Exhibition Proposal: One Man, Nine

Animals - Huang Yong Ping Retrospective

Exhibition at Martin Gropius Bau,

Berlin

-- Analysis of Intercultural

Curatorial Practice in Germany

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KUMA Essay 2012 by Hu Danjie

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1. Abstract

This essay is a preliminary inquiry into the

intercultural curatorial practice. The discussion is

based on an exhibition proposal, Chinese artist Huang

Yong Ping's retrospective, raised for a specific context,

Martin Gropius Bau (MGB), in Germany. The reason I

propose Huang Yong Ping (HYP) is that he's not only an

important figure of Chinese contemporary art but also his

work is widely discussed of intercultural conflicts and

communications based on his diaspora experience in France

after 1989. Huang Yong Ping is typically representing the

transformation of Chinese modernity, originally locating

it in an East /West binary opposition. Huang's work

argues how it subsequently evolved, as a theoretical

basis of analysis of the changing cultural identity of

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Chinese art from 20th century modernization to the 1990's

contemporary transformation into globalization. Also, the

proposal is a production of locality of MGB, the

historical border the East and West Berlin.

Through the analysis of marketing and finance strategy

and the comparison of Chinese and German contexts, I try

to conclude with a referential way of doing the

intercultural curatorial practice.

2. Introduction

After one month field trip around Germany and intensive

discussions with a number of German cultural

institutions, I would summarize my knowledge and

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experience of German local institution and art system as

an exhibition proposal, One Man, Nine Animals - Huang Yong

Ping Retrospective Exhibition, to Martin Gropius Bau

(MGB), Berlin. The choice of MGB as a particular context

of this proposal is based on my first-hand internship

experience there; and more importantly, MGB as a special

historical locality - until the end of the cold war in

1990 the building stood on the border between East and

West Berlin - could form and stimulate conversations with

Huang Yong Ping whose works are widely discussed of

cultural identity between East and West based on Huang's

personal diaspora experience in France as a Chinese

artist after 1989, and his following pathway entered the

era of globalization by holding both of his Chinese and

French cultural identities. Huang Yong Ping is one of the

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most distinct examples of Chinese cultural elites

emigrating after 1989 and Huang's work reflects what they

experienced from diaspora to globalization. Borders

within this process can be a symbol of differentiation of

cultural identities. Therefore MGB can be a symbolized

location because of the history of Berlin.

The proposal of Huang Yong Ping's retrospective discusses

Curatorial concept, and the production of locality at MGB

to question and answer why here, now with Huang Yong

Ping. Also it includes some proposals for the programme

at MGB accompanying the exhibition.

The proposal of Huang Yong Ping at MGB is an example of a

Chinese artist cuarted in certain German context and it

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leads to the analysis of intercultural curatorial

practice in Germany as the second part of this essay.

Analysis of marketing and audience development strategies

and analysis of possible financing resources including an

estimated budget are related to Chinese and German

realities. The references of this part focus on the

successful cases of cultural marketing and financing in

Germany. Moreover I considered the practical aspects of

this proposal to realize in this particular situation,

such as sponsorship in China and Germany and a realizable

budget. In this part the hypothetical difficulties and

problems are analyzed based on my understanding of German

institution and Chinese reality.

The analysis of challenges and chances of intercultural

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curatorial practice concludes this essay from two

aspects: firstly, the complicities of binary opposition

in Chinese modernity is a theoretical analysis of Huang

Yong Ping's work and his typical and historical

representation as an French-Chinese artist. It's an

explanation of one aspect of Chinese modernity - the

acceptance and integration of the West or the so-called

Westernization of Chinese culture. This process could be

traced to early 20th century, but ruptured by times of

revolutions including Cultural Revolution. In 1980s, it

came to a peak time. The uniqueness of Huang is that he's

coming from '85 New Wave but he was one of the rareness

during that time to keep a distance from the wave. And

after 1989, he moved out so to retrospect Chinese

modernity from a different perspective. Therefore Huang's

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methodology was foothold by an element: to break down the

long-lasting binary opposition in Chinese modernity (such

as East and West, inner and outer, local and global).

Secondly, the challenge is the opportunity for all the

Chinese intercultural practitioners. The time after

economic booming gives us the Chinese opportunities in

culture. I think of the challenges and potential

opportunities as a conclusion of my study of German

experience.

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3. Curatorial concept

a) Introduction of artist

Huang Yong Ping has been considered the pioneer of

Chinese conceptual art. Born in 1954, Huang Yong Ping

graduated from the Department of Oil Painting at the

Zhejiang Academy of Fine Art in Hangzhou in 1982. He then

worked for seven years as a secondary school teacher,

after which he left China for France.

In his early years in China, Huang was more interested in

exploring Western postmodernist theories and philosophies

as tools to question the official art making in China.

During this period in Xiamen, Huang further dived into

the reading of western philosophy, such as Ludwig

Wittgenstein, Michel Foucault, Martin Heidegger, and

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Roland Barthes. Even his reading of traditional Chinese

Chan and Taoist philosophies was originally intrigued by

Western artists’ interest in Chinese philosophy as

reflected in their artworks. Such attention to interest

in the West might probably related with larger social

reality in China in the 1980s when the entire Chinese

society was undergoing economic and cultural reform in

search of Chinese modernity using the Western model for

reference. Under the influence of both the Western

theories and traditional Chinese Chan and Taoist

philosophies, Huang gradually formulated his strikingly

original and unorthodox artistic ideas. He experimented

with different methods for artistic creation, and tried

to figure out the meaning of art. He was actively

involved in radical art practices and started one of the

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major artists groups in the 85 Movement, a group that

came to be known as Xiamen Dada.

Huang stepped into the Western art world at the time when

the idea of global art was proposed and embraced

favorably. The Western art world was looking for new ways

to exhibit art from different cultures. So, all kinds of

so-called “global” art exhibitions appeared, and Huang’s

mysterious yet radical artworks attracted their

attention. After his exhibition Magiciens de la Terre in

Paris, France, also the first Chinese exhibition in

Europe, Huang received many international exhibition

invitations. What is more, due to the increasingly

difficult political situation in China after events in

Tiananmen Square in 1989, Huang, like many other avant-

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garde Chinese artists of the time, decided to stay in

Paris after the exhibition for a better artistic career

and a more stable living environment.

After his relocation to Paris, Huang’s artwork displayed

obvious shifts from his early concern with the nature of

art to a new focus on East-West issues, which may relate

to his personal experience of living in a different

environment and to the re-examination of his own cultural

identity. In 1999, at Venice Biennale, Huang displayed

his installation One Man, Nine Animals. It consisted with

nine wooden pillars positioned in a loosely formed queue.

Starting from the rare of the pavilion at a height of 15

meters the columns precede one by one, becoming gradually

shorter through the entrance with the two shortest ones

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standing out in front of the pavilion itself. The columns

pierce the pavilion's roof and lodge themselves into its

floor as if unexpectedly plunging down from the sky. The

effect is almost pure Hollywood in its theatricality.

Huang's columns navigate through the pavilion at once

acknowledging and countering the staid symmetry of its

design. Atop each column, as if poised in mid-stride, are

perched the nine imaginary beasts of the Shanhaijing from

The Book of Mountains and Seas which is devoted to

Chinese mythology. Coming from distant lands each of

these species deliver a different prediction of the fate

of the world.

b) Why now, here with Huang Yong Ping?

Huang Yong Ping established himself as a Chinese avant-

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garde artist in 1980s. This is a special period in

Chinese history when abundant western arts flooded into

China after the 10 years ban to the spread of western

culture caused by Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Like

most Chinese avant-garde artists, Huang strove to break

conservative and fossilized mode of Chinese arts by

criticizing traditional art perception and exploring

innovation to it. However, unlike other avant-garde

artists who copied western old-fashioned art styles and

directly challenged official aesthetic standard, Huang

showed his particular but profound consideration to

cultural identity of avant-garde arts both in China and

the world. Beyond the limitation of history and

locations, Huang pointed out his theory of “To beat the

West with the East, to beat the East with the West”

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(Huang Yong Ping, 1992). His works were concerned with

interference and relationship between the East and the

West. Following questions to the thinking that Chinese

contemporary art should and must be influenced by the

western context, Huang Yong Ping was the first person at

that time defined cultural identity of Chinese arts was

not an independent self-consciousness, but a mixture with

Chinese culture and the involvement of western arts. His

work, The History of Chinese Art and A Concise History of Modern Art

Washed in the Washing Machine for Two Minutes (1987), showed the

new concept of Huang’s to the process of shaping cultural

identity not only in China, but also everywhere in the

world that faced western hegemony.

Huang Yong Ping is one of few Chinese avant-garde

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artists, who were sensitive to cultural difference

between East and West. When Chinese contemporary art was

facing the impact from the West, Huang had seek solution

of the situation and the way-out to Chinese art from

Chinese traditional wisdoms such as I Ching, Zen

Buddhism, and Taoism. Also, he was interested in Dadaism

in the West, and reflected dematerialization and

relativism in his works. Although he left China and moved

to Paris in 1989, his main work still focused on

discovery to difference between the East and the West.

And his anti-art project of the 1980s emerged from the

philosophical level. Here, his anti-art means rebelling

against the old art, the hypocrisy art, and the

totalitarian and institutional art.

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c) Introduction of the context

i. From exile to global

According to Edward Said, "exile is comprehensible

through the internalisation of rupture. Thus modern exile

is not exclusively confined to the massive displacement

of peoples from their homelands but can also be located

in the specific forms of silencing opposition without

expulsion... a modern version must confront a number of

global and local paradoxes." Therefore, the departure, a

conscious transformation of culture, has been deeply

troubled by the Chinese people for the "Western context"

of imagination, conflict, and antagonism, attempting to

break the culture of modernity to find a way out, and

create new art systems (Hou Hanru Dissertation). This

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intention has been described by Chen Zhen, a Chinese

artist based in France since ’89, as "Know they, know

yourself," and Huang Yong Ping's "West playing East, East

playing West." The 1980's Chinese avant-garde movement

of modern art came from the use of modern Western art

forms. The artists who left the country were the first in

the Occident to lose their Chinese identity to give

"birth to the avant-garde" and provide access to

universal issues of global art. Therefore, the successors

of those who left provided the elitist spirit of the

movement known as the "May Fourth Movement": 8 years

before the Cultural Revolution, this event not only is a

critique in of ideology, but also stands as a symbol of

independence and a more open perspective towards life in

China, reflecting on ways to solve contemporary artistic

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language with traditional Chinese ruptures. This

departure refers not only to leaving after the re-

settlement of '89 of artists and scholars, but also

includes some social activities after '89, which was used

as an attempt at "spiritual leaving." Said described this

as "silencing opposition" to maintain the independent

position of the local artists such as Zhang, Gu Dexin and

so on.

Naturally, both Chinese artists living overseas and the

local, under the internationalization brought about by

China's economic development in the 90's, and during the

process of globalization, need to face a different

cultural context of “global and local paradoxes”. This

roughly includes: avant-garde art and business culture

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standards (international and domestic identity

transformation strategies), the phenomenon of

globalization and cultural homogeneity, the traditional

Chinese art of language transformation problems of

cultural resources and the consequent Chinese identity

problems are in the following topic of discussion.

Surely for both artists living overseas or locally, the

internationalization brought about by China's economic

development in the 90's, or during the process of

globalization, needs to face a different cultural context

of “global and local paradoxes”. This roughly includes:

avant-garde art and commercial culture standards

(international and domestic identity transformation

strategies), the phenomenon of globalization and cultural

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homogeneity, the traditional Chinese art of language

transformation problems of cultural resources and the

consequent Chinese identity problems are in the following

topic of discussion.

Wu Hung describes in detail the transformation of the

contemporary Chinese art context and its background. He

tries to solve the problems of unresolved contradictions

faced by Chinese art entering into the 90's: as stated in

Chapter 1 of Chinese modernity, both inside /outside and

East /West binary opposition. Combined with temporal

ruptures caused by political interferences, this

contradictory tension in Chinese modernity was exposed

into a globalized context, a flat world; or defined as

time-space distanciation, the stretching of social system

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across time and space (Giddens, 1981, 1984.). The

incidents of '89 were a major societal turning point,

after Chinese art faced not only transformation in a

domestic context, but this was also brought about by

globalization related to the changes of “temporal and

spatial concept of context”. Wu believes that Chinese art

from the 80's and 90's are not phase coherent stages, but

rather two separate projects of art apperceived in

different spatial and temporal frameworks.

Wu Hung re-contextualizes for the international Chinese

contemporary artists’ conceptual foundations that

attempts to break down the duality, the contradiction in

Chinese modernity. As Sarat Maharaj said, “contradiction

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and “difference” need to be re-contextualized as positive

values in the move towards cultural transformation.”

ii) Cultural Identity, The retrospective of borders

- MGB (Berlin and international)

Located as the border of East and West Berlin after World

War II, Martin Gropius Bau has a great opportunity to

receive combination from different, even comparable

cultural resources. It faced a similar situation with the

situation that China experienced in history: how to

define its cultural identity? The conflict between the

remains of local history and cultural hegemony caused by

globalization were also the same problems as Huang Yong

Ping and Chinese artists faced in 1990s. Many

investigations should be set within the frame of the

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following concerns: How have industrial experiences of

modern regions in Europe affected some cultural identity

in some local areas? How do present contemporary artists

strategically tackle the cultural conflicts in their

artistic practices? How to reconstruct and redefine

cultural identity of some local regions in Europe while

working within the global context? Maybe, Huang Yong

Ping’s artworks and his investigations about Chinese

conceptual arts could give inspiration and solutions to

these problems.

iii. Are We Ready for New Internationalism?

Since 1980s, the Chinese contemporary art movement has

centered on one axis, the problem of ideology. More

exactly, this movement itself arose and subsequently

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developed as a resistance to official ideology; its main

content has also been debates on the problem of ideology.

After 1989, China's avant-garde art began to be

recognized by larger public, both at home and abroad, as

well as accepted into the international art

market/institution/media system, mostly through the

promotion of Post-89 Political Pop and Cynical Realism.

Since then this ideologic-centricism has been advanced

even more strongly, the problem of ideology has not only

been seen as the fundamental concern of Chinese

contemporary art, but has also become the most easily

grasped key for an international public to open the door

towards acknowledging and understanding the present

situation of China’s reality, culture and art.

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Western country, such as Finland, out of the

international center, was created by the Western

metropolitan system of discourse and representation,

which considers itself as the center. According to this

system which historically dominates international culture

and everyday life, there should not be any avant-garde, a

typically modern, metropolitan cultural product, in such

an exotic and even mysterious corner of the world. Facing

the situation, we are interested in and have to ask:

Where is the center? Who decides the center and the

periphery? What is the relation between the avant-garde

and such a dichotomy of center and periphery? They are

the main issues in contemporary art and postmodern

cultural theory and practice. It is also extremely

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important and urgent when one considers the problems of

international culture.

Debates on the term “New Internationalism” in

contemporary arts are particularly important with regard

to today’s international geo-political situation and

quite possibly a result of the geo-political situation

itself. It is here that “New Internationalism” differs

from previous “internationalism”. It reflects the

pluralisation of international political, economic and

cultural relationships as well as the contradictions and

conflicts that have emerged in the process. In this

sense, debates on “New Internationalism” will doubtless

introduce essential changes to definitions, functions and

the existential states of contemporary art. It will take

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contemporary art beyond the discursive and oppositional

frames of Western modernism versus postmodernism to the

realization of a real “internationalism”.

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d) Some Proposals for the Program

i. Key Words School (the explanation of key words

in HYP's work)

Death of Painting

At the beginning of 1980s, like other Chinese artists,

Huang Yong Ping created his art works by paintings.

Compared with reflection to his creative passion, Huang

prefer to do experiments by various languages in order to

display his comprehension to questions about painting.

His experiments focus on art tools and display methods

instead of style of languages. But Huang gradually found

that it’s impossible to establish relationship of reality

between arts and lives by reform about means of painting.

Therefore, after 1986, Huang only adopted means of

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installation and performance art displaying his art

creation. During 1985 to 1989, uses of installation and

performance art and abandoning to painting art were the

important symbol and tendency to the avant-garde

movement. And, Huang provided the most extreme and the

most integrated theory for the transformation.

Elimination of Self and Anti-art

Huang Yong Ping’s murdering to painting implied not only

the transformation to artistic means or languages, but

also the transformation to thoughts and concepts of arts.

What he really wanted to abandon was not painting, but an

attitude. The attitude was so called “individual” or

“self” in the avant-garde campaign.

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The key tenets of Huang Yong Ping’s philosophy are: 1.

Art is not significant in and of itself, at least insofar

as it has been the expression of a person’s

individuality; 2. It is only when something can bring

about change in certain contexts that this thing can be

called art; 3. Moreover, we must completely demolish the

notion of art and destroy any doctrine or system that is

the goal of art-making. Huang’s anti-art project sought

to demolish not only the material form, function, and

system of art, but also the name of art itself. It is

important to note that although the anti-art project by

Huang Yong Ping was influenced by Dadaism, its

theoretical basis was in traditional philosophy, in

particular the theory of nothingness or Wu.

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Two Minutes

On December 1, 1987, Huang created one of his most

cynical conceptual works by placing two books into a

washing machine. The two books were A History of Chinese Painting

by Wang Bomin, recognized as one of the most

authoritative texts on Chinese art history and A Concise

History of Modern Painting by Herbert Read, the first such book

translated into Chinese and recognized as the most

influential English text on modern Western art in the

mid-1980s. Huang gave a cynical interpretation of this

work: “In China, regarding the two cultures of the East

and the West, traditional and modern, it is constantly

being discussed as to which is right, which is wrong, and

how to blend the two. In my opinion, placing these two

texts in the washing machine for two minutes symbolizes

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this situation and well and solves the problem much more

effectively and appropriately than debates lasting a

hundred years.” This work consisting of a pile of paper

pulp was first displayed in the China/Avant-Garde

exhibition in Beijing in 1989.

Xiamen Dada

In 1986, Huang Yong Ping produced a number of works and

writings engaging another anti-art project, which was

manifested in his provocative essay Xiamen Dada- A Kind of

Postmodernism? His philosophy combing Dada and Zen Buddhism

is summarized in the essay in which he asserted that, “in

the degree of spirituality, Zen Buddhism is Dada, and

Dada is Zen.”

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The most well-known event of Xiamen Dada was the

exhibition titled An Event Taking Place in the Art Gallery of Fujian

Province, which happened on December 16, 1986. Huang

organized other six members of Xiamen Dada did the

project. They did not install works of art in the

gallery. Instead, they moved construction materials such

as big iron grates, wooden panels, a handcar, concrete,

fans, damaged sofas, and couches and chairs from the yard

of the Art Gallery of Fujian province in Fuzhou City in

to the gallery space. One hour after the exhibition

opened, the artists were given notice that the exhibition

must be shut down immediately for “a certain unknown

reason.” The result did not disappoint Huang. He was

actually pleased with the closure, because the act

resulted in nothing. Just as the artists brought nothing

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with them, they also left with nothing. The exhibition

proved that it is the museum system that determines the

fate of artwork. The event dealt with the meaninglessness

of the art object and the art making process. From the

project, Huang shifted his attention from investigating

the meaning of the art object itself to questioning the

whole art system and art institution, which became the

next project in his career-an exploration of anti-art

history and anti-art institution.

e) Selection of works (Appendix I)

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4. Analysis of marketing and audience development

strategies

a) Who - What - To Whom

"As a basic principle, marketing theory and marketing management

can be applied to public and non-profit organizations (the non-profit sector)

in the same way as to private, for profit businesses...... Just like for profit

organizations, non-profits have to identify their markets, asses the needs of

their customers, develop adequate products and services, build channels of

distribution, make use of mass media communication as well as direct

marketing, and conduct market research as well as sales analysis to keep

pace with their markets." (Philip Kotler, 1978)

As the organizer, museum or in our case, MGB and the

Chinese organizer are collaborating, negotiating, and

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donating each other's resources on planning and executing

the marketing strategy. The exhibition itself is the

PRODUCT for the target market. Normally in Germany,

museums have well-developed and professional marketing

team. There's no strict differentiation of marketing

between profit and non-profit organizations. Marketing

strategy of an exhibition is based on the understanding

of the curatorial concept, in other words, marketing is

integrated into the daily management of a museum;

especially for the institution like MGB, the marketing

for its each project even starts before the curatorial

concept settling down.

In MGB, each project needs to be financed independently.

As its public funding from the federal government can

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only cover the fixed cost of the building, the financial

factor could be decisive for the realization of one

exhibition. Therefore it's crucial that the we make sure

the marketing target could be fulfilled as the

precondition of the exhibition. For an international

curatorial project, such as our HYP's case, the

complication here is that besides MGB's marketing

resource, major locally (HR, finance, media, audience

development) , the international organizer is controlling

the direction of the marketing as the curatorial concept,

the works, and sponsorship are managing by the

international organizer. But as the host, MGB is

important to decide wether the local resource has

positive reactions to the product (exhibition). In

conclusion, the who-what-to whom question is answered by

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both sides, from a time of conversation. The

collaboration is coming from the negotiation of local and

international resources so that they could successfully

manage the target market. There's no absolute division of

decision power over organizers.

b) Target and interest groups and analysis of the

benefit return

"Managerial definition: marketing management is the art and science of

choosing target markets and getting, keeping and growing customers

through creating, delivering, and communicating superior customer value.

Social definition: marketing is a societal process by which individuals and

groups obtain what they need and want through creating, offering, and freely

exchanging products of values with others." (Philip Kotler, 1978)

40

Fig. 1 Target and interest groups

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Fig.2 Target markets and their potential benefits

Target markets Benefits

Interest group

Chinese donator

/sponsor

International reputation, PR,

cultural exchange opp., government

relation

German donator

/sponsor

International reputation, PR,

cultural exchange opp., government

relation

Collectors Reputation, be named in the

exhibition and catalogue

Gallery

/representing

commercial

institution

Reputation, be named in the

exhibition and catalogue, sales opp.

Other public Reputation, be named in the

42

institutions exhibition and catalogue

Politics

Chinese government

/embassy

Cultural exchange policy,

relationship with German local

government, reputation

German

government

/embassy

Cultural exchange policy,

relationship with Chinese government,

reputation

Visitors

Visitors International art, uniqueness of the

artist, quality of the exhibition,

attraction of programme, ticketing

flavor

Tourists An attraction of Berlin,

international cultural activity,

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ticketing flavor

Tourist

organizations

Ticketing flavor

Media

Chinese

journalists

German journalists

Media partnership

Education

Chinese and german

universities,

schools, adult

education centers

Industry

Companies, tour

operators, event

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agencies

Competition

Other

international

exhibitions at MGB

and other art

institutions in

Berlin

In Fig.1, the related target and interest groups are

listed. It's the first step that

c) Analysis of marketing strategy of international

exhibition: visibility, community, networks

Questions

45

If "marketing is the intentional and purposeful design

and management of exchange and relationship processes",

the prioritized task is to make sure the question of Who

(the ) - What (the pros and cons of the product) - To

Whom (the target markets). In the case of marketing Huang

Yong Ping's retrospective at MGB in Berlin, the pros and

cons of the perimeters of the exhibition are listed as

following:

Fig. 3

Pros Cons

Timing Huang Yong Ping's first

retrospective in Europe

and the second solo

exhibition in Germany.

The image of Chinese

government is a

negative factor of an

art exhibition without

46

The first one was in

Stuttgart,1993.

talking about

political issue

Location MGB's reputation of

international art

The stressful

competition with other

international art

exhibitions at MGB and

many other

institutions in Berlin

Artist The uniqueness of the

artist: HYP is one of

the most important

artists from '85 New

Wave, the emerging of

Chinese contemporary

HYP is not willing to

communicate with the

public about his work,

so the marketing

strategy could be

limited; language

47

art, and his experience

in France makes him a

typical international

Chinese contemporary

artist whose works are

dealing with Chinese

modernity

limitation

(translation and

misunderstanding)

As listed above, the combination of Chinese contemporary

art master HYP and MGB is a great attraction for the

market, but the uniqueness of the artist is not yet

enough as a good marketing strategy. Then, are we going

to play the "Chinese card"? The answer is yes-and-no.

Because conceptually focusing on the Chinese-ness of HYP

is very dangerous. What he was doing is to beat the

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distinct line drawing on the East and West. If the

exhibition is promoted as a Chinese artist's

retrospective could be misleading the public. But the

Chinese-ness can not be avoided, as in HYP's work, many

Chinese traditional elements are used as an integrated

part of his language, such as Zen, uncertainty from

Chinese ancient philosophy, etc. Therefore a possible

solution of marketing this exhibition is to open up

conversation. To provide a platform of efficient

communication could bring in understanding to the public,

especially for the controversial topics, such as cultural

conflicts, border, and complication of identities. The

mistery and exotic Chinese-ness is comparatively a direct

way of doing audience development, and also the Chinese-

ness could knock up many doors of Chinese-related

49

interest groups.

On the other hand, ideology is another trap within a

Chinese artist's work. Art is not the footnote,

In a broader perspective, the pros and cons of marketing

a Chinese artist's exhibition in Germany:

Fig.4

Pros Cons

Timing:

at the

moment

A starting point of

cultural promotion

after economic booming

Image of China and

Chinese creative

industry

Location

:

Germany

Mature art system;

professional art

institution; public

The symbolized

imagination of Chinese

contemporary art as a

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/Europe funding system political

representation

Artist Willingness of

participation on

international art scene

Not familiar with /no

enough knowledge and

experience of how to

collaborate with

professional

institutions outside

China; language; how

to work in different

context

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5. Analysis of possible financing resources and fund

raising strategies

a) Comparison of sponsorship for cultural

organizations in Germany and China

b)

c) Fund raising strategies for HYP exhibition

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6. Analysis of challenges and chances of intercultural

curatorial practice

a) Intercultural curating

According to the White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue by the

Council of Europe, the following preliminary formulation

may serve as a reference of the definition of

"intercultural": “Intercultural dialogue is an open and

respectful exchange of views between individuals and

groups belonging to different cultures that leads to a

deeper understanding of the other’s global perception.”

More specifically, the following goals have been

outlined:

To share visions of the world, to understand and learn

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from those that do not see the world with the same

perspective we do;

To identify similarities and differences between

different cultural traditions and perceptions;

To achieve a consensus that disputes should not be

resolved by violence;

To help manage cultural diversity in a democratic

manner, by making the necessary adjustments to all

types of existing social and political arrangements;

To bridge the divide between those who perceive

diversity as a threat and those who view it as an

enrichment;

To share best practices particularly in the areas of

intercultural dialogue, the democratic management of

social diversity and the promotion of social cohesion;

54

To develop jointly new projects.

Easier than a definition is a description of the

conditions, the “enabling factors” that characterize a

true, meaningful intercultural dialogue. Based on

existing experience, there are six crucial conditions

that must be fulfilled from the very outset, or achieved

during the process:

Equal dignity of all participants;

Voluntary engagement in dialogue;

A mindset (on both sides) characterized by openness,

curiosity and commitment, and the absence of a desire

to "win" the dialogue;

A readiness to look at both cultural similarities and

differences;

A minimum degree of knowledge about the distinguishing

55

features of one's own and the "other"culture;

The ability to find a common language for

understanding and respecting cultural differences.

Intercultural curating is a way of intercultural

communication.

b) The precondition of curating Chinese contemporary

art in different context

The complicities of binary opposition in Chinese

modernity

b) Challenge is the opportunity

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Appendix I

The History of Chinese Art and A Concise History of Modern Art Washed in the

Washing Machine for Two Minutes (1987)

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58

One Man, Nine Animals (1999)

The Nightmare of George V

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Bat Project IV,” 2005

The House of Oracles, 2005

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Reptiles, 1989

61