Chinese Contemporary Art 101?

This weekend, since it didn't rain on Saturday (though it did still rain on Friday night) my friends and I went over to the 798 Art District. But since I woke up pretty early that morning, I first took a bus over to Ritan Park like a real Chinese person. I think it may have been the first time I was at one of these public parks when most Chinese people go so there was lots of people watching to be had which was, as always, lots of fun. From badminton to dancing (saw a little fan dancing and also just regular almost ballroom-esque dancing), from tai chi to Chinese yo-yo, from loud singing to the Chinese two-stringed instrument, the er-hu, there was plenty going on for a not terribly large park. There was a nice buzz of noise accompanying the peaceful atmosphere of the park with the occasional more jarring contrast of honking cars.

Anyways, after walking around for awhile, I took the bus back to school to meet up with Bonnie, Kirsten and Hae-In for some quick Korean food and then a taxi over to 798. Originally, this area was a bunch of run-down abandoned factories but it has since become a growing Chinese modern art community in Beijing and is full of small shops and galleries, as well as some larger, more well-known museums (most particularly, one located in the original factory that the district sprung from). As with any space where you put together a lot of art, you're bound to have some hits and some misses, especially facing a vast area of aesthetic tastes, so I saw some things I liked and some galleries that I needed only a few minutes to feel done. I've attached a collection of pictures that I took - most of the galleries didn't allow pictures so the selection is a bit limited and obviously these are only things that I liked. Of particular note are the Buddha and the train. The Buddha is an interesting, if opaque, commentary on older values with modern commercialism - it may be hard to see, but the entire Buddha is made up of stickers, including brand names.

The other food for thought pictures is that of the train. It was saved after the Sichuan earthquake in 2008 and was fixed up a bit, but for the most part left in its original state as a reminder of the past, but as indicated by the title of the exhibit "Hope Tunnel" also a source of hope and inspiration when considering the support given to Sichuan in the earthquake's aftermath. While an interesting exhibit, I am not sure that I would call it art, even if I would call it moving, but what made me think more than the presence of a train from Sichuan was the way the Chinese tourists treated the exhibit. With pictures galore. Bonnie and I watched one man take ten different poses with the train and that was only one man, there were scores of others also eager to be captured on film with this important remnant of disaster. When reading the artist's blurb about his work, it seemed not to be the appropriate place for such, well, I don't know the right word, but almost commodification. But thinking about it more, what does their action mean? It might be commodification; it might be the belief in a chance to be part of something historically important albeit tragic; it might be a tool of memory (just as the train is); it might be a coping mechanism - I can't actually judge these people for acting as they did, I can only question their unknown motives. How do we see artifacts (for lack of a better word) like this? How should we? Is there even a right in the matter? Did we Americans only notice it as strange because Americans don't act so overtly in this manner at our memorial sites? (Though we take pictures, it seems somehow not the same - perhaps this is influenced by the freshness of the incident, not sure on that count either) Does the train even qualify as a memorial site? Well, this is all why I said that the exhibit certainly qualifies as food for thought. If you have any thoughts on the subject (understanding that none of you have been since 1. it is in beijing and 2. it opened the day we went), these kinds of questions particularly fascinate me and I'd love to hear any thoughts you might have!

The district is huge so I may try to go back again while I'm here as it seems there is much to see and the exhibits change every few months, so come fall, I will get a whole 'nother glance at what is being now called Chinese contemporary art (which seems to be a rather large field). But for now, you can get a small glimpse at some of what I saw, minus the most crazy pieces. Maybe next time I'll shoot pics of things I don't like, but 'til then you are stuck with the lens of my personal aesthetic tastes (which have no grounding in art history or anything academic like, in case you're wondering).