Crossing borders: China at the Venice Biennale

Screenshot from documentary China Villager Documentary Project by Wu Wenguan.[photo from Internet]

For this year, the theme of the China Pavilion is "Other Future". Cui Qiao, director of the Beijing Contemporary Art Foundation, who acted as the curator for the Chinese Pavilion, told this journalist recently that most of the art works in the China Pavilion concerned folk life, intangible cultural heritage and rural constructions in China.

"All the artists we selected had epic creative processes in China. They went to the people, lived with the people, and learnt from the people. It’s really helpful to show the great tension and expanding soul of Chinese art. People from other countries may see an all-embracing China from the art works," Cui said.

Conductor and composer Tan Dun, architect and writer Liu Jiakun, modern artists Lu Yang, dancer Wen Hui with her Living Dance Studio, and documentary director Wu Wenguang with his Caochangdi Work Station were selected to reveal the diversity, maturity and culture of contemporary art in China through their works.

In terms of media, except for Lu Yang, all the artists or organizations are not involved in the field of typical modern art. Thus, crossing borders will be a theme for the China Pavilion this year. According to Cui Qiao, all the artists they selected were explorers in the field of arts. They made breakthroughs in their subjects as well as the dividing line in the world of art.”

"hy must the Venice Biennale be a contemporary art exhibition? Why can' we offer a more open, more wide-ranging platform? We wish that through the exhibition, we can discus more about how to break through the border of art, and how to make boundary-crossing art." Cui added.