China China China!!!

10th Feb 2009 - 3rd May 2009

China China China!!! brings together the work of 18 contemporary artists from China, selected by three innovative curators from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

The first infant who cries aloud is Tiemuzhen (detail) Wu Ershan, 2008 Read more »	Art Chicken in Norwich Duan Jianyu, 2007 Read more »	Artificial Moon Wang Yu Yang, 2007 Read more »
Just in a Blink of an Eye Xu Zhen, 2007 Read more »	China China China !!! at the Sainsbury Centre Works by Wang Yuyang and Wu Ershan Read more »

For years now we have all been talking about China. Enormous economic growth has been accompanied by radical social change � cities and communities have been transformed in a single decade. This capitalist expansion has been matched by an explosion in the art market for Chinese contemporary art. Curators from all over the world have been beating a path to studios in Shanghai and Beijing and art works, particularly painting, have achieved record values in auction rooms in Hong King, London and New York. China, China, China takes a long look at the impact of this global art phenomenon and features artists whose work is located beyond the boom and bust of the market.

Reflecting different perspectives on current art practice in China, the exhibition is organised into three sections � within which each curator explores the global market for Chinese art by selecting artists who are not bound by the market�s rules, but who represent the complex reality of a modern China.

The work on show is radical, critical and often playful. Wang Yuyang�s gigantic Artificial Moon dominates the Upper Gallery, illuminating it with a thousand low-energy bulbs; Wu Ershan�s futuristic Nomadic Plan for Outer Space also look back at the life of Ghengis Khan; Duan Jianyu�s Art Chickens sit in front of watercolours of Chinese landscapes; Cao Fei/China Tracey explores the lonely on-line world of Second Life in her film I-Mirror and Chu Yun�s photographic work Career documents government officials in their private time.

Each artist featured in China, China, China makes work that is rooted in their local context and yet participates in an international art arena. The result is a collection of fascinating and uncompromising works that give new depth to our understanding of what it means to live in a society which finds itself in the process of immense change.

Curators: Zhang Wei, Vitamin Creative Space, Guangzhou; Davide Quadrio, BizArt/Arthub Shanghai; Li Zhenhua, Beijing Art Lab

Artists: Lu Chunsheng, Wu Ershan, Cao Fei, Yang Fudong, Duan Jianyu, Zhao Liang, Qin Ga, Shen Shaomin, Pak Shueng-chuen, Xu Tan, Tseng Yu-Chin, Zheng Yunhan, Wang Yuyang, Chu Yun, Kan Xuan

Read the Gallery Guide (PDF : 0.7Mb) »
Read an essay on the exhibition in Mandarin (PDF 0.1Mb) »

Follow the links for details of other contemporary Chinese art programmes:

October Gallery, London »
First Site, Colchester »

China China China !!! has been conceived and produced by the Centro di Cultura Contemporanea at Palazzo Strozzi, Florence:
Supported by:
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