Guangdong Museum of Art will explore for the problems related to “deconstruction and reconstruction” by discussing its own “Demolition and Construction”.

    Yesterday, the press conference for the 4th Guangzhou Triennial was held at Peking University and all kinds of guesses about the theme and the team of curators for this Triennial was testified.

    The 4th Guangzhou Triennial to be held on September 22 at Guangdong Museum of Art shall be highly combined with the progress of the extension project of Guangdong Museum of Art by positioning the art museum as “Meta-question” and taking “demolition” and “construction” as the key words and shall also question many “Meta-questions” related to the cultural logic of the transformation of the art museum from the traditional mode to the modern mode. In particular, the most anticipated spotlight –“totally different from any other previous international Biennial or Triennial held in any other areas in the world”, so it will be completely exhibited in a dynamic way for a period of more than three years.

    “Guangzhou Triennial” enjoys a span for more than three years

    “As early as last September, we decided that this Triennial would focus on the framework of the Extension Project of Guangdong Museum of Art and from them on, we got started with the relevant work.”, said Luo Yiping, president of Guangdong Museum of Art. He continued, this Guangzhou Triennial consists of “Inauguration Exhibition”, “Project Exhibition” and “Theme Exhibition” as a dynamic exhibition for a span of more than 3 years.

    As planned, on September 22, Initial Exhibition featuring “Meta-question—Back to the museum per se” and the Forum will be respectively unveiled at the exhibition complex for 4th Guangzhou Triennial, closely followed by Parallel Exhibition for “54th Venice Biennale” (curated by Wang Lin), “The Third Nature: Chinese Reconstruction” (curated by Gao Ling) and “Dimensions——Analysis of Three Art Cases” (curated by Luo Yiping)  and two other exhibitions to be successively held in England and France during the period from 2012 to 2013; at last, the Theme Exhibition, a perfect finish to 4th Guangzhou Triennial, entitled “The Unseen”, will be held during the period from April to June 2013, jointly designed and planned by Jiang Jiehong, a professor from Birmingham Institute of Art and Design (BIAD), Birmingham City University, and Jonathan Watkins, the director of Ikon Gallery, which represents the extension and depth of the Inauguration Exhibition.

    The continuous exhibition is highly reputed for “its creativity”

    Exhibitions in the form of Biennial, Triennial or Documenta originate in the West and the Biennial that usually lasts longest is generally 4 months and in the coming period from one to two years after 4 months, there will be no more exhibitions and the next Biennial or Triennial will get started in the next four months after two years. At present, the 4th Guangzhou Triennial will be divided into the rich and multi-dimensional sub-units and series, which will be sustainably available to the public within three years, undoubtedly as a grand visual feast to the general audience in Guangzhou.

    “To my mind, this can genuinely reflect the philosophy for the Biennial and Guangdong Museum of Art can understand the limitation of the art exhibition this time and will try to determine the methods to overcome this limitation, ” said Gao Ling, a famous art critic and curator, “Such a sustainability can help Guangdong Museum of Art gain wide prevalence and exhibit its tremendous range and diversity in the different units and under the different themes. The three years will witness the prelude, the climax and the final sitting, so the Triennial seems to most people a wonderful play on the same stage with different episodes, which will be a brand-new invention.”

Voices

    “Guangzhou Triennial at Guangdong Museum of Art is closely related to its dismantling and rebuilding, which really makes sense. In modern China, every place is busy with dismantling and rebuilding and that without stop. As for this, some exerts propose that we’d better slow down in terms of the speed and try to get back to the community, the homeland and the original lifestyle or even to the true meaning and value of human beings, so we have to stop for a deep thought. The discussion centers on ‘dismantling and rebuilding’ for the exploration and interpretation of ‘deconstruction and reconstruction’, which also represents a self-examination over the modern socio-economic and cultural development in China, so we can conduct the extensive cultural, esthetic and philosophical studies by means of the art comments and criticisms.”

-- Zhang Xudong, professor from New York University (NYU) and director of International Center for Critical Theory-PKU

    “The ingenious layout for Guangzhou Triennial is quite viable, yet when you go into more details about it, I feel that something should be further deepened. If we can do a job in this respect, we are actually finding a reasonable reason for the extension, reconstruction or rebuilding of Guangdong Museum of Art. ”

--- Liang Jiang, deputy director of National Art Museum of China (NAMOC)

    “I think this exhibition is actually placing the Chinese problems at the forefront for inquiry and questioning. Therefore, the inquiry and question of art and the rebuilding of art museum related to Guangzhou Triennial can be actually elevated to a newer height – the major theme as to how the Chinese Culture or the Chinese art building can development in the end. Guangzhou will be a fresh case in the modern art and urban development.”

--- Shang Hui, chief editor of Fine Arts (Magazine)