Beijing – Belgrade New Sights in Chinese Contemporary Art

The Museum of Yugoslav History will host the exhibition New Sights in Chinese Contemporary Art in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China and with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia. It will be shown in Belgrade after touring Sofia, Bucharest and Prague. The audience will have an opportunity to see the largest exhibition of Chinese contemporary art in Eastern Europe from October 15^th to November 15^th, 2013.

The exhibition will feature over sixty works of art by forty artists, representing three generations of Chinese artists, whose creations belong to a wide range of forms of artistic expression, from oil painting, sculpture and photography to video, installation and design.

From 1949 to 1976, Socialist Realism was the dominant art movement. This period was followed by reforms, bringing about fast-paced modernization and the opening of the Chinese society to the world. Chinese artists began applying new approaches to art, experimenting with modern forms of artistic expression. New concepts, ideas, techniques and materials became an integral part of the contemporary artistic practice. Political Pop Art and Cynical Realism have been the prevailing tendencies in art over the last decades, reflecting artistic contemplation of the contemporary world.

Today, Chinese contemporary art is an important part of the modern Chinese culture and a unique force in art worldwide.  The global expansion of Chinese art over the last decades is also illustrated by the fact that in the 1990s, in Beijing, there were five galleries showcasing contemporary art, while today, there are several hundred of them. Moreover, the creations of Chinese artists bring the highest prices in the art market worldwide. Providing support for art and culture is among the top priorities of the Chinese state policy.

The exhibition at the Museum of Yugoslav History is one of the first concrete activities aimed at establishing cultural ties and stimulating cooperation between Serbia and China, carried out as part of the Programme of Cooperation in the Areas of Culture and Art for the Period 2013-2016, signed between the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China and the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia.

Curator of the exhibition: Xin Dong Cheng