The First Guangzhou Triennial Fact Sheet
The First Guangzhou Triennial:
Reinterpretation: A Decade of Experimental Chinese Art (1990-2000)
November 18, 2002 – January 19, 2003

The ten years from 1990 to 2000 represented a crucial stage in the development of Chinese experimental art. Thoroughly internationalized, this art also responded to tremendous changes in Chinese society. Many artists devoted themselves to experimenting with new art mediums and forms, exploring new territories in artistic expression and representation. Their experiments attracted worldwide attention among art critics and curators, and played an increasingly important role in shaping a domestic visual culture in Mainland China.

Since it was opened to the public in 1997, Guangdong Museum of Art in Guangzhou (Canton), China, has been promoting the research and presentation of Chinese art of modern and contemporary periods. Hence, it has initiated the Guangzhou Triennial, beginning with the current exhibition entitled Reinterpretation: A Decade of Experimental Chinese Art (1990-2000).

As the first comprehensive survey of Chinese experimental art of the 1990s, The First Guangzhou Triennial features the most significant works created in these ten years. The title, Reinterpretation, highlights the organizer's intention to provide a systematic introduction to and explanation of these works in their artistic, cultural, social, and political context. The main part of the exhibition includes three thematic sections -- Memory and Reality, Self and Environment, and Global and Local. An additional section, titled "Experimentation Continues," features works by fifteen invited artists that indicate new directions in contemporary Chinese art after year 2000.

Place and Model: A Symposium on the Contemporary Art Exhibitions
organized by Guangdong Museum of Art and Hong Kong Art Development Council in conjunction with the First Guangzhou Triennial; November 16 - 17, 2002 at Hong Kong Art Museum; November 19 - 20, 2002 at Guangdong Museum of Art

In conjunction with this exhibition, the Guangdong Museum of Art and the Hong Kong Art Development Bureau will organize an international symposium on contemporary art exhibitions and curatorial practices. This symposium will bring together museum directors, curators, and critics in and out of China to discuss some major issues: How to develop local characteristics and multi-culturalism in contemporary art exhibitions when the process of globalization continues to deepen and intensify? How to employ and renew “universal” models of art exhibitions according to local situations and needs? How to deal with the conflict between experimentation and public acceptance in art exhibitions? What are the major challenges that museum directors and curators face at this moment in history?
Reinterpretation: A Decade of Experimental Chinese Art (1990-2000) Bilingual Chinese and English, published by Sichuan Academy of Art Press and
A catalogue of the exhibition, both Chinese and English, will be available at the opening; will feature full-color reproductions of the works. It is a major scholarly undertaking documenting the exhibition and providing a systematic narrative and analysis of Chinese experimental art. The publication will include biographic and bibliographical material on each artist and the decade of 1990s.
Chief curator, Wu Hung (University of Chicago; recent curatorial projects include “Transience: Chinese Experimental Art at the End of the 20th Century” [1999]; “Cancelled: Exhibiting Experimental Art in China” [2000]; and “New Chinese Photography” [on-going project].

Accepting his recommendation, the Museum has invited three other curators to serve on the curatorial committee. These include: Huang Zhuan (The Guangzhou Art Academy of Fine Arts; recent curatorial projects include a series of “International Sculpture Exhibitions” at the He Xiangning Art Museum in Shenzhen, and several exhibitions of experimental art at the Upriver Art Gallery in Chengdu); Feng Boyi (The Chinese Artists’ Association; recent curatorial endeavors include “Trace of Existence” and the much debated exhibition “Fuck Off” in Shanghai).

The First Guangzhou Triennial Website