The First Guangzhou Trienniale – Reinterpretation: A Decade of Experimental Chinese Art (1990-2000)

The ten years from 1990 to 2000 represented a crucial stage in the development of Chinese experimental art. Thoroughly internationalized, this art also responded to tremendous changes in Chinese society. Many artists devoted themselves to experimenting with new art mediums and forms, exploring new territories in artistic expression and representation. Their experiments attracted worldwide attention among art critics and curators, and played an increasingly important role in shaping a domestic visual culture in Mainland China.

Since it was opened to the public in 1997, Guangdong Museum of Art in Guangzhou (Canton), China, has been promoting the research and presentation of Chinese art of modern and contemporary periods. Hence, it has initiated the Guangzhou Triennial, beginning with the current exhibition entitled Reinterpretation: A Decade of Experimental Chinese Art (1990-2000).

As the first comprehensive survey of Chinese experimental art of the 1990s, The First Guangzhou Triennial features the most significant works created in these ten years. The title, Reinterpretation, highlights the organizer’s intention to provide a systematic introduction to and explanation of these works in their artistic, cultural, social, and political context. The main part of the exhibition includes three thematic sections — Memory and Reality, Self and Environment, and Global and Local. An additional section, titled “Experimentation Continues,” features works by fifteen invited artists that indicate new directions in contemporary Chinese art after year 2000.