[artron.net interview,09.17]

10.18

Introduction

At 3:00 p.m. on September 17, the 4th Guangzhou Triennial press briefing was held in Ullens Center for Contemporary Art. Among the present are Luo Yiping, curator of GDMOA; and Jiang Jiehong, Jonathan Watkins, curators of this exhibition; and also artist representatives Xiao Yu and Zhuang Hui. After Reviewing the large-scale construction and innovation of China's museums, Mr. Luo made a probe into the strategy of museum development.

About Chinese Uniqueness

In Mr. Luo's view, the extensive demolition and innovation of museums under the current circumstances in China caters for the new trend of art development, and is supposed to meet the needs of various art exhibitions and public demands for museums. Luo said, "Through the step-by-step pattern of inauguration exhibition, project exhibition and theme exhibition, GDMOA tries to explore those China-specific issues in museum development. First, what we have got and what we have lost in the fast-growing of urban culture. The first projectexhibition, Disclose China's Imagination, organized by Wang Lin, is the embodiment of thisquestion. We are exploring an issue of Chinese Uniqueness. In the cultural context of rapid global integration, China is fast growing, and our urban culture is fast growing, but where is Chinese Feature, and what is the uniqueness of Chinese context?"

"The second project exhibition, the Second Nature, was organized by Mr. Gao Ling. What we discuss in this exhibition is that, in the fast growing of urban culture, the First Nature, or the Earth we are on, suffers a lot from soil erosion and environmental deterioration, which in turn generates more problems, namely social problems, cultural problems and even psychological problems. Noticing these problems, the artists created in their works a second Nation, or their hopes.

"The third project exhibition, Latitudes: Case Study on Three Artists, was organized by Mr. Zuo and me, in which we try to explore the modern state of existence of the Four Treasures of Study. This media of calligraphy has a history of several thousand years, and it is interesting to see how we should use it to express ourselves nowadays.

"The fourth project exhibition is an overseas one. Our curators, Mr. Jiang Jiehong and Mr. Jackson managed to gather 100 billboards; nearly 100 artists from all over the world were invited to Birmingham to create artworks on them, which were then displayed on the streets of the city. Through this exhibition, we probed the way of displaying modern art or artworkswithin the museums and outside. Art is popular, and should find its way into the public and interact with people. Modern artworks shouldn't be just put up on the wall like classicmasterpieces waiting for pilgrims. We were trying ways to present modern art into the public and to integrate art into citizen culture, city construction and city images. This overseasexhibition proved to be very successful. After these four projects, it is natural for us to move on to the theme exhibition To See the Unseen. "

About The Triennial

Mr. Luo says there are several prominent characteristics in this Guangzhou Triennial. The first one is that, aside from domestic elite artists, participants are mainly leading artists from West Europe and North America. This is not only the first time ever for Guangzhou Museum of Art, but also one of the best ones in China.

Secondly, there is an inherent logical relationship between the Inauguration Exhibition, Project Exhibition and the final Theme Exhibition. The previous two exhibitions raised some "visible"questions, and the theme exhibition is actually an exploration into the "unseen" sides of thosequestions. Meanwhile, through these exhibitions, we are reflecting what museum of art is, what contemporary art is, and what distinguishes the theme exhibition. These are all embedded in the visible artworks waiting audiences to appreciate and apprehend.

Hitherto, the unfolded results of the globalized world are all visible, while their influences upon human culture and social development are invisible, or unseen. That comes to the issue we put forward. We are trying to explore the tendency or direction of cultural development through demolition and construction of museums, through "seen" events or artworks. The impact of the implications hidden behind the artworks may last for a long time.

The third unique feature of this triennial is that, in cooperation with the Grandview Square, we organized some artists to present their artworks in the Square. Instead of being "deserted" in an isolated corner, the works, big or small, settle themselves side by side with the commodities and integrate with the commercial culture there. In other words, they are submerged in the surroundings of daily life, waiting for an accidental encounter with audiences who are not ready for it. On such a platform, we acquaint the public with art and arouse their interests in this respect. Later on, they may come and see the exhibition. This is actually another issue we work over, how art can approach the public.