Arthub Asia and Van Abbe Museum is collaborating with Asia Art Archive for the screening of AAA documentary “From Jean-Paul Sartre to Teresa Teng: Contemporary Cantonese Art in the 1980s” as part of Double Infinity exhibition. The screening will take place on Saturday, May 15, 12.30 pm, at 800 Changde Lu in Shanghai.
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About “From Jean-Paul Sartre to Teresa Teng: Contemporary Cantonese Art in the 1980s”
The 1980s was a seminal period in the history of contemporary art in China. However, the contribution and experimentalism of the art scene in South China, particularly in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, have generally been overlooked. But due in part to the proximity of Hong Kong, western ideas from translated books and articles as well as popular culture in the form of TV shows and Canto pop, flooded over the border to Guangdong at the end of the Cultural Revolution. This influx of new ideas and popular culture sparked great excitement, debate and experimentation in the arts.
Based on primary research, rare film footage and personal interviews with key artists, this documentary bears witness not only to the reading fever that gripped the Chinese art world in the 1980s. It also highlights the experimentalism and verve of artists and critics in South China whose contributions to the development of contemporary art have been long lasting and deep.
Part of a major research and website project entitled “Materials of the Future: Documenting Contemporary Chinese Art from 1980-1990” focusing on contemporary art in China in the 1980s, AAA will launch a comprehensive website in Fall 2010, as well as make available all of the material collected and produced for the project.
Research Team: Jane DeBevoise, Phoebe Wong, Anthony Yung, Carol Lu, Megan Connolly, Natalie Cheung, Doris Wong, Silas Fong
Interviewees (in alphabetical order): Chen Shaoxiong, Chen Tong, Deng Jianjin, Feng Yuan, Hou Hanru, Huang Xiaopeng, Li Zhengtian, Lin Yilin, Shao Hong, Wang Du, Wang Huangsheng, Xu Tan, Yang Jiechang, Yang Xiaoyan
©2010
Asia Art Archive
Asia Art Archive is a young and dynamic organisation initiated in 2000 as a direct response to the increasing number of Asian contemporary art exhibitions and events world wide. Based in Hong Kong, AAA, a non-profit organisation and registered charity, is dedicated to documenting the recent history of visual art from the region within an international context. The first art education centre and library of its kind, AAA boasts one of the most comprehensive collections of primary and secondary source material on contemporary Asian art in the world, with over 25,000 titles accessible to the public, free of charge, via its physical 4,000-square-foot space and searchable from its website. From its inception, AAA has acknowledged its position in the field as more than a static collection of material waiting to be discovered. Through the regular initiation of educational and public programs by the Research+ Department, AAA endeavours to be pro-active in instigating dialogue and critical thinking, and in introducing as wide an audience as possible to this rich resource through its education program.
Arthub Asia is a multi-disciplinary organization devoted to contemporary art creation in China and rest of Asia, founded in 2007. In collaboration with museums and other public / private spaces and institutions, it initiates and delivers ambitious art projects through a sustained dialogue with visual, performance, and new media artists. Arthub Asia is committed to furthering experimentation, knowledge-production and diversity among dedicated artists, art professionals, scholars, and arts organizations in the region.
Arthub Asia is a Network Partner of Prince Claus Fund 2008-2010.
About Double Infinity
Double Infinity is a collaborative encounter between the Van Abbemuseum and Arthub Asia, situated in and around the Dutch Culture Centre in Shanghai, parallel to the World Expo 2010. The Double Infinity project loops through and crosses over itself time and again. It is at one and the same moment an exhibition, a performance series, a lecture programme, a publication, a promotional tool, a celebration, a collaboration and a playful look at international relations. It marks the first time that a European museum opens itself and its collection to the responses of artists living and working in China – responses that form a host of enriching, humorous and critical insights.
Curators
Charles Esche, Defne Ayas, Davide Quadrio, Remco de Blaaij
