Alors, La Chine?

Alors, La Chine? was a major exhibition of contemporary Chinese art at the centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, from 25 June to 13 October 2003. An exhibition of this kind had been planned for several years and included several research visit to China by Pompidou curators. Eventually the French government intervened when it decided that such an exhibition should be part of a planned two-year series of Franco-Chinese exchanges. Clark examines some of the political and ethical issues which surfaced as a result of this major event being held.

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Paul Hoban

4MAL Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide 25 June - 27 July 2003

Wendy Walker

Hothouse

Keith Murdoch Gallery State Library of Victoria 6 June - 24 August 2003

Juliette Peers

Broadening the Scope

The First Beijing Biennale, held in September of 2003 somewhat echoed the Venice Biennale in it's approach to expansive venues and activities. Although Chinese Officials are realising the importance of contemporary art and its role in promoting international activities in Beijing, it is the artists themselves who have managed to expand the scope of contemporary art events in the city. Furthermore the event hosted a series of forums and international conferences to promote dialogue between Chinese experts and their international counterparts.

Thomas J. Berghuis

Artrave

Artlink

The Barcelona Studio: Fragments of a Brief History

Plimsoll Gallery, University of Tasmania 5 September - 5 October 2003

Philip Hutch

Ruth Johnstone, Glen Walls, Lisa Young and John Walker

Modelling Space RMIT Project Space & Space Room, Melbourne 30 June - 18 July 2003

Jazmina Cininas

Thinking About Guan Wei

With Traditional Chinese art education requiring students to master the painting styles of each historic period, it is not surpirising that Guan Wei's own style (having painted systematically from Impressionism to Postmodernism over ten years) has rendered his work appealing to Australian audiences. His works are cool in colour, surreal in style, quirky in wit. Wei's work displays a graphic sensibility and visual language similar to that of Leunig's cartoons and is successful for these exact reasons.

Philippa Kelly

The 28th Annual Shell Fremantle Print Award

Fremantle Arts Centre 13 September - 19 October 2003

Paola Anselmi

The China Phenomenon

Binghui Huangfu and Stephanie Britton

Changchun, China: to Confront or Confirm

Scarlett pays homage to the opening of an International Sculpture Park at Changchun, northern China, which bosts 315 works by numerous international and local provincial Chinese artists. Scarlett looks at this event and examines how audiences react to both controversial and more accepted and confirmed art within a society.

Ken Scarlett

The Sea

Photographic Works by Simon Cuthbert Despard Gallery, Hobart Tasmania 19 September - 8 October 2003

Diana Klaosen

The Cost of Creativity?

The fabric of the contemporary art scene in China comprises the densely woven strands of politics, economics and aesthetics specific to the immediate socio-cultural framework: a cloth that is today increasingly more sophisticated that the coarse serge of the past. A vibrant contemporary art scene which emerged in the early 1980's following years of rampant cultural destruction and rigid doctrinal control over its form and content. This article focuses on the economic viability of contemporary Chinese art, a movement that found its key members a part of the lower socio-economic class.

Karen Smith

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