Fragmented Reality: Contemporary Art in 21st-Century China

'This book examines the dramatic evolution of contemporary art in mainland China during the first decade of the new century. Leading art historian Lü Peng presents the complex narrative of an entirely new art system, independent of the Communist Party and now aligned with the art market, that emerged in China between 2000 and the present day. This momentous transition saw many of the movements that characterised Chinese art in the 1980s and 1990s fall by the wayside; while the generation of artists born in the 1950s and 1960s continued to contribute to what had become the New Art of the previous century, younger artists born in the 1970s and 1980s began to express a new and highly original sensibility, based on personal experience and radical experimentation, that confronted the increasing fragmentation of Chinese society. Central to the author's approach is an analysis of what he calls the 'ecology of art,' which examines the many interrelated phenomena - economic, political, cultural and infrastructural - that have impacted art practice in China during this pivotal time. Picking up where he left off with his definitive History of Art in 20th-Century China, Lü Peng's Fragmented Reality: Contemporary Art in the 21st-Century China is an unprecedented historical work that provides the first true foundation for considering what the future of Chinese contemporary art may bring.

464 pages, 220 illustrations including 176 in colour.' (Back Cover)

English translation by Bruce Doar.

Access level

Onsite

author

LV Peng, 呂澎

publisher

Edizioni Charta (Milan, Italy)

Location code

REF.LUP

Language

English

Keyword

art history, China

Publication/Creation date

2012

No of pages

464

ISBN / ISSN

9788881588336

No of copies

Content type

monograph

Chapter headings

Chapter One - The Decline of the Art System and Ideological Control

1. Social Rupture and the Decline of Ideological Control

2. The Shanghai Biennale and the First Guangzhou Triennial of Contemporary Art

3. Curators

Chapter Two - Art Spaces

1. Experimental Spaces of the Transitional Period

2. 798: The Background and New Space

3. Arts Spaces and the Art Museum Conundrum

4. Songzhuang as a Symbol

Chapter Three - Market Problems, Sudden Influxes of Capital, and the Political System

1. Galleries, Art Fairs and Auctions

2. Controversies

3. Problems of the Official Art System

Chapter Four - Performance and Violence: Aesthetics in Retreat and Disarray

1. Chaos in International Values and a Retrospective on Individualism

2. Post-Sense Sensibilities: After Conceptual Art

3. The Spread of 'Sense'

4. Criticism and Debate

Chapter Five - Conceptual Art and Multi-Material Arts

1. The Issue of Conceptual Art

2. Video Art and Artists

3. Multi-Material Art and Artists

4. New Sculpture and Sculptors

Chapter Six - New Painting and Painters

1. Post-1978 Art History

2. Language Change and Painters

3. The Trend toward Individualism

4. The Most Recent Trends and Their Relationship with Traditional Painting History

Fragmented Reality: Contemporary Art in 21st-Century China

Citation

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