Contemporary Chinese Art and Film : Theory Applied and Resisted

In the past two decades, contemporary Chinese art and film have attracted a great deal of media and academic attention in the West, and scholars have adopted a variety of approaches to Chinese film and visual studies. As English scholarship in this area has continued to expand, it is time for us to assess progress, problems, and prospects in our research agendas and methodologies. The present volume focuses, therefore, on the uses and status of theory originating in non-Chinese places in the creation, curating, narration, and criticism of contemporary Chinese visual culture (broadly defined to include traditional media in the visual arts as well as cinema, installation, video, etc.). One of the main themes of the book is the appropriateness (that is, the uses, abuses, appropriations, limits, etc.) of Western theory. Contributors reflect on the written and, even more interestingly, the unwritten assumptions of artists, critics, historians, and curators in applying or resisting these theories. They also reflect on the status of theory in our scholarship; by necessity, theory in this case is broadly conceived to include not only critical theory in the West but also basic concepts that enable us to engage in different modes of perception, articulation, negotiation, and interrogation. Theory is also linked to our disciplinary traditions and innovations, as scholars from art history, film studies, and Chinese studies investigate different aspects of Chinese art and film in our knowledge production. The present volume focuses on the uses of theory originating in non-Chinese places in the creation, curating, and criticism of contemporary Chinese visual culture. In the past two decades, contemporary Chinese art and film have attracted a great deal of media and academic attention in the West, and scholars have adopted a variety of approaches in Chinese film and visual studies. The present volume focuses on the uses and status of theory originating in non-Chinese places in the creation, curating, narration, and criticism of contemporary Chinese visual culture (broadly defined to include traditional media in the visual arts as well as cinema, installation, video, etc.). Contributors reflect on the written and, even more interestingly, the unwritten assumptions on the part of artists, critics, historians, and curators in applying or resisting Western theories. The essays in the present volume demonstrate clearly that Western theory can be useful in explicating Chinese text, as long as it is applied judiciously; the essays, taken as a whole, also suggest that cultural exchange is never a matter of one-way street. Historically, ideas from traditional Chinese aesthetics have also traveled to the West, and it is a challenge to examine what travels and what does not, as well as what makes such travel possible or impossible. The present volume thus provides us an opportunity to rethink travels of theories and texts across cultures, languages, disciplines, and media. "The authors in this volume demonstrate how theory can be deployed judiciously, and so illuminate the methodological challenges faced by scholars in a rapidly evolving field. Intellectually rigorous and yet accessible, the book is a much-needed and valuable contribution to art historical scholarship." Dr. Wenny Teo, Manuela and Iwan Wirth Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Asian Art, The Courtauld Institute of Art, London. "This collection of essays offers multifaceted approaches and perspectives that demonstrate forcefully how Western theories have appropriated Chinese visual texts into the discourse of English scholarship. This is a must-read book for anyone intending to read or write about contemporary Chinese art and cinema. Shu-chin Tsui, Bowdoin College, author of Women Through the Gender and Nation in a Century of Chinese Cinema . "The theories, ranging from Bakhtin's reading to Chinese Daoist/Chan Buddhist notions, and engaging with postmodern perspectives and globalization, are boldly used to prompt readers to reinterpret contemporary Chinese art and film." Haili Kong, Swarthmore College, coeditor of One Hundred Years of Chinese Cinema. In the past two decades, contemporary Chinese art and film have attracted a great deal of media and academic attention in the West, and scholars have adopted a variety of approaches in Chinese film and visual studies. The present volume focuses on the uses and status of theory originating in non-Chinese places in the creation, curating, narration, and criticism of contemporary Chinese visual culture (broadly defined to include traditional media in the visual arts as well as cinema, installation, video, etc.). Contributors reflect on the written and, even more interestingly, the unwritten assumptions on the part of artists, critics, historians, and curators in applying or resisting Western theories. The essays in the present volume demonstrate clearly that Western theory can be useful in explicating Chinese text, as long as it is applied judiciously. The essays, taken as a whole also suggest that cultural exchange is never a matter of a one-way street. Historically, ideas from traditional Chinese aesthetics have also traveled to the West, and it is a challenge to examine what travels and what does not, as well as what makes such travel possible or impossible. The present volume thus provides us an opportunity to rethink travels of theories and texts across cultures, languages, disciplines, and media. Contents 8 Acknowledgments 11 Note on Transcription 12 Introduction 14 1 Traces of Empire: Deconstructing Hou Hanru’s “Postcolonialist” Reading of Contemporary Chinese Art 26 2 The Art World of Post-Deng China: Market, Globalization, and Cultural Nationalism 50 3 The International Identity of Chinese Art: Theoretical Debates on Chinese Contemporary Art in the 1990s 80 4 Oh Father, Where Art Thou? A Bakhtinian Reading of Luo Zhongli’s Father 102 5 Imperious Griffonage: Xu Bing and the Graphic Regime 120 6 The Discursive Formation of the Role of the Independent Curator in Taiwan during the 1990s 154 7 Encircling the City: Peasant Migration in Contemporary Chinese Media 184 8 Between Realism and Romanticism: Queering Gender Representation in Cui Zi’en’s Night Scene 198 9 Couching Race in the Global Era: Intra-Asian Racism in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 222 10 Filmic Transposition of the Roses: Stanley Kwan’s Feminine Response to Eileen Chang’s Women 242 11 Ethnicity, Nationality, Translocality: A Critical Reflection on the Question of Theory in Chinese Film Studies 256 Notes 274 About the Editor 336 About the Contributors 338