Wu Hung – författare

In a groundbreaking approach to avant-garde Chinese art, the 1999 exhibition "Transience: Chinese Experimental Art at the End of the Twentieth Century" established a historical framework for current artistic production in China. Organized by the David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago, the show and its catalog highlighted the diverse responses of twenty-two artists to Chinas recent history and current social transformation.These detailed essays on the artists and their works are now available in a revised edition of the exhibition catalog. Written by Wu Hung, a leading authority and the curator of the exhibit, Transience explores contemporary Chinese art through the themes of demystification, ruins, and transience, and represents an original perspective in the continuing discussion on Chinese experimental art.

In this first systematic introduction to contemporary Chinese art, Wu Hung provides an accessible, focused and much-needed narrative of the development of Chinese art across all media from the 1970s to the 2000s. From its underground genesis during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), contemporary Chinese art has become a dynamic and hugely influential force in a globalized art world where the distinctions between Eastern and Western culture are rapidly collapsing. The book is a richly illustrated and easy-to-navigate chronological survey that considers contemporary Chinese art both in the context of China's specific historical experiences and in a global arena. Wu Hung explores the emergence of avant-garde or contemporary art - as opposed to officially sanctioned art - in the public sphere after the Cultural Revolution; the mobilization by young artists and critics of a nationwide avant-garde movement in the mid-1980s; the re-emphasis on individual creativity in the late 1980s, the heightened spirit of experimentation of the 1990s; and the more recent identification of Chinese artists, such as Ai Weiwei, as global citizens who create works for an international audience.

This text raises questions about artistic freedom and censorship. Wu Hung uses the Chinese government's cancellation of the exhibition "It's Me", Beijing 1998, to anchor his analysis of the challenges face by contemporary Chinese artisits and curators. Mainland China is experiencing many rapid changes, and many artists and curators are seeking new ways to show work, and find new allies, patrons and audiences. These people are investigating ways to respond to official antagonism and realize the potential of experimental art in the public sphere, as well as how to maintain the independence of this art in a commercialized society. These issues are addressed by Wu Hung through a survey of exhibition practices, a discussion of the Smart Museum exhibition "Canceled: Exhibiting Experimental Art in China", a case study of "It's Me", and a collection of materials from 11 other exhibitions.

When it is completed in 2009 the Three Gorges Dam, a hydroelectric dam that spans the Yangzi River in China, will generate enough electricity to power four cities the size of Los Angeles. Despite the fact that it will drastically reduce coal consumption and eliminate 100 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year, the project is enmeshed in controversy. Since construction began in 1994, nearly one thousand neighboring towns and villages have been submerged and over one million people have been displaced by the dam's 375-mile reservoir.With "Displacement", the University of Chicago's Smart Museum of Art extends a series of exhibition catalogs produced in conjunction with renowned Chinese art scholar and curator Wu Hung. This fascinating project reveals how four leading Chinese artists - Chen Qiulin, Liu Xiaodong, Yun-Fei Ji, and Zhuang Hui - have confronted the Three Gorges Dam, employing a variety of contemporary techniques to respond to the massive forced migration of people, the demolition of ancient architecture, and the devastation of the local landscape.Alongside the catalog's lavish illustrations are three essays, penned by Wu Hung, Stephanie Smith, and Jason McGrath, which range in topic from contemporary art and environmental sustainability to Chinese film and its treatment of the dam.In addition, interviews conducted with each of the artists offer insight into their work and address the difficult task of relating artistic practice to the wider world.

From the 1980s, many Chinese artists have experimented with a range of unconventional materials. Their works-in plastic, paper, silk, ash, and tobacco-form a major trend in Chinese art. The Allure of Matter offers the first serious consideration of these ground-breaking material explorations, coining the term Material Art to describe works that place "matter" itself as the primary vehicle of investigation and expression. The book contains four ground-breaking essays, profiles of twenty-five artists, and corresponding color images.