FOREWORD
foreword
zhu zhu now provides us with grey carneval: art in china since 2000, a very substantial book resulting from the outline proposed to an international jury for the 2011 ccaa art critic award which made him a clear winner of that award. he certainly has made more than good on his promise to offer a new and in depth analysis of this decade which carries so much weight in shaping new perceptions about chinese contemporary art at home and abroad. this book comes very timely, at a moment when the heat is mounting in the debate about the canon of chinese contemporary art—about who is in and who is out, about who shaped this art and when and how…
this book illustrates particularly well why the ccaa art critic award has been created: the vibrant chinese art scene still lacks sufficient independent art criticism of this kind. in the early days, this lack was due to an art operating system that was not yet differentiated enough—there was no independent media within the cultural domain, and no independence within these media. this situation could not provide sufficient material gain to sustain a career as a truly independent writer. yet in today's booming art market, art media publications, artist books and exhibition catalogs abound. material conditions have improved greatly. but most of this writing now has to cater to the needs of the market: since the market, almost exclusively,validates what is considered good or bad art. this stems from a lack of resources that prove to be strong enough to balance market powers: resources such as strong museum institutions capable and willing to participate in the discourse with their curatorial practice, and in particular independent analysis and critique, all aimed at educating a rapidly growing audience that casts an eye on or is willing to invest in visual arts. in addition, the academic system inside china has been very slow in providing a specific curriculum for those wishing to pursue a career in art criticism.
the art critic award wants to address these issues twofold: by raising the discussion on independent art criticism which is so essential to advance art creation in china, and in seeking to encourage independent writing—by enabling an indepth research project in chinese contemporary art that might not otherwise have found financial support.
finally my vivid thanks go to the ccaa jury members who have with a very rich debate and astute judgment helped to produce this most interesting outcome. the jury was composed of five members: gong yan（editor-in-chief of art world magazine, director of o art center, shanghai institute of visual arts, fu dan university）, lars nittve（executive director of m+ museum, hong kong）philip tinari （former editor-in-chief of leap magazine, director of ucca）, wang huangsheng （director of cafa art museum）and uli sigg（founder of ccaa）. i am also very grateful for the most important financial support provided by m+ museum of visual arts,hongkong to ccaa for our activities. and i am particularly indebted to anna liu li, director of ccaa, who prepared with her team so efficiently the jury meeting, managed with great charm the jury process, all media communication and the many steps that now led to this successful publication.
uli sigg
zhu zhu now provides us with grey carneval: art in china since 2000, a very substantial book resulting from the outline proposed to an international jury for the 2011 ccaa art critic award which made him a clear winner of that award. he certainly has made more than good on his promise to offer a new and in depth analysis of this decade which carries so much weight in shaping new perceptions about chinese contemporary art at home and abroad. this book comes very timely, at a moment when the heat is mounting in the debate about the canon of chinese contemporary art—about who is in and who is out, about who shaped this art and when and how…
this book illustrates particularly well why the ccaa art critic award has been created: the vibrant chinese art scene still lacks sufficient independent art criticism of this kind. in the early days, this lack was due to an art operating system that was not yet differentiated enough—there was no independent media within the cultural domain, and no independence within these media. this situation could not provide sufficient material gain to sustain a career as a truly independent writer. yet in today's booming art market, art media publications, artist books and exhibition catalogs abound. material conditions have improved greatly. but most of this writing now has to cater to the needs of the market: since the market, almost exclusively,validates what is considered good or bad art. this stems from a lack of resources that prove to be strong enough to balance market powers: resources such as strong museum institutions capable and willing to participate in the discourse with their curatorial practice, and in particular independent analysis and critique, all aimed at educating a rapidly growing audience that casts an eye on or is willing to invest in visual arts. in addition, the academic system inside china has been very slow in providing a specific curriculum for those wishing to pursue a career in art criticism.
the art critic award wants to address these issues twofold: by raising the discussion on independent art criticism which is so essential to advance art creation in china, and in seeking to encourage independent writing—by enabling an indepth research project in chinese contemporary art that might not otherwise have found financial support.
finally my vivid thanks go to the ccaa jury members who have with a very rich debate and astute judgment helped to produce this most interesting outcome. the jury was composed of five members: gong yan（editor-in-chief of art world magazine, director of o art center, shanghai institute of visual arts, fu dan university）, lars nittve（executive director of m+ museum, hong kong）philip tinari （former editor-in-chief of leap magazine, director of ucca）, wang huangsheng （director of cafa art museum）and uli sigg（founder of ccaa）. i am also very grateful for the most important financial support provided by m+ museum of visual arts,hongkong to ccaa for our activities. and i am particularly indebted to anna liu li, director of ccaa, who prepared with her team so efficiently the jury meeting, managed with great charm the jury process, all media communication and the many steps that now led to this successful publication.
uli sigg