‘All under heaven’ – a unique and original exhibition about China at the MuHKA and at the KMSKA
20 March - 30 May 2004
MuHKA
Leuvenstraat, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Tel. +32 3 238 59 60 – Fax +32 3 216 24 86
info(muhka.be
www.muhka.be
A collaboration between the MuHKA and the Guy & Myriam Ullens Foundation
‘All under heaven’
A new vision on contemporary Chinese art, a discovery of classical Chinese art
From March 20th until May 30th 2004, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Antwerp (MuHKA) proposes a selective survey of the state of contemporary art in China. Parallel to this venture, the Museum of Fine Arts of Antwerp (KMSKA) presents masterpieces of old Chinese art. The entire project was named ‘All under heaven’ and is based upon the collection of the Guy & Myriam Ullens Foundation.
‘All under heaven’ at the MuHKA attempts to renew the way in which the West perceives Chinese art and to emphasise its universal meaning. The co-producers of the exhibition – the MuHKA (in collaboration with the KMSKA) and the Guy & Myriam Ullens Foundation – have made a common option: to highlight individuals in their capacity of creators and to avoid an approach which would be too sociological or collectivist in their search for an opening on contemporary Chinese culture and society.
The exhibition will occupy the entire ground floor of the museum and will present the most divergent mediums: painting, video, photography, installations and sculptures. It will present a selection of those artists who are most active on the Chinese art scene at this very moment and expands into new installations created specifically for this exhibition by Gu Dexin, Xu Zhen and the artists-couple Peng Yu & Sun Yuan.
The exhibition emphasises artists who were representative of the nineties such as Zheng Guogu and Lin Yilin, but also on the most promising emerging young artists: Liang Yue, Wang Ningde, A Niu, Xu Zhen… It also presents the founding artists of contemporary art in China from the second half of the eighties onwards, such as Huang Yongping, Cai Guo-Qiang, Gu Dexin, Yang Jiechang or Chen Zhen, who remain of crucial importance.
‘All under heaven’ at the KMSKA, the Royal Museum of Fine arts of Antwerp, proposes masterpieces of old Chinese art in parallel. Amongst these are essential works of the history of Chinese art from the eleventh century onwards. Consequently, the presentation of these classical works creates a two-fold dialogue: on the one hand, one with works by Flemish masters from the collection of the KMSKA – ‘Rivers and mountains’, a scroll by Wang Zhenpeng (fourteenth century) is exhibited face to face with the ‘Saint Barbara’ by Jan Van Eyck (1437); on the other hand, there is the dialogue with the most contemporary of creations by Chinese artists which are displayed at the MuHKA.
First and foremost, the project ‘All under heaven’ is the result of joint intellectual research. Fei Dawei, Chinese art critic and Director of the Guy & Myriam Ullens Foundation is the curator of this exhibition together with Bart De Baere, Director of MuHKA. We called upon the advice of Mr. Jean-Marie Simonet, honorary curator of the Chinese department at the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels, for the classical part of this presentation.
MuHKA organises an academic session on March 19th 2004 with corporate executives, politicians and academics in order to expand the view on a Chinese culture and society beyond that of a purely economic interest.
The exhibition ‘All under heaven’ will be on display from March 20th until May 30th both at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MuHKA) and at the Royal Museum of Fine Art (KMSKA) of Antwerp.
General information
MuHKA
Leuvenstraat, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Tel. +32 3 238 59 60 – Fax +32 3 216 24 86
e-mail: info(muhka.be
website: www.muhka.be
Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen
Ministerie van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap
Leopold de Waelplaats, 2000 Antwerpen, Belgium
