The Exterior of TAG Art Museum

On August 12, 2021, TAG Art Museum located in Qingdao West Coast New Area was officially open to the public. It was designed by renowned French architect Jean Nouvel and it is dedicated to presenting diversified forms of classical art and contemporary art including fashion, design, concerts and performances. TAG Art Museum launched its opening exhibition “Beyond” on the same day and 14 influential Chinese and international artists were invited to participate in it. These artists are Alex Katz, Anish Kapoor, Bill Viola, Carsten Höller, David Hockney, Liu Xiaodong, Luc Tuymans, Richard Deacon, Song Dong, Sui Jianguo, Xu Bing, Yin Xiuzhen, Yu Hong and Zhang Xiaogang.

Exhibition View of "Beyond: The Inaugural Exhibition of TAG Art Museum"

Some of the works in the exhibition were created by artists during or inspired by the pandemic over the past two years, including the paintings of Zhang Xiaogang and David Hockney, and the sculpture made by Richard Deacon during the lockdown at the start of the outbreak. Several pieces have never been exhibited in China and are now presented to domestic viewers with a whole new look, such as the paintings of Liu Xiaodong and Luc Tuymans, the installation of Carsten Höller, and the video work of Bill Viola. And a few works have been completed in this unique exhibition space of TAG Art Museum, perfectly combining the exhibits with the art museum, such as Sui Jianguo’s large-scale installation.

Exhibition View of "Beyond: The Inaugural Exhibition of TAG Art Museum"

Foreword

By Fan Di’an

President of China Artists Association and President of Central Academy of Fine Arts

The glittering appearance of TAG Art Museum located in Qingdao West Coast New Area is seen as an artistic pearl rising on the coast of the Yellow Sea. It has a cultural mind and is recognized as being as generous as the ocean with the concept of establishing a museum based in China that radiates across the world. While pursuing the ideal of surpassing existing art museums in the global development of contemporary art, it makes itself a mirage-like cultural field that mirrors reality yet is still full of illusionary fantasy.

The ideal of Mr. Meng Xianwei and Mr. Jean Nouvel was to build TAG Art Museum into an exemplary museum that renews our understanding of an art museum and sensible creations can be activated here. Hence, the art museum is not a defined entity, but a Rubik's cube for contemporary cultural creation, experience and communication through its spatial switching. The functions of TAG Art Museum and The Artists' Garden interact with each other; the natural landscape and cultural creations reflect each other; the language, materials and details of the art museum exude a strong poetic and elegant vibe, making the art museum itself a moving scenery at every step and a magnificent piece of work. In this sense, the cultural characteristic of TAG Art Museum determines that her first exhibition will be based on the theme of "Beyond". "Beyond" is exactly the practice of mankind when pursuing dreams.

Xu Bing, Background Story: Mountains behind the Mist on the River Scroll, 2021, 170 × 885 cm, Mixed media installation © Xu Bing Studio

Zhang Xiaogang, About Sleep No. 5, 2021, 180× 230cm, Acrylic on canvas, ©Zhang Xiaogang

The exhibition is honored to be able to invite 14 artists to showcase their masterpieces or latest works. The common feature of their artistic careers is constantly working beyond themselves, making ideological concerns based on reality with their own insight into reality and transcending history using original artistic language to construct a new experience of visual narrative. Their artistic thinking and language methods express the visual exploration of global common cultural propositions, as well as a demonstration of a wider exchange and blend between Chinese and global art under the cultural context that has not witnessed a major change over the last century. In this exhibition, their works have formed new collisions and run-ins with the space of TAG Art Museum, thereby creating a synthesis of visual tension between the space and work, thus also highlighting the cultural vitality of the works. Mr. Zhang Zikang and I believe that the symbiosis form of these works with TAG Art Museum will give audiences multiple artistic experiences when immersed in the museum space and approaching the works. Under the severe situation of the global battle against the COVID-19 epidemic, to perceive the value of the beyond from art is also a form of spiritual empathy.

Yu Hong, Truth, 2020, 140 × 50cm, Acrylic on canvas © Yu Hong

Liu Xiaodong, A Girl Going Through Customs, 60 × 70cm, Oil on canvas, © Liu Xiaodong and MASSIMODECARLO

Beyond: The Inaugural Exhibition of TAG Art Museum

By Zhang Zikang

Director of CAFA Art Museum

In the past few years, the entire world has undergone a crisis with the raging pandemic and unstable international situation. Things began to improve in 2021, however, a new outbreak of the epidemic disease began. Countries that have reopened borders successively are going through a trial situation once again, and exchanges between regions have increased as the pandemic becomes a common occurrence. The art world also continues to transcend the present and search for a new lease of life.

When the crisis broke out, in addition to the impact on economic development and restrictions on people’s physical movements, the pandemic prompted us to have a reflective mindset. This unexpected disaster halted the ever-accelerating progress of history and brought an uncertain future to people. For the art world, the uncertainty and sense of crisis caused by this post-pandemic situation has allowed contemporary artists to return to themselves and produce new creations. On the one hand, the closure of physical boundaries has not prevented the dissemination of artworks and their rich ideological connotations, as art is still the best channel for artists to relieve themselves and make their voices heard. On the other hand, this crisis has shaken up previous rules and systems, opening a new phase for this era. It is in this new stage that artists are more likely to break through the original confinement, find a new language and new issues of art in the trend of the times, and thus achieve self-transcendence.

Exhibition View of "Beyond: The Inaugural Exhibition of TAG Art Museum"

In this situation and common mentality, TAG Art Museum in Qingdao launches its opening exhibition “Beyond” in 2021 and invites 14 influential Chinese and international artists to participate in the show. Some of the works in the exhibition were created by artists during or inspired by the pandemic over the past two years, including the paintings of Zhang Xiaogang and David Hockney, and the sculpture made by Richard Deacon during the lockdown at the start of the outbreak. Several pieces have never been exhibited in China and are now presented to domestic viewers with a whole new look, such as the paintings of Liu Xiaodong and Luc Tuymans, the installation of Carsten Höller, and the video work of Bill Viola. And a few works have been completed in this unique exhibition space of TAG Art Museum, perfectly combining the exhibits with the art museum, such as Sui Jianguo’s large-scale installation.

Exhibition View of "Beyond: The Inaugural Exhibition of TAG Art Museum"

“Beyond” can be regarded as a human spirit, and it not only refers to transcending others or self-transcendence, but also symbolizes the spirit of people who, under the inspiration of the pandemic, push the boundaries of society and technology to collide with nature. This is in line with the vision of TAG Art Museum, which was jointly built by the team of TAG Art Museum and the famous French architect and Pritzker Prize winner Jean Nouvel after a decade of hard-work. Since its establishment, the art museum adhered to the principle of integrating the city with nature. In the exhibition, the artists’ works are more or less related to the current ecological situation we are facing. Instead of seeking solutions, artists reconstruct their imagination of nature through a reflection on these issues as well as self-introspection.

Alex Katz, White Rose 9, 2012, 274.3 ×548.6 cm, Oil on canvas, ©Alex Katz and Tailor Gallery, London | New York

Luc Tuymans, Shenzhen, 2019, 213.2 ×156.4 cm, Oil on canvas, ©Luc Tuymans and David Zwirner

For these accomplished artists in the exhibition, their artworks form a kind of organism parallel to reality and adjust to the social order and system. At the same time, being the first exhibition of TAG Art Museum in Qingdao, it also hopes to serve as a declaration that in the field of art, TAG Art Museum, is one of the main buildings of the Artists’ Garden that will constantly go beyond itself in the future.  

About the exhibition

Duration: 12 August, 2021- 6 January, 2022

Chief curator: Fan Di’an

Curator: Zhang Zikang

Exhibition producer: Meng Xianwei

Organizer: TAG Art Museum

Venue: TAG Art Museum

Address: 1111 Yinshatan Road, Qingdao, China

Courtesy of TAG Art Museum, edited by CAFA ART INFO.