23. It was first shown at was Bucknell’s Samek Art
Gallery in Pennsylvania.

Zhang Huan’s My America (Hard to Acclimatize), is dramatic and powerful.
Nude Americans stand shoulder to shoulder on three tiers of scaffolding
— except for one lady wearing hiking boots. The nude artist sits on a
stool in the center of the scaffolding, completely exposed in the middle
of this warehouse-like space. He is surrounded by bits of bread that,
according to the wall text, have been thrown at him by the audience to
symbolize the many times people assumed the artist homeless. Zhang Huan
creates a palpable feeling of “otherness”, and the photograph captures
the weight of his isolation.
[image] honghao2.jpg

Hong Hao’s Page 1999 from New World 1 and Page 2051 from New World 2 are
clever silk screened maps with blatant comment on globalization and
world economics—map scale is measured by “Microsoft”, “trap” is the
signpost for Greenland, and various map key colors signify levels of
economic success rather than more typical geographic interests like
elevation or average rainfall. Hong has even meticulously represented a
bound atlas adding the details of gold-edged pages.

Also, examining influences from geopolitics and international fusions is
Wendy Gu’s United Nations-Temple of Exocitisms. A striking visual
installation and the first piece to draw attention upon entering the
gallery, Gu’s work uses weaved human hair to make delicate hanging
curtains adorned by woven characters of no importance culled from Asian,
Western, and Islamic texts. The curtains surround two sides of a table
and chairs. The TV chairs (as her medium is described), halved and glued
together with a TV screen substituted for a seat, merge typical
furniture styles from France’s Louis XV (mid-18th century) and China’s
Ming Dynasty (1368- 1644) eras. Gu’s work seems to ask: what would be
different if France and China had a relationship throughout the
centuries? If the continents were merged and languages combined?

Like Gu, many of the artists included in Regeneration use history to
reinterpret the present. Ai Weiwei’s Table with Three Legs re-interprets
classic furniture design from the Qing Dynasty to create an off-kilter
table, YunFeiJi’s Picnic drawn on mulberry paper with mineral pigment
creates an strange world that camouflages odd looking men, women, and
cars amongst the trees, and Hong Lei’s After Song Dynasty Painting Quail
and Autumn Chrysanthemum by Li Anzhong follows the landscape portraits
that were traditional in China’s historical art of the Song Dynasty, but
adds a unique circular frame and a dead and massacred quail to
symbolize, according to the wall text, “glorified violence under the
visible head of power”.

Xu Bing creates his own language in Computer Font Project that merges
English and Catonese and thus, East and West by creating an original
language; well-known graffiti artist Zhang Dali’s photographs are
straight-forward economic comments— he features his tags on condemned
buildings contrasted by the skyline of metropolitan Shanghai that
dominates the backdrop; Hai Bo’s historical portraits catch groups of
soldiers and sisters, then and now; Chen Shaoxiong’s video Anti-terror
Variety, a blatant “what if” following September 11,considers the
possibilities when a building can be as limber as Gumbi and avoid jet
airliners aimed straight at them; Xiaoze Xie’s realistic paintings
depict stacks of newspapers that comment on the media’s editorial habits.

Each artist has a very particular message that adds to a broad idea of
what concerns Chinese artists today. But instead of complementing each
other, these artists’ comments become a competition for attention.
Though the exhibition presents a laundry list of informative challenges
in contemporary Chinese art to consider, the impact of Zhang Huan’s My
America (Hard to Acclimatize) was the only work that resonated.

Regeneration: Contemporary Art from China and the US
@ Ben Maltz Gallery / Otis College of Art + Design :: 9045 Lincoln Boulevard
Through April 23, 2005

Other presentations of Regeneration are:
September 24 – December 24, 2005 Arizona State University Art Museum,
Tempe, AZ
February 4- May 6, 2006 Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA

IMAGES: (top to bottom)
Hong Hao
Page 2051, New World No. 2, 2000
silkscreen.
Courtesy of the artist, Beijing

Chen Shaoxiong
Anti-Terror Variety, 2002
Digital video - 5min 11 sec
Courtesy of the artist, Gangzhou

http://art.blogging.la/archives/2005/03/regeneration_re.phtml

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BZ, Freitag, 18. März 2005
Schon schön
Das Haus der Kulturen der Welt macht Platz für ein Thema, das wieder in
Mode kommt
Carmen Böker

Das Haus der Kulturen der Welt hat sich schön gemacht: Michael Lin
bemalte den Boden des Foyers mit einem riesigen, leuchtend bunten
Gemälde, dessen Blumenmuster in seiner Heimat Taiwan zwar längst démodé
sind; früher jedoch, dank reduzierter Linienführung billig industriell
herzustellen, massenweise die Schlafzimmer zierten. Samta Benyahia aus
Algerien verkleidete die zentrale Fensterfront des HKW mit einem
Ornament fortgeschrittener Abstraktion; mit jenem ruhig-harmonischen
Rosettenmuster, das in der islamischen Welt Weisheit und Schönheit
verkörpert und außerdem in seiner Durchlässigkeit die Grenze zwischen
Innen und Außen verschwimmen lässt.

Und der eigentlich immer vorbildlich aufgeräumte Spiegelteich mit Henry
Moores Schmetterlingsskulptur wurde von Qin Yufen einem umfassenden
Frühjahrsputz unterzogen. Die chinesische Künstlerin türmte über den
Wassern größere Mengen von Wäscheständern auf und lässt daran wie zum
Trocknen Seidenstoffe im Wind flattern - in verschiedenen Sprachen ist
ihnen das Wort "Schönheit" eingestickt. Gewaschen hat sich drinnen auch
die Installation des Filipinos David Medalla: Seine "Bubble Machine"
produziert phallische Gebilde aus dem Schaum garantiert
umweltfreundlicher Seife - sie schieben sich zunächst zentimeterweise
empor aus mannshohen Plexiglas-Rohren (die jede Wohnung im Retro-Look
zieren würden), um irgendwann in niedlicher Erschlaffung zur Seite zu
sacken, was für Medalla der Schönheit von Wolkenbewegungen gleichkommt.

Generell "Über Schönheit" will man sich von heute an im HKW austauschen.
Neben der von Wu Hung kuratierten Ausstellung mit 24 Künstlern aus 16
Ländern steht ein umfängliches Veranstaltungsprogramm an, das neben
Konferenzen, Filmen und Konzerten seinen Schwerpunkt auf den
zeitgenössischen Tanz legt, da sich hier unterschiedliche
Wahrnehmungsmuster am eingängigsten darstellen lassen: Der Westen
begreift die Haut als Begrenzung des Körpers, der ferne Osten betrachtet
den Körper als untrennbar verbunden mit seiner Bewegung im Raum.

Das Problem, ästhetische Prinzipien allgemeingültiger als nach dem
privaten Geschmack zu definieren, wird nahezu unlösbar in der Frage, was
Schönheit ist - zumal es heute verpönt ist, diesen Diskurs
ausschließlich auf ästhetischer und nicht noch mindestens auf sozialer
oder urbaner Ebene zu führen. Das Widerstreben, sich mit der Schönheit
an sich zu beschäftigen, hat im Grunde fast das ganze letzte Jahrhundert
über angehalten: Je skrupelloser Schönheit in perfekter Überarbeitung
eingesetzt wurde, um den Konsum anzukurbeln und Produkte durch
Massenmedien begehrenswerter zu machen, desto größer wurden die Bedenken
bildender Künstler, sich in der Wiedergabe von Schönheit nicht der
Wahrhaftigkeit, sondern bloß einer Marktorientierung zu verpflichten.

Dennoch ist in den Schönen Künsten seit einigen Jahren die Rückkehr der
Schönheit en vogue; das sieht man schon daran, dass der trendmäßig stets
hellsichtige Umberto Eco im vergangenen Jahr bei Hanser "Die Geschichte
der Schönheit" heraus gegeben hat. Auch den ersten kuratorischen Versuch
einer Annäherung gab es schon: Christoph Vitali hatte 1999 für das "Haus
der Kunst" in München die Ausstellung "Beauty Now" initiiert. Sie
vernachlässigte bewusst ein besonders wohlfeiles Diskursthema - den
Perfektionierungswahn der Gegenwart und die daraus folgenden,
sprunghaften Zunahmen von Schönheitsoperationen (was besonders hässliche
Bilder über das Streben nach Makellosigkeit hervorbringt). Stattdessen
thematisierte Vitali eine allmählich sich wiederbelebende Sehnsucht nach
dem Erhabenen, nach dem klassischen Dreiklang des "Schönen, Wahren,
Guten" - die den Anspruch erhebt, dass Schönheit irgendwie nachhaltig
sein müsse, dass sie nicht länger als Qualität für sich verstanden
werden könne. Wie meinte doch schon Torbergs Tante Jolesch: "Schön ist
sie? No und? Schönheit kann man mit einer Hand zuhalten." Oder, um es
mit Nam June Paik zu sagen: "When too perfect lieber Gott böse."

Nam June Paik ist im HKW ebenfalls vertreten, mit einer sakral
organisierten Videoinstallation, die ewigkeitslangsame Bilder vom Mond
im Verbund mit einer 30 Jahre später aufgenommenen, etwas energetischer
tanzenden "Mondgöttin" wie auf einem Altar darbietet. Das hätte
ebenfalls gut in eine Künstlerversammlung zu dem Thema "Multimedia -
damals und heute" gepasst. Oder (wir formulieren wieder frei) zu einem
Leitmotiv wie "Das Göttliche". Und auch Cindy Sherman ist dabei in
Berlin mit ihren voyeuristischen Fotografien von Puppen in Bellmer'scher
lasziver Verdrehtheit. Und auch Matthew Barney mit seiner
surrealistischen, so hollywoodopernhaften "Cremaster"-Serie. Und auch
Shirin Neshat mit ihren getragenen, technisch aufwändig bearbeiteten
Film-Metaphern über die Frau im Islam. "Über Schönheit" versammelt jene,
die oft dabei sind im internationalen Zirkeltraining der
Gruppenausstellungen, und keinesfalls soll ihnen die künstlerische
Zugangsberechtigung abgesprochen werden - nur ein gewisses Mitgefühl
dafür, ganz nach der aktuellen Ausstellungsmode stets unter
breitenwirksame Sammeltitel gebracht zu werden. Andererseits wird an der
Spitze der Spruchweisheiten zum Sujet wohl auf ewig "Schönheit liegt
allein im Auge des Betrachters" verweilen. Damit ist jede Haftung des
Schönheitsurhebers ausgeschlossen - jede Übermittlungsstörung lässt
sich, praktisch, mit der mangelnden Sensibilität des Rezipienten begründen.

http://www.berlinonline.de/berliner-zeitung/feuilleton/431633.html

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Yahoo! news, Donnerstag 17. März 2005
Bunte Wäscheständer und Mondbilder

Berlin (AP) «Schönheit ist, was wir lieben», notierte Leo Tolstoi 1896
in seinen Tagebüchern. Wie der russische Autor versuchten sich immer
wieder Künstler und Wissenschaftler an einer Definition des Begriffs.
Nun wagt eine Ausstellung in Berlin den Versuch, Kunstwerke aus den
verschiedensten Kulturen unter dem Aspekt Schönheit zusammenzufassen. 24
Künstler aus 16 Ländern, unter ihnen Stars wie Nam June Paik, Matthew
Barney oder Cindy Sherman, zeigen im Haus der Kulturen der Welt ihre
Vorstellungen davon, was schön ist.

In der Ausstellung «Über Schönheit», sind Gemälde, Fotografien, Filme,
Installationen, Skulpturen und Multimedia-Projekte zu sehen. Wie
unterschiedlich die Definition sein kann von dem, was schön ist, wird
bereits vor dem Ausstellungshaus deutlich: Hier stehen Dutzende
Wäscheständer in einem Teich. Über ihnen sind - wie aufgehängte Wäsche -
Seidenstoffe drapiert, die mit dem Wort «Schönheit» in verschiedenen
Sprachen bestickt sind. So stellt sich die chinesische Künstlerin Qin
Yufen Schönheit in der Kunst vor.

Vom «Vater der Videokunst», Nam June Paik, wird eine Videoinstallation
gezeigt. Das Werk besteht aus zwei Teilen, die Paik im Abstand von 30
Jahren schuf. Auf einigen Monitoren sind ruhige Bilder vom Mond zu
sehen, der sich auf einem Fernsehbildschirm spiegelt. Im neuen Teil aus
dem Jahr 1996 ist eine «Mondgöttin» zu sehen, die sich langsam neben
einer koreanischen Tänzerin bei einem wilden Trommeltanz bewegt.

Beeindruckend ist ein Bodengemälde des aus Taiwan stammenden Michael
Lin: Zu sehen sind riesige Blumenmuster in kräftigen, leuchtenden
Farben. Aus Deutschland ist Hans-Peter Feldmann dabei, der Anzeigen für
Schönheitsprodukte aus verschiedenen Zeitschriften zusammen stellte.
Darüber hinaus sind Künstler aus Polen, Dänemark, Indonesien und Afrika
vertreten.

Schönheit stehe wieder im Zentrum ästhetischer Betrachtungen und
künstlerischer Kreativität, sagte der Kurator der Ausstellung, Wu Hung.
Der Begriff «Schönheit» sei von verschiedenen Seiten in die Kunst
eingedrungen. Verantwortlich dafür sei eine kommerzielle visuelle
Kultur, «die nie vorher so beherrschend und mächtig war» und technische
Erfindungen, «die mit halsbrecherischer Geschwindigkeit neue Bildwelten
schaffen».

Insgesamt sei zu bebachten, dass Schönheit nicht nur in der Kunst boome,
auch im Alltag und der Wissenschaft, sagte Wu Hung. Sie schreibe sich
nicht nur mittels chirurgischer Eingriffe in die Körper ein, sondern sei
ins Zentrum künstlerischer Kreativität gerückt. Dabei hatte die Moderne
mit Schönheit eigentlich nicht viel im Sinn gehabt. Die sinnliche
Naturnähe, mit der Künstler wie Michelangelo oder Rubens den
menschlichen Körper dargestellt hatte, war für sie mehr oder weniger ein
Tabu. Vielmehr ging es um die Darstellung von Gefühlen, den Ausdruck von
Farben und Formen.

Die Schau «Über Schönheit» wird ergänzt durch eine Konferenz, Vorträge
und ein internationales Tanz- und Performanceprogramm. Sie läuft bis zum
15. Mai. Geöffnet ist dienstags bis sonntags von 12.00 bis 20.00 Uhr.
Der Eintritt kostet drei, ermäßigt zwei Euro. Der Katalog zur
Ausstellung ist für 28 Euro zu haben. 3sat als offizieller Partner wird
regelmäßig über das Projekt berichten.
http://www.hkw.de/

http://de.news.yahoo.com/050317/12/4gleq.html

************************

berliner Morgenpost, Donnerstag, 10. März 2005
Sperrige Kunst im Tiergarten

[image] 1500 Wäscheständer: Die chinesische Künstlerin Qin Yufen aus
Peking installiert ihr Werk "City in the Wind" im Tiergarten. Foto: Peters

Da ist kaum noch ein Durchkommen - die chinesische Künstlerin Qin Yufen
aus Peking hat vor dem Haus der Kulturen der Welt im Tiergarten 1500
Wäscheständer aufgebaut. Die Installation trägt den Namen "City in the
Wind" und sind Teil der Ausstellung "Über Schönheit", die am 17. März
eröffnet wird und vom 18. März bis zum 15. Mai besucht werden kann. Ob
nun barocke Opulenz in Matthew Barneys Video "Cremaster 5" oder
zerstörte Schönheit in Zhuang Huis lebensgroßer Landschaftsinstallation
"Chashan County" - Ziel der Veranstaltung ist es "die schillernde Aura
des Schönen aus internationaler Sicht" zu umreißen. Zu dem umfangreichen
Programm gehören auch Diskussionen von Künstlern, Ausstellungsmachern
und Kritikern, sowie zahlreiche Führungen. Einige davon werden von den
Künstlern selbst geleitet, die dabei ihr Werk erklären.

http://morgenpost.berlin1.de/content/2005/03/10/berlin/740163.html

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International Herald Tribune, Thursday, March 17, 2005
China's 'pariah' directors adapt to a thaw
By R. Scott Macintosh

BEIJING Times have changed since the sentries at the State
Administration of Radio, Film and Television here kept photographs of
the filmmaker Jia Zhangke on hand to keep him from entering the
building. Like other directors of his generation who have worked outside
the state-controlled movie industry, Jia's film artistry has been
praised abroad and banned at home. With his latest effort, "The World,"
his first government-approved movie, he has turned from pariah to golden
boy.

In April, in what appears to be a well-coordinated coming out party for
the filmmaker, Jia's fourth feature film will make its Chinese debut at
the Hong Kong International Film Festival. "The World" will then open in
Seoul before its release in mainland China, East Asia and Europe, all
with the full support of the Chinese film authorities. Releases in North
America and Argentina will come in the spring.

To a die-hard auteur, this flip-flop could seem like a sellout. But in
today's China, it's a sign of the times. Filmmakers of the so-called
Sixth Generation who first defied the state to pursue their artistic
visions are being lured into the Chinese mainstream. Tired of making
films that no one can see or that are available only on pirated DVDs,
they are working with censors to get their films shown on the mainland.

Jia said that by working within the system, directors are in a better
position to push for an end to state censorship and for changes to a
distribution system that leaves many worthy films invisible. "Some
people say that I have gone 'inside,' which I don't agree with," Jia
said. "I want to serve as a bridge, first to allow the Chinese public to
see more of these kinds of films, second to establish a long-term
dialogue between independent moviemakers and the movie censorship
authorities.

"This bridge," he continued, "is not only myself, but also other
independent moviemakers who have switched over as a group. We, as the
young generation of directors, want to show Chinese audiences how we
look at China and the world. And we want to have regular discussions
with the authorities on how to reform the Chinese motion picture system."

The Sixth Generation movement began after the Tiananmen Square crackdown
of 1989. Frustration with the way things were, young directors pursued
artistic freedom underground. Their films are gritty tales of rootless
individuals struggling with the changes in modern society and a
departure from the sweeping epics of the Fifth Generation - Yimou
Zhang's "Raise the Red Lantern," for example, and Kaige Chen's "Farewell
My Concubine." Although Sixth Generation directors have won
international praise, few people in their homeland know of them. The
best films have never been shown in theaters.

For Jia and other once-outlawed filmmakers, finding a Chinese audience
has obvious appeal. Cui Zi'en, a Sixth Generation filmmaker and a
professor at the Beijing Film Academy, estimates that about 20 percent
of China's independents have switched to the "official" side in the last
year. Like Jia, they are about to get their first screenings at home.
Liu Hao's "Two Great Sheep," for one, is in theaters here now.

The switch can be traced to a meeting last year of government officials
and filmmakers that resulted in a policy change that makes it easier to
submit movie ideas to the authorities.

Cui said: "The officials said, 'Join us. What's wrong with making
commercial films that will earn a lot of money and be seen by the
public?' A lot of talented filmmakers were seduced by that argument. The
rule was changed to attract more talent to make movies that people can
watch. But it just makes it easier to get started. It's superficial,
because after the product is finished, you still have to go to the censors."

Filmmakers have different notions of how far to go and where to draw the
lines of compromise. Many have refused to cooperate, saying that to do
so would result in their films' losing their artistic edge.

Among other things, the independents are pressing the authorities to
adopt a ratings system and to scrap the censorship system. There are no
real guidelines here on what is and what is not permitted in film.
Content is left to those censors' judgments.

And conflicts during the censorship process are common. Gu Changwei was
forced to make cuts to his film "Peacock," which won the Silver Bear
award at the 2005 Berlin film festival in February, because of
"homosexual content." And Jia had to fight to keep a Russian character
from being cut from his film because she was involved with prostitution.

"The most important thing is the director's independent expression and
the spirit of independence," Jia said. "Whether the film is approved by
authorities or not, I'm going to make films the way I want. So are other
filmmakers." He said he believes the release of "The World" will prove
that it is possible to make an "official" film without compromising
artistic integrity.

"Right now the major change is that these filmmakers are being allowed
to make films in the system," said Katharina Schneider-Roos, who works
with the Vienna film festival and Unesco. "They have a point of view of
China that they are being allowed to express, which is a big change, and
a Chinese audience that's allowed to see the films. Chinese officials
are eager to normalize the situation. They see it as an industry with a
large commercial side, and they want to be able to compete with big
foreign industries like Hollywood. The question is whether a Chinese
audience will want to see these films."

That Jia is even getting a theatrical release is a major coup. But this
has less to do with the film than with his success in breaking the state
monopoly over film distribution by forming his own company to handle the
domestic release of "The World" and other art films.

Commercial movies are favored over art films in the Chinese market. Out
of the 200 or so movies made each year, about 50 are distributed.
Theaters often show only one movie even if they have several screens.
And art films have been known to languish for years before getting a
screening, if they are screened at all.

"I was worried," Jia said. "That's why I started my own company. There
are production companies for art films, but the problem is that there
are no professional distribution companies to allow art movies to be
shown. We are solving that problem." Jia hopes to distribute one new
film every quarter. Among the movies his company will distribute this
year is the first "official" film by Wang Xiaoshuai, director of "The
Days," which is considered a seminal work of the Sixth Generation. Jia
also is producing the new film.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/03/16/features/jia.html

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Asia Times, Mar 17, 2005
Antique rush in new China
By Antoaneta Bezlova

BEIJING - Panjiayuan, the notorious "dirt" market of Beijing, is an
unlikely place for China's new rich to flash their wealth. Famous for
its tacky trinkets, Mao memorabilia and piles of junk carted in from all
over the country, this jumbled sales place has resisted numerous
attempts by city officials to smarten it up.

Many of the peasants-turned-art dealers still arrive from neighboring
villages in horse-driven carts, where teapots and Buddha statues are
buried under piles of ragged blankets. In winter, the open-air market is
still dotted with ancient coal stoves - some sold as exhibits, others
put to more utilitarian use by vendors to warm their hands and heat
water for tea.

On crisp weekend mornings, when business begins as early as 4am, the
market is bustling - but it's mostly full of artfully forged paintings,
porcelain and bronzes. More than 3,000 stalls, often laid straight on
the ground, sell everything from jade bracelets to richly colored
Tibetan chests. There are heaps of Chinese scrolls and cultural
revolution posters, piles of snuff bottles, stone cups interlaid with
silver and hand-painted porcelain. It is the hunt for treasures -
surprisingly still found among the heaps of junk - that brings people
here every weekend. And many flea-market enthusiasts often walk away
with delightful discoveries of precious Ming vases and miniature Qing
statues of opium smokers.

Vendors claim that as authentic pieces become more rare, the crowds get
bigger. China's new rich have joined junk collectors and bewildered
foreigners in wandering through the stalls in search of that precious
scroll or ancient piece of bronze. Even in big weekend crowds, where
Tibetan and Mongolian vendors stand out in their exotic outfits, these
wealthy urbanities are easy to spot - they wear diamond-studded gold
watches (genuine more often than not) and sport the latest models of
mobile phones.

"There are more Chinese people coming to look and buy than five years
ago," says Hu Chunhua, a red-cheek woman from central Henan who presides
over piles of Chinese wood boxes and baskets. "And they are not that bad
customers - they haggle, but they have money."

Antiques markets like Panjiayuan are just some of the places where
China's rapidly growing class of brash tycoons is spending money to buy
art and relics that two decades ago were regarded as useless remains
from a feudal past. In art centers such as London and New York, antique
dealers report that an increasing number of collectors from China are
traveling abroad to purchase precious Chinese porcelain and art and
returning home with them.

The buying spree is fueled by nostalgia for China's cultural heritage,
scattered abroad, looted and vastly diminished in numerous campaigns
aimed at obliterating the past. For more than 30 years after its
ascendance to power in 1949, the Chinese Communist Party had confiscated
and destroyed what was left of China's unique heritage, stoking public
disregard for traditional culture. But awakening at last to their
cultural heritage, and aware of the West's long-time fascination with
it, China's middle classes now are willing to spend fortunes on
spontaneous buys of antiques whose provenance cannot be properly documented.

There is also an impulse to look for ways to diversify out of China's
inflated asset bubble. With China's state banks reported to have at
least half of their portfolios as non-performing loans and the property
sector in main cities overheated, China's new rich are investing in
private collections of art and antiques. Many of them see this as a safe
heaven for their money. The same new rich Chinese are packing art
auctions in Beijing, fueling an art boom and sending prices soaring.
Auctions that in London would attract no more than 50 people, now draw
crowds of 500 in Beijing.

"It is like a gold rush," says Gan Xuejun, one of the top traders with
the Beijing-based Huachen International Auction Company. "There are more
and more people who want to buy antiques and works of art, but very few
of them have any real understanding about their authenticity.''

In their quest to satisfy their customers, some unscrupulous dealers are
also coming up with forgeries that can easily deceive the inexperienced
collector. But even dealers themselves admit that the hunt for quality
antiques is getting tougher by the day. "Every second month I have to go
to a different place, further and further away from Beijing to find
things that my customers would want to buy," says Rebecca Xu who runs a
downtown antique shop and stocks a Chinese classical furniture warehouse
in the suburbs. "Nowadays the antiques we can find are often so badly
damaged that we would have to repair them in our warehouse before we can
sell them."

While a few years back Rebecca would stumble upon antiques in villages
near Beijing and history-rich towns of neighboring Shanxi province,
these days she has to travel to far-flung provinces like Anhui to look
for artifacts. The money invested in antiques has grown so rapidly in
the last five years that government officials are beginning to worry
about an investment bubble. Last year, legal sales of cultural relics at
auctions in China topped 3.9 billion yuan (US$470 million) - more than
triple the amount of 1.2 billion yuan the auction houses took in 2003.

"In the past two or three years, Chinese art pieces have really shot
up," says an art trader with China Guardian Auctions, one of the
country's well-established auction companies. ''Prices here are now
higher than in New York or London. So art is coming here too."
(Inter Press Service)

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/GC17Ad02.html

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IHT, Thursday, March 17, 2005
Commentary: Museum project may paint Hong Kong in red ink
By William Pesek Jr., Bloomberg News

HONG KONG Asia's embrace of "Guggenheim economics" recently faltered in
Taiwan. The city of Taichung rejected a plan to bankroll a $250 million
museum to replicate the success of Bilbao, Spain.

Taichung feared being shackled with debt issued to finance what would
have been the Guggenheim's first Asian outpost and that a $10 million
annual budget would create a money pit. In December, the city voted no.

Other Asian cities are still wooing the New York-based contemporary-art
institution. For many, especially in the greater China region, the
chance to clone Bilbao's boom is just too seductive.

Before September 1997, Bilbao was a downtrodden northern Spanish city.
That changed after a postmodern complex designed by the architect Frank
Gehry opened, turning Bilbao into a top European cultural attraction and
bolstering the local economy.

The Bilbao model has strong appeal in Asia, which is warming up to an
idea that many Western countries realized long ago. Cities can prosper
by attracting creative industries - architecture, art, music and
publishing - and establishing themselves as animated places to live.

That goal has cities like Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macao, Shanghai and
until recently, Taichung, looking to copy Bilbao's Guggenheim triumph.

Competing museums seeking Asian beachheads are looking at Tokyo, while
other Asian cities are stepping up cultural projects to stimulate their
economies.

Is "Guggenheim economics" really the way for Asia to go? Not if
governments like Hong Kong's take short cuts and focus only on dollar signs.

"Asia is an art desert," says Tao Dong, Hong Kong-based chief Asia
economist at Credit Suisse First Boston. "It probably has more stock
exchanges than quality art museums."

Yet, he says, "I hope Hong Kong builds the museum thinking about
Guggenheim arts, not Guggenheim economics. If we think about money from
the beginning, the project will fail."

That is an important point in a city that is rarely afraid of using
glitz as economic stimulus. In 2003, after SARS slammed the tourism
industry, Hong Kong favored gimmicks like paying musicians including
Prince, the Rolling Stones and Carlos Santana millions of dollars to
perform in a massive, taxpayer-funded publicity stunt.

Still, while art and culture are outgrowths of economic progress, the
opposite could also be true in Asia.

"If this works out for Hong Kong and the museum is built," the city
"will be working various segments of cultural market economics," says
Ken Courtis, Goldman Sachs Group's vice chairman in Asia.

Yet rather than retool its economy to further integrate with low-cost
China or develop forward-looking industries, Hong Kong officials lobbied
for Asia's second Disneyland.

One wonders how viable the Bilbao model will be in this city of 6.9
million. The steep price tag alone is reason to pause. The Guggenheim in
Spain cost about $120 million to complete; Taiwan's project would have
cost more than double. In all likelihood, a Hong Kong museum would cost
even more, burdening the city with debt.

Cities in Asia should also consider whether Bilbao was a one-off
success. Gehry's fantastical, swirling structure is one of the most
recognizable in the world. As Lonely Planet's Spain guide puts it, the
Guggenheim in Bilbao "is perhaps even more remarkable for its
architecture than its contents." Any similar undertaking in Asia would
require comparable innovation. Such one-upmanship could be costly.

"Many of these cities think 'this worked, we want a replica,"' Juan
Ignacio Vidarte, director of the Bilbao Guggenheim, told Time magazine.
"But replication doesn't work. There is a uniqueness of the situation.
This is one of the reasons for this museum's success."

Moreover, the way in which Hong Kong's museum project has been handled
is a microcosm of this city's problems. Here are three examples.

One, the process is being carried out in a predictably nontransparent
manner. Hong Kong plans to entrust the 40 hectare, or 99 acre, cultural
complex to a single developer. It would be another example of the kind
of collusion between tycoons and the government that damages this
economy's competitiveness.

Two, Hong Kong seems keen to import foreign artwork while neglecting to
develop local talent - not unlike how the city attracts overseas
financiers but does little to bolster the incomes of ordinary residents.
Aside from the Guggenheim, other big names from the art and
entertainment worlds - including the Pompidou Center in Paris and Andrew
Lloyd-Webber - are looking at Hong Kong.

Yet Spain has homegrown masters like Goya, El Greco, Picasso and
Velázquez to form viable permanent collections. This city might be wise
to support Asian artists and, while it's at it, build a better venue for
the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.

Three, the government is ignoring public opinion. Many Hong Kongers have
reservations about handing a blank check to rich property developers.
Such shady dealings explain why few tears were shed last week when Chief
Executive Tung Chee-hwa resigned.

"I would rather see Hong Kong spend this money on education and training
so we can compete globally," says Stanley Li, a 47-year-old Hong Kong
taxi diver. "Will a museum really help me and my family?"

Perhaps. Handled well, a project to replicate Bilbao's success could
benefit Hong Kong. If it is done hastily and with visions of profit
rather than artistic merit, it will mire the city in debt. Sadly, the
latter risk seems more likely.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/03/16/bloomberg/sxpesek.html

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Religious ritual paintings in Gansu need protection
www.chinaview.cn 2005-03-17 15:25:57

LANZHOU, March 17 (Xinhuanet) -- Officials of local cultural relics
departments and experts in northwest China's Gansu Province are calling
for proper protection measures for Shuilu paintings collected in the
Gansu Corridor region, which are deteriorating.

A type of religious painting, the Shuilu paintings used to be hung
for Shuilu (Water and Land) rites, Taoist or Buddhist rites performed to
memorialize the dead.

Originating in India, the Shuilu rites started in China in the
Sixth Century, thrived in the Yuan (1279-1368) and Ming Dynasties,
declined in the Qing Dynasty and disappeared in the Republic of China.

Xie Shengbao, a researcher with the Dunhuang Research Institute,has
twice conducted investigations on the Shuilu paintings collected in the
Gansu Corridor region, an important section of the Silk Road, the
ancient trade route between China and the Mediterranean Sea extending
some 6,440 kilometers and linking China with the Roman Empire.

Xie discovered 486 scrolls of Shuilu paintings distributed in local
museums of the Gansu Corridor region including the city of Wuwe and
Gulang, Shandan and Minyue counties.

Among them, 216 scrolls were collected in local museums of Gulang,
Minyue and Shandan counties. Mainly painted during the period from the
Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) to the early years of the Qing Dynasty
(1644-1911), most of the scrolls have been seriously damaged and some
cannot be unrolled.

The 270 scrolls in the Wuwei museum were all painted in the Qing
Dynasty. Although a little younger, 140 of the scrolls are seriously
damaged, demanding emergency protection.

Most of the 60 scrolls collected in the Shandan county museum were
painted in the Ming Dynasty and re-mounted in the Qing Dynasty, said
Wang Qingbo, director of the county culture bureau.

Before being collected in the 1960's, the painting had been hanging
in local temples where they were exposed to damage from soot, mice and
worms, Wang said.

Mostly paper silk paintings mounted several times, the paintings
now face such problems as seasoning and chapping [Check translation for
both words. Neither really makes sense here.], said Zhou Chunlin, deputy
director of the bureau.

"If proper protection measures are not taken immediately, the
problem will get worse," said Zhou.

According to Zhou, the Shandan county museum has asked the
provincial Bureau of Relics for emergency protection and repair.

"But it is very difficult to remove the old mount for restoration,"
said Zhou.

According to Liu Maode, deputy curator of the Wuwei museum, there
are about 900 scrolls of Shuilu paintings collected in China.

According to Xie, the cultural relics departments of Gansu has
organized a special team, planning to complete the investigation and
preservation work of the Shuilu paintings in the Gansu Corridor in three
years.

"On the basis of this work, we will make a project for the better
use of the Shuilu Paintings," said Xie.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-03/17/content_2710159.htm

__________________

with kind regards,

Matthias Arnold
(Art-Eastasia list)

http://www.chinaresource.org
http://www.fluktor.de

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