MoMA Publication:
Contemporary Chinese Art:
Primary Documents
October 15:
Co-Launch Event
with Asia Art Archive
www.moma.org
www.aaa.org.hk
The liveliness and creativity of avant-garde Chinese art in the post-Mao era has led to its current prominence in the world of international contemporary art. Yet until now, a systematic introduction to this important work has been unavailable in any Western language; moreover, most of the relevant primary documents have existed only in Chinese, scattered in hard-to-find publications. The Museum of Modern Art’s new publication Contemporary Chinese Art aims to remedy this situation, by bringing together three decades’ worth of carefully selected primary texts in English translation.
Manifestos of avant-garde groups, prefaces to important exhibitions, writings by representative artists, important critical and analytical essays, and even some official documents—these fascinating primary documents guide readers chronologically through the development of avant-garde Chinese art, between 1976 and 2006. Concise chapter and section prefaces explain the significance of the documents and provide crucial historical background. The volume also includes a timeline with important art phenomena and related political events.
Edited by Wu Hung, Harrie A. Vanderstappen Distinguished Service Professor of Art History, East Asian Languages & Civilizations, and the College at the University of Chicago, with the assistance of Peggy Wang, this volume is part of an ongoing publication series from the International Program of The Museum of Modern Art, which makes crucial art-historical writings and primary documents from regions outside the United States available in English. Other volumes in the series include Alfredo Boulton and His Contemporaries: Critical Dialogues in Venezuelan Art, 1912–1974 (2008); Modern Swedish Design: Three Founding Texts (2008); Listen, Here, Now! Argentine Art of the 1960s: Writings of the Avant-Garde (2004); and Primary Documents: A Sourcebook for Eastern and Central European Art since the 1950s (2002).
Please visit www.moma.org/learn/intnlprograms for more information. The publication will be available at the MoMA Stores and online starting in October 2010.
MoMA AND ASIA ART ARCHIVE CO-LAUNCH EVENT:
CONTEMPORARY CHINESE ART AND DOCUMENTARY ARCHIVING PROJECT
Friday, October 15, 6:30 p.m.
BUY TICKETS
To launch MoMA’s Contemporary Chinese Art: Primary Documents and Asia Art Archive’s (AAA) documentary archiving project “Materials for the Future: Documenting Contemporary Chinese Art from 1980–1990″ (www.china1980s.org), MoMA and AAA will bring together some of the leading artists and critics of contemporary Chinese art for an evening of conversations.
Participants include Jane DeBevoise (Chair of Board of Directors, AAA); artists Huang Rui, Huang Yong Ping, and Lin Tianmiao; Sarah Suzuki (Assistant Curator of Prints and Illustrated Books, MoMA); and Wu Hung (Harrie A. Vanderstappen Distinguished Service Professor of Art History, East Asian Languages & Civilizations, and the College at the University of Chicago).
The event will be followed by a reception. The MoMA publication will be available for purchase.
Tickets can be purchased at MoMA at the lobby information desk or film desk, or online. The program will take place in the Cullman Education and Research Building, at 4 West 54 Street.
For press inquiries about the publication and the event, please contact Hannah Kim at (212) 708-9449 or hannah_kim@moma.org.
Contemporary Chinese Art: Primary Documents is made possible by lead sponsor The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation. Generous support is provided by The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art. Additional funding is provided by Budi Tek, Byron A. Meyer, E. Rhodes & Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, Jerry I. Speyer and Katherine G. Farley, Blakemore Foundation, Guy and Myriam Ullens, LLWW Foundation, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal of He Xiangning Art Museum (OCAT), Anne H. Bass, Jo Carole Lauder, Larry Warsh and AW Asia, Robert Rosenkranz Foundation, Vicki and Roger Sant, Agnes Gund, Robert E. Meyerhoff, The Fran and Ray Stark Foundation, H.R.H. Duke Franz of Bavaria, Jack Shear, Thierry Barbier-Mueller, Mr. Marc Besen AO and Mrs. Eva Besen AO, Lyn and Jerry Grinstein in honor of Jay Levenson, Sophia Sheng, Eleanor Ford Sullivan, Migs Wright, Constance Caplan, Uli Sigg, and Lenore and Bernard Greenberg.
The MoMA/AAA co-launch events are made possible by the generous support of The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art, The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation, Hong Kong Arts Centre, and JIA Boutique Hotels.
THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
11 West 53 Street
New York, NY 10019
(212) 708-9400
www.moma.org
