Ruins in the Post-Humanist Wilderness
Type
conference paper
Date Issued
2018-10-05
Author(s)
Abstract
Landscapes of destruction, demolition and decay feature pervasively in post-Maoist (1978-) Chinese art and literature. At different stages of the reformist era, intellectuals and artists have viewed the consequences of radical Maoism, the decline of socialism, and the shattering of reformist ideals through the symbolism of decline, decay and ruin. From Zhang Dali’s transient self-portraits to Jia Pingwa’s Ruined City (1993) and Jia Zhangke’s Still Life (2006), the image of ruins points at the unfinished, chaotic, and in some cases abandoned processes of producing future(s), and have dominated the most intense phase of post-1978 China’s economic development. Such visual representations of ruins have paralleled artistic reflections on natural decay (e.g. Xu Xiaoyan) and human self-destruction (e.g. He Yunchang). While some scholars have read the ubiquity of ruins in contemporary Chinese art as a critique of the consequences of the country’s opening up to global capitalism, such representations could also fit into the dominant utopian narrative of “transition” which accommodated demolitions as pars destruens of the production of China’s future. This paper interrogates artworks by the Utopian Team (He Hai and Deng Dafei), Cao Fei and Ying Tianqi, as well as essays by Xu Qiuyu and Ya Ming, to reflect on the production of ruins and the dislocation of the human as the immanent condition of “postsocialist” Chinese society. Drawing on studies by Wu Hung, Kiu-Wai Chu and Xavier Ortells-Nicolau for its conceptual framework, this paper links manifestation of demolition and ruins in contemporary Chinese art with themes in intellectual and literary discourse to shed light on a dystopian socio-cultural sensibility in the era of government-mandated utopianism.
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Event Title
Residual Futures: Rethinking Utopianism in Modern China
Event Location
University of Zurich & Villa Garbald, Castasegna
Event Date
3-5 October 2018
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
255251
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Name
Ruins ZURICH 2018.pdf
Size
39.93 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
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