Best of 2008: Biljana Ciric

2009.01.02

The Bird's Nest ablaze, August 8, 2008.

1. The Beijing Olympic Games
It is hard to point to anything other than the 2008 Olympic Games, along with all the expectations and aftereffects they imply. Owing to the importance of both 2008 and 2010 (for which Shanghai is holding a similar countdown to the World Expo), 2009 seems relatively unimportant, which may be a good thing. The Olympics brought tension on many levels, from political to cultural. The involvement of Zhang Yimou and Cai Guo-Qiang in the opening and closing ceremonies led the art world to high expectations. Cai proved his artistic and strategic intelligence, pulling off one of his signature "explosion events" for an entire nation and world.

Cai Guo-Qiang, _Borrowing Your Enemy's Arrows, 1998. Installation view, National Art Museum of China, 2008.

Cai Studio, 2008.

2. Cai Guo-Qiang, "I Want to Believe" (National Art Museum of China, Beijing)
This major retrospective, which originated at the Guggenheim in February, opened for a two-week run in Beijing at the exact midpoint of the Olympics, a huge success for NAMOC, the Guggenheim, Cai, China, and the U.S.

Maider Lopez, Line of Sight, 2008. Installation view, Sheng'ai Square in front of Xujiahui Church, August 29, 2008.

3. "Intrude: Art and Life 366" (Zendai MoMA, Shanghai)
One of the larger projects of the year, Intrude attempted to bring art out of the white cube and into the public sphere. It was an ambitious project, with one artist or work per day, and the different reactions of media, artists, and others made for an interesting year. (I was involved as a member of the curatorial team for this project.) Perhaps its biggest contribution was its attempt to establish dialogues with very different social groups and fields of inquiry that had previously had no contact with contemporary art. At this scale, it becomes difficult to speak of curatorial discourse or critical intent, but it nonetheless created possibilities and opened passages, hinting at future directions for art in Shanghai.

Li Ming, Happy Afternoon, 2008, still from a video.

4. Li Ming, "Diary" (Bizart, Shanghai)
Li Ming’s solo exhibition in Bizart was one of the best young artists' exhibitions of the year. In one video, the artist rubs dust and dead skin from his own body in a shadow of light. Other videos show how the artist furthers his explorations through quotidian actions and gestures.

5. Shopping Gallery (50 Moganshan Road, Shanghai)
For a decade now, Bizart has been perhaps the only true non-profit art space in China. Something changed this year, however, as the group of artists working in Bizart and close to Bizart invested together to open Shopping Gallery in the 50 Moganshan Road complex. Shopping Gallery aims to represent very young artists working mostly in painting, selling their works at bargain-basement prices as the name suggests. Although it has no direct, institutional connection with Bizart, this is one example of how China's market-driven climate has made survival difficult in the non-profit realm.

6. The Sichuan Earthquake (May 12, 2008)
The Wenchuan earthquake remains one of the biggest tragedies of 2008. When things like that happen, one must ask what is the role of art, how artists can act in these situations and what positions they need to take. Many artists went on-site, working on documentaries, raising money, or working as real volunteers and activists. Architect Hsieh Ying-chun is one of these, who actually started a teaching project to show victims how to construct inexpensive temporary housing for themselves.

Li Mu, Public Knowledge, 2008. Installation view, "Comfortable," Shanghai, 2008.

7. "Comfortable" (Shanghai)
This artist-organized alternative to the Shanghai Biennale was a breath of fresh air to a disappointed city. It is very difficult to talk about any of the individual works, but the unity of the works and the artists in trying to work around a concept is rare in group exhibitions here now. The artists decided to rent small apartment block in the French concession and use it as an exhibition site, taking ideas of "home" and "comfort" as the point of departure for their works. Site specific aspects, combined with readymades and a subtle transformation of the home interior from bathroom to living room gave this exhibition a very special atmosphere that most shows this year lacked.

Qiu Zhijie, Thought Loft, 2008. Installation view, Zendai MoMA, Shanghai, 2008.

8. Qiu Zhijie, "Ataraxic of Zhuang Zi: A Suicidology of the Nanjing Yangzi River" (Zendai MoMA, Shanghai)
One of the most ambitious solo exhibition this year will, Qiu Zhijie's first Shanghai solo outing was hosted by Zendai MoMA and curated by Gao Shiming. The initial array of installation works was impressive, and the artist's research into the phenomenon of suicide from one of the linchpins of socialist infrastructure—the Great Bridge in Nanjing—is ongoing.

9. Zheng Guogu, Empire
Zheng Guogu’s sprawling complex in Guangdong is still one of the most interesting artist projects in China. In his native Yangjiang, Zheng has commenced a lifetime project of growing an "empire" that started in 2001 when he bought 20000 square meters of land. His ever-changing experiment is inspired by the computer game Age of Empires. Although it began years ago, it is amazing to see the silent growth and development of project over the course of a decade. Up in Beijing, Cao Fei is building her Second Life empire RMB City, set to "open" to the public later in January.

10. Chinese Biennales
The past year was a year for biennales throughout the region. Three large-scale exhibitions in China—the Shanghai Biennale, Nanjing Triennial, and Guangzhou Triennial—made for busy artists, not to mention the host of "Asian" biennales unfolding across the region. The Shanghai Biennale, themed "Translocalmotion," did not manage to garner much excitement from the art world, although locals still lined up for admission. The Guangzhou Triennial, while initially criticized for its overarticulated theme of a "Farewell to Post-Colonialism," turned out fine, with the curatorial team pulling together a batch of serious work in what has now established itself as the most serious international show in China.

Biljana Ciric is an independent curator based in Shanghai.