Xu Bing and Contemporary Chinese Art: Cultural and Philosophical Reflections

Appendix 2

211 appendix 2 List of Important Events between 1979 and 2005 s us a n c h a ng year china taiwan 1979 —Beijing and Washington announce full diplomatic relations. —The New Spring Exhibition (Xinchun huahui zhanlan 新春繪 畫展覽) opens in Beijing featuring some 40 artists from different generations. —Yuan Yunsheng’s 袁运生 mural painting at the Beijing International Airport Water-Splashing Festival: Ode to Life, (Poshuijie: shengming de zange 泼水节： 生命的 赞歌) includes nude female figures which triggers a serious debate. —Twelve Artists Show (Shierren huazhan 十二人画展) opens in Shanghai featuring Impressionist and Postimpressionist works. —Scar Painting (Shanghen huihua 伤痕绘画) and the Stars Group (Xing xing Meizhan 星星美展) emerge as the two most important art movements of 1979 which aim at criticizing the realities of contemporary China. —The US terminates formal diplomatic ties with the Republic of China in Taiwan. —The performance work Cage Piece (ziqiu 自囚) by Taiwanese artist Hsieh Te-ching 谢德庆 in New York provokes controversy. —Retrospective Exhibition of Taiwan Art during Japanese Colonization (Guangfu qian Taiwan meishu huiguzhan 光复前台湾美术回 顾展) opens. —Li Chung-sheng 李仲生, mentor to the Eastern Painting Group, holds his first and only solo exhibition. —A demonstration organized by oppositional politicians and the Formosa Magazine staff aimed at advocating democracy ends in confrontation . The government closes the magazine and arrests its staff and supporters. This event comes to be known as the Formosa Incident (美丽岛事件 Meilidao shijian). 1980 —Month-long trial of the “Gang of Four” (Siren Bang 四人帮). —Nativist movement that started in 1975 continues. 212 susa n ch a ng year china taiwan 1980 (cont.) —Art Monthly (Meishu 美术) publishes an article by Qu Leilei 曲 磊磊, a member of the Stars Group, proclaiming art should be for the sake of self-expression. —Stars Group’s show that criticizes the authority, especially Wang Keping’s 王克平 wooden sculpture of Mao as Buddha, arouses controversy. —The trend of Rustic Realism (Xiantu sieshi 乡土写实) becomes prominent. Artists depict Cultural Revolution’s impact on ordinary people in rural and border regions, such as Chen Danqing’s 陈丹青 Tibetan Series and Luo Zhongli’s 罗中立 Father. —Nativist movement that started in 1975 continues to flourish. —Many art groups are established promoting experiment and avantgarde art. —Artists promoting the Modernist movement in the 1950s and ’60s as well as members of the Eastern (Dongfang 东方) and Fifth Moon (Wuyue 五月) Painting Groups who had went abroad return to Taiwan. —Government revenue and private money is devoted to the arts, including building county cultural centers, art museums and setting up private galleries. 1981 —Hu Yaobang 胡耀邦 replaces Hua Guofeng 华国锋 as the chairman of the China Communist Party. —Deng Xiaoping 邓小平 becomes chairman of the Central Committee ’s military commission. —The Exhibition of Liu Kuo-sung’s 刘国松 Paintings opens. —Several Modernist shows open around the country. —Hsi Te-chin 席德进, a watercolorist who combines modernist and native idioms, passes away. —Zao Wou-ki 赵无极 visits Taiwan. —The conceptual artist Chung Pu 庄普 returns to Taiwan. —Installation and mixed-media work become popular among younger artists. 1982 —Chinese Government launches the Anti-Spiritual Pollution Campaign (Fanjingshen wuran yundong 清除精神污染运动). It condemns three westernizing trends in art after the Cultural Revolution : individualist values, art for art’s sake and abstraction. —An exhibition of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts’ collection opens in Beijing. —The 101 Contemporary Artist Group is founded, including Lu Tian-yan 卢天炎, Wu Tien-chang 吴天章, Yang Mao-lin 杨茂林 who advocate a grassroots sensibility. —Lion Art (Xiongshi meishu 雄狮 美术) and Artist Magazine (Yishujia 艺术家) begin to report art developments in China. 1983 —The editorial team in Art Monthly is replaced because the magazine publishes articles about abstract art. —The Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM) opens, which is the first museum in Taiwan to focus speci fically on modern and contemporary art. Appendix 2 213 year china taiwan 1983 (cont.) —Exhibitions of Italian Renaissance art, the works of Picasso and Munch, and French contemporary oil painting are held in Beijing. 1984 —Deng Xiaoping proposes a ‘one country, two systems’ solution for settling problems of Hong Kong and Taiwan. —Five-Person Exhibition of Modern Artists in Xiaman 厦门 (Xiamen wuren xiandai yishuzuopin zhan 厦门五人现代艺术作品 展) features conceptual arts and readymade objects. —The Experimental Painting Exhibition: The Stage 1983 (Basannian jieduan: Huihua shiyan zhanlan 八三年阶段： 绘画实 验展览) in Shanghai is forced to close soon after the opening. —The Taipei Painting Group (Taipei Huapei 台北画派) is established , advocating art that reflects political and social realities. Its members include Lu Tian-yan and Wu Tien-chang. —Retrospective Exhibition of the Development of Taiwan Art (Taiwan diqu meishu fazhan huiguzhan 台湾地区美术发展回顾展) is organized by The Council for Cultural Affairs (文化建设委员会). —Exhibition of Modern...