Panel Discussion: Contemporary Chinese Art: Primary Documents

Collected slides and cover of Wu Hung’s book of translations, 2010.  Courtesy of the Asia Art Archive Hong Kong and MoMA New York

October 15 2010, 6:30pm

Press Release:

Chinese avant-garde art in the post-Mao era has come to play a prominent role in the world of international contemporary art. Yet in spite of the liveliness and creativity of contemporary Chinese art, there is no systematic art-historical introduction to this important topic in any Western language. Moreover, most of the relevant primary documents have existed only in Chinese, often scattered in hard-to-find publications. The Museum of Modern Art and Asia Art Archive (AAA) have co-launched two documentary projects, an anthology and a website, that seek to ameliorate this situation. MoMA’s publication Contemporary Chinese Art: Primary Documents, and AAA’s website Materials of the Future: Documenting Contemporary Chinese Art, 1980-1990, are essential to a deeper understanding of the history of contemporary Chinese art.

To celebrate the launch of these two projects, MoMA and AAA are bringing together a number of the leading artists and critics in the field of contemporary Chinese art for an evening of discussions. Speakers include artist Hang Rui; Jane DeBevoise, Chair of Board of Directors of AAA; artist Lin Tianmiao; Sarah Suzuki, Assistant Curator of Prints and Illustrated Books at MoMA; and Wu Hung, Director of the Center for the Art of East Asia and Consulting Curator at the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago), among others. The event will be followed by a reception, where the book will be available for purchase.

Tickets ($10; $8 members; $5 students, seniors, and staff of other museums) can be purchased online here or at the lobby information desk and the film desk.

For more information please click here.