Emerging trends in contemporary art on show in Beijing

Sky Ladder, an explosion installation work by Cai Guoqiang(above), is shown in a video at an exhibition hosted by Minsheng Art Museum in Beijing.[Photo by Cai Studio/ China Daily]

In addition, he hails the "wisdom of the streets"－an older generation of Chinese, who made best use of daily items at a time of limited-resources, and examines today's excessive consumption.

"How to give new aesthetic value to junk is what I explore in my creations," says Song. "The huge waste now may result in a future when we have nothing more to waste."

Old things, such as traditional nianhua (lunar New Year paintings), have inspired Lyu Shengzhong, a professor at Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts, in his experiments. His painting on show, Big Rooster, was adapted from a nianhua by a relatively unknown painter named Yang Furu. The work was in Lyu's collection.

Lyu considers the rooster, often a subject of nianhua, as an important cultural symbol of his childhood in the villages of eastern Shandong province. He places the rooster against a backdrop of high-rise buildings and demolition sites. Underneath the vibrant colors and a seemingly joyful tone of the work, Lyu actually conveys a sadness at the loss of the idyllic lifestyle of the past.

Wang Yuyang, Lyu's younger colleague at the CAFA, addresses industrialization by reviewing the relationship between people and daily objects through his installation Breath Series－Reading Books.

He has installed several tiny motors with the help of silica gel in two chairs, a desk and books. When the power is turned on, the motors make the objects go up and down, making it seem like they have come alive.

"The work often draws a crowd. When people look at these things, they may also 'observe' people more closely," says Wang.

Exhibition curator Zhu Qingsheng says that, in terms of the volume of works, contemporary Chinese art has been highly productive.

"A powerful torrent can be felt in this field," says Zhu, a professor who supervises the Center for Visual Studies at Peking University.

If you go

11 am-6 pm, Mondays closed, through Aug 22. Minsheng Art Museum, Universal Creative Park, 9 Jiuxianqiao North Street, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-5323-2111.