Narrating and Critiquing the Avant-Garde in Contemporary China
Type
conference lecture
Date Issued
2015-07-20
Author(s)
Abstract
The paper discusses the issue of how to understand the assimilation and reception of avant-garde languages in contemporary China, with particular reference to contemporary art. The first part aims at re-assessing the roots of avant-garde art and performance art in Europe and China, starting from a critique of established actor-less narratives in intellectual and art historiography such as 'influx', 'arrival' and 'invasion'. The history of avant-garde languages in China is re-visited from the viewpoints of centre vs margins, artistic-literary contamination and the self-understanding of Chinese avant-garde artists. The second part focusses on the phenomenon of 'body art', or 'the art of pain', moving from the consideration of the universality of pain versus the contextual/cultural dimension of artistic creation, reception and interpretation. This part also addresses the issues of imitation and originality and how such issues emerge in Chinese (local) reception of Chinese body art. The paper shows that studying modern and contemporary China - starting from intellectual history - inevitably poses intercultural and transcultural issues as languages, discourses, and practices, when appropriated and interpreted in a context such as China, take on new political and cultural implications. It reveals how appropriation itself becomes a political issue, starting from the fact that local audiences charge ‘imported' discourses with the implications and connotations of China/West relations. Finally, such a process also also affects the symbols of the ‘native canon'.
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
No
Start page
50
Event Title
Invited lectures
Event Location
Department of Chinese, Fudan University, Shanghai
Event Date
20 and 27 July 2015
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
256253