From Jean-Paul Sartre to Teresa Teng: Cantonese Contemporary Art in the 1980s, 2010.

Screening


Watch AAA’s China 1980s Film Online

February 1, 2013
AAA in A, '09-'21

43 Remsen St. Brooklyn, NY

Asia Art Archive’s documentary From Jean-Paul Sartre to Teresa Teng: Contemporary Cantonese Art in the 1980s is now available online!

Please click here to watch in English subtitles and here to watch in Chinese subtitles.

Written, directed and produced by AAA, this documentary explores the impact of books, magazines and popular culture on the development of experimental art in Southern China in the 1980s.

The 1980s was a seminal period in the history of contemporary art in China. However, the contribution and experimentalism of the art scene in South China, in particular, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, have generally been overlooked. Due to the proximity of Hong Kong, western ideas from translated books and articles, as well as popular culture in the form of TV shows and Canto pop, flooded over the border to Guangdong at the end of the Cultural Revolution. This influx of new ideas and popular culture sparked great excitement, debate and experimentation in the arts.

Based on primary research, rare film footage and personal interviews with key artists, this documentary bears witness not only to the reading fever that gripped the Chinese art world in the 1980s, but also highlights the experimentalism and verve of artists and critics in South China whose contributions to the development of contemporary art have been long lasting and fundamental.

To learn more about the online collection of Materials of the Future: Documenting Contemporary Chinese Art from 1980-1990, you may refer to aaa-a and China 1980′s