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By Zhu Qi
My topic for a China-Korea art exhibition held in Shanghai
in 1997 was "New Asia, New city, New art." But I
still feel very regret that we didn't have more funds to invite
artists from more countries to attend the exhibition at that
time. Only six Chinese and six Korean attended this exhibition,
which made it a little bit unqualified and wasted such a utopian
definition.
Later, in the picture album of this exhibition, I chose
a photograph picturing Pudong from its opposite bank Waitan,
with a five-star red flag on a ferry as a setting. This photo
not only can particularly represent Shanghai in 1990's, but
also symbolize the new structure of Chinese "market socialism".
On the other hand, Lujiazui can also represent the new economic
achievements of Asia society in 1990's.
The economic achievements of Asia society have actually
influenced the cosmopolis culture of Asia cities, and it makes
Tokyo, Shanghai, Seoul, Hongkong, Bangkok and Manila all enter
into the post-modern cultural and international commercial
system, no matter whether the city has undergone the baptism
of modernism or not. This makes us realize that " new
Asia", "new city" appeared silently ten years
before.
But what is the new art theme that can match up to the world
of new Asia? This still seems to be an enigma. In the past
one hundred years, Asian art has been perplexed by a fundamental
question: what is the modernity of Asia art? Is it Japanese
high-tech? Is it Korean independent spirit? Is it China's
modern political ideology? It looks as if there were no solution.
The city culture of new Asia begins to possess post-modernity,
but how about new Asia's new art? We need to define and explain
the philosophy and concept evolution of "New art"
from its basic background, but so far this work hasn't been
conducted like history, economics and literature.
Strictly speaking, it is part of culture-politics discourses
to connect personal contemporary works with a certain continent.
Especially in the late 1980's, some initiative situations
appeared in the fields of politics, economy, and culture,
such as state-capitalist model in east Asia, socialist-market
model in the mainland of China and popular commercial culture,
just like cartoons in Japan, films in Hongkong and so on .
These could be easily considered as the contemporary prototype
and would construct the model of images and discourses for
Asian contemporary art.
If art is a function, so the proposition illuminates that
images, thoughts and experiences in art is a by-products of
body which are influenced of political, economic and cultural
spaces where body is only looked upon as a passive receptor.
The filter and distortions of information by exiting self-prototype
are ignored. These may be proved in the films of western nations
about westerners in Asian cities.
In Little Buddha, SIDDHARTHA pulled his inverted image out
of water, then the image said, "I'm your building, you're
living in me". In film, SIDDHARTHA embody the director
Bertolucci himself. He has found out himself imprisoned in
the self -prototype of modernism. His self-prototype is just
a mirage. The leading role, an architect who went to Kathmandu,
and attempted to find the external boundary in heterogeneous
space and system, so that he could avoid being lost in self-cycle
and being lost in purely capitalist American-cities. In his
another film, The Sheltering Sky, hero and heroine had discussed
about the difference with 'a visitor' and 'a traveler' at
a African port. The dramatist Kit said that the former was
the man who wanted to go home all time when was on foreign
land however the latter might never turn around. So the architecture
is a visitor essentially, while the young translator Jerome,
in the film The Pillow Book directed by Greenaway, is like
a traveler, He prefers to living in Hongkong rather than going
back to England, what's more, he wishes his body to be the
media of eastern penmanship. In his subjective conscious,
he refer to leaving himself there in order that he could gain
more new possibilities no matter how he likes this extreme
commercial, fashionable, impurity-cultural city.
Hongkong stands for a heterogeneous space as well as Kathmandu.
In the film there are some differences between them, though
they are both Asian cities. Kathmandu is looked upon as an
original place, where cultural image could be integrated with
natural image, long history and ceremonial institution, while
Hongkong is transfer station or an enclave beyond national
boundaries and races. Contemporary epoch is its starting points.
As two cultural models, they're an over-symbolic kind of
ideological discourse to a visitor as well as a traveler.
When the architect in Little Buddha goes into Kathmandu, the
buildings, Buddhists and their behavior are also full of symbols
.To a visitor, Kathmandu is only an visual being. Information
of image would be got, read and reconstructed. As a post-modernism
youngster, tries to be divorced himself from the prototype
of English education by means of body fleeing in Hongkong
, though it is still doubtful if his body can go out of the
boundary . But he has established the relation between his
body and Hongkong, His body in Hongkong shows the basic claims
of post-modernism, that is no continuity (no experiences of
his childhood in Hongkong) and no collective consciousness
about the city. All he has is the relationship between certain
bodies (intercourse and slivers of prototype)
It is a basic way of post-modernism to expand spiritual
resources as a passing traveler, It could be regarded as a
functional reflection of ideological bodies and as an extension
or modification of the modernism prototype. In some sense,
no continuity, no collective consciousness or symbolic adventures
of bodies is a choices for an Asia contemporary artist, but
they need internal logic and conformity ways, The conception
and subjectivity in art depend on the characteristics of the
background and the modification to self prototype. The aforesaid
should be looked upon as the lead and ways for reading and
thinking about Asian Art.
The 1980's had two ways of the images and discourses being
of internal reality in China. One is referring to a realistic
political model by means of allegorical image and narrative
prototype. The other is ideological metaphor homologue in
realistic system and space. It's homologue is subjective consciousness
which is going to a symbolic, realistic position in a close
system and space, or exiting in an imaginary space constructed
by image and conception, maintaining a pure self-initiative.
Western art provides internal heterogeneous space and mediums
in Chinese contemporary art of the 1980's.However in the 1990's
the kind of art has ended with the transformation of construction
in China.
The changes of Chinese contemporary art in the 1990's are
relative to the transformation and modification of main current
system and space. In the China New Art of 1990's,the image
and conception of Chinese artist are all along concerned with
the economic growth of contemporary cities in China.
In some sense, western art is regarded as a certain source
of Chinese and Korean contemporary art. However, now younger
generation artists and critics understand that it is only
part of heterogeneous being and a side that can be borrowed.
They have their own sources. For example, the history of contemporary
China and the independence history of Korean, they could be
both looked upon as a contemporary political text.
Asian contemporary history began with the deconstruction
on the colonial spaces. At that period, the contemporary history
is the prototype. But after the deconstruction there are many
differences of the choice on politics economy and the self-remodeling
on culture in different Asia areas. Modernization, origination,
neocolonialism, state-capitalism, political traces of postwar
and traditional crack caused by the culture remodeling on
destruction---colonialism spaces make Asian cities a heterogeneous
multilevel covered space. After postwar the young generation
of Asia do not struggle with the traditional prototype or
be directly relative to source as well as their father generation.
In some sense, New Asia, New City, New art do not delicate
a kind of formed new Asian art. It just refers to many same
characteristics and new connotations. Exactly speaking, Asia
art hasn't also obvious evident characteristic of originality.
But it is important that the relationship between idea and
subjectivity, modern history and ecology of cities in Asian
art, its had constructed new characteristic and logic, indeed
and that the emphases on both sources and modern background
have become a important background of the logic.
Asian contemporary visual art is facing the opportunity
and challenge at the turn of Millennium, which is definitely
different from the moment when Asia went on a way of revival
and nirvana one hundred years ago.
Now, the territory of Asia mainly refers to Arabian countries
of Islam in the west Asia and the cultural circles of Confucianism
in the Southeast Asia. But Japan is an exceptional. It has
waged radical westernization and capitalization, and developed
the culture of electronic High-Tech . In Korea, it has always
maintained the westernized industrial culture and urban life
with nationalistic spirit of anti-colonialism. In China, the
nationalism came into being in the 20th century, but basically
speaking, it is a concept of interests, emotion and life,
and belongs to the communism in the ideological sphere.
By the end of 1990s, it has taken form of the independent
regional political awareness and global view in Asia. Its
market economy and modern urban culture start to go in the
forefront of the world. With such a background, the new individual
nature and aesthetic tendency have been developed. Asia contemporary
artist can use new media of installation, video, demo and
photography to reflect the thinking and emotional feeling
of contemporary generation of Asian. The Asian traditional
art and craftsmanship aesthetics, which are based on the audio-visual,
manual operation, nature and secular philosophy of atheism,
are now also experiencing a really significant self-change.
It doesn't come from the study on western thinking and logic
directly, but from the physical and mental experience of a
hundred year of modern history, which controlled our hands
to express manually. The age of Asian art, which has undergone
the deviation and division between study of thinking and evolution
of mind is going to an end, the art conception should be derived
from the summarized thoughts composed of both physical and
mental feeling to the whole structure. Apart from the history
memory and solely visual, the information, others, capital
and cultural politics also start to intervene in art.
In the twentieth century, Asian culture and art have taken
on many western ways and values; criticism of society, overturning
of traditions, avant-garde, and formalism. From today's perspective,
examining various media, political attitudes, social ideals
and aesthetic tastes, we can see that they are all facing
a new incarnation.
Globalization is also gradually propelling art toward a
transnational culture without distinctions, but based rather
on commercial and economic concerns. Local traditions and
cultural attitudes have in no way been cancelled out or invalidated,
but rather temporarily put to one side. When confronted with
the choice of A: attempting to allow people in a highly closed
region to deeply experience work or B: transcending different
systems, languages and customs thereby gaining a broad experience
with people of different areas and opinions, more contemporary
artists are beginning to opt for the latter, Japanese and
Korean artists dine together in Shanghai , Chinese artists
go to have coffee together in Tokyo or Pusan. Although during
such stays and travels the understanding gained of the local
history and traditions can only be intellectual in nature
and the actual encounters like that of a club.
It would therefore appear very difficult to blend the two
together and this implies the necessity of lengthy reading,
meditation and relentless conflict of reason towards a democratic
and playful personal dialogue without borders. Post-modernism
has created the legitimacy of pluralist art; the question
"what is art!" is no longer relevant.
Individuals' collection of materials and experience are
adapted to international life representing the special character
of travel, diversification, the unfamiliar, surprise, drifting
and local flavor of different places. It has however eroded
the experience that ones nature, memory, tranquility, sticking
with the traditional, depth, and infrequent movement can bring.
After modernism, art no longer escapes reality and does
not attempt to return to the profound, to sticking tenaciously
to living in one place, but is participating in an international
shift .Its conflicts with one area may be reduced but has
entered into a political and identity conflict. Aesthetics,
art and literature have become the media and face of this
cultural game.
East Asia as an ancient center of culture has developed a
pluralistic contemporary art, yet it lacks a certain contemporary
statement and aesthetic purity. This however, does not in
any way prevent art galleries being established in Tokyo,
Seoul, and Shanghai, organizing biennial exhibitions, and
artists born and raised in Southeast Asia from flying back
and forward to America and Europe to participate in exhibitions,
yet still no clear relationship or statement regarding the
past and present has been established, everyone hurriedly
becoming contemporary . This must inevitably be problematic
to some extent and the constant movement of artists from one
airport to another has to leave people wondering.
Now it is held that all the things off the past can be reborn
just like China's post-political social system, which in essence
is the post-modernist version of the way of existence of China's
clan system of some 1000 years ago. This is not the latter
transposing or usurpation of post-modernism but is rather
a self-activated reincarnation.
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