For most of the audience stepping into the 2021 Chengdu Biennale, the first impression may be the immense size of the content, the diversity of the artworks, and the wide range of issues to be discussed.

Anish Kapoor, “Random Triangle Mirror”, Stainless steel, 180×180cm, 2013

Daniel Buren, “De travers et trop grand - bleu”, Blue adhesive vinyl, size variable, 2013

Olafur Eliasson, “Your happening, has happened, will happen”, Halogen lamp, color filter glass (yellow, green, blue), aluminum, transformer, dimensions variable, 2020

Since the opening of “Super Fusion: 2021 Chengdu Biennale” on 7th November, 2021, the public participation and the development of the exhibition itself are being followed. On the 19th and 21st of December, 2021, “Future Co-Conception: Art Museum Director Summit” and “Innovations: Art and the City—2021 Chengdu Biennale Academic Symposium” were held which provided the audience an in-depth interpretation of the exhibition theme, structure and content. Besides the framework of the biennale itself, these academic events also expanded the scope to the relationship between the biennale and the city, the biennale and the art scene at present. In addition, the strategies and methods taken by art museums to respond to collections, exhibitions and the audience in the post-pandemic era, and the interdisciplinary art creation within the global discourse, were also discussed.

View of “ Future Co-Conception: Art Museum Director Summit”

View of “Innovations: Art and the City—2021 Chengdu Biennale Academic Symposium”

In the academic symposium on 21st December, the Chief Curator Fan Di’an, who is the Chairman of China Artists Association and the President of China Central Academy of Fine Arts, stated that in current circumstances, “it is worth discussing the value and function of an exhibition, an art exhibition, and a biennale to a city.” Based on the conception and the practical execution of the 2021 Chengdu Biennale, he proposed three notions that people should be concerned with, namely, “the relationship between a biennale and the city where it is located”, “the relationship between a biennale and the new feature and trend of local art” and “the multiple connections between a biennale and global art”. These three points addressed by President Fan may provide us with some clues to review this series of academic events and understand better the 2021 Chengdu Biennale.

The Chief Curator Fan Di’an, who serves as the Chairman of China Artists Association and the President of China Central Academy of Fine Arts, delivered a speech.

Tian Rong, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Chengdu Municipal Committee and Minister of Propaganda, delivered a speech.

Lv Peng, art historian, art critic and Director of the Chengdu Biennale Academic Committee, delivered a speech.

A Biennale and the City

Keywords: Culture Conservation and City Regeneration, Biennale Economic, Plan and Development, Public Art, the Ecological Turn of Art

As an international art event, every biennale closely connects with the city where it is located. The history and context of a city usually define a biennale’s theme, framework, and participants. While a biennale that is held over a long time offering a high quality can facilitate the modernizing of the city, influence diffusion as well as the economic benefit of the city to a great extent. Even some small cities are gradually developed into cultural and art centers that become the focus of the whole world through their site-specific biennales. Wang Chuncheng, the Vice Director of CAFAM, introduced the intimate relationship between a biennale and the city from the history of several well-known international biennales and the cities that accommodate these biennales, such as the Venice Biennale, Sao Paulo Art Biennial, Kassel Documenta. Wang also addressed the notion of “Biennale Economic”. He pointed out that in recent years, besides the first-tier cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen which hold biennales frequently, many small cities and ancient towns, for instance, the ancient town of Anren near Chengdu, are also aware of the significance of the biennales. The biennale positively boosts the city's appearance and the development of the cultural tourism industry. In this case, the biennale and the city regeneration become an important connotation in terms of the future development strategy of a city.

Wang Chuncheng, Vice Director of CAFAM, delivered a speech.

Artist and independent curator Fang Zhenning, delivered a speech online.

In the Chengdu Biennale this year, in regards of the theme, curatorial strategies and selected artworks, the section “Urban Co-Habitation” takes into consideration that the unique quality in the history and tradition of Chengdu is undergoing rapid development as well. In the speech delivered by the curator Fang Zhenning, the TOD (Transit-oriented Development) strategy of Chengdu is worth noting. The pattern of Chengdu’s urban development led by rail transit since 2017 is exactly in line with the trend of building a vibrant, habitable and sustainable community advocated by TOD, which presents a promising prospect. Based on Fang’s on-site research on TOD and functional buildings and facilities in Chengdu, and his continuous focus on urban development in Tokyo, Yokohama and other cities over the past 20 years, “Urban Co-Habitation” combines the notions and practices of urban planning, art and architecture, providing the audience with a cross-section of the rapid city development of Chengdu. Meanwhile, by comparing and displaying the international cases, it also places the cultural development strategy of the city under the examination of the turbulent pattern throughout the world.

Fang Zhenning, “The Vision of TOD500”, 2021

Chen Wenji, “Pair of A Week” (Seven Paintings), Oil on canvas, 2019

When discussing the connection between art creation and the city, public art is regarded as one of the most direct and powerful methods to integrate art with the public sphere. In the symposium, Ji Shaofeng, the Director of Hubei Art Museum, gave a speech that was entitled “Public Art in Symbiosis with the City”. He took “@wuhan”, 2021 Chengdu Biennale, and other specific cases to discuss his viewpoints. While he also mentioned the significance of the notion “ecological turn of art”. Ji Shaofeng introduced that it was more concerned with the relationship between nature and the city in the current art creation and the process of city regeneration. The artworks in this trend begin to discuss and rethink the symbiosis of humans and nature, as well as creating loads of dilemmas in the process of urbanization.

Ji Shaofeng, Director of Hubei Museum of Art, delivered a speech.

Su Xinping, "Walking Man”, Bronze, 500×585×158cm×3, 2021

“On the one hand, it is necessary to reinforce the protection of history and tradition, while also being concerned with the inheritance of civilization and culture, and retaining the nostalgia of the city's traditional construction and cultural features, which is the concept that urban renewal must uphold. On the other hand, intervening art with the city that decorates the urban landscape with a beautiful formal language, and builds a new appearance for the city, should also be significant in terms of developing the cultural atmosphere and temperament of the city within the time frame, as well as the urban regeneration,” So emphasized President Fan Di’an. How to deal with the relationship between unique historical memory and urban development planning, and what role can art and culture play in it, are the problems and challenges that every city will face in the process of modernization.

A Biennale and the Art in Today

Keywords: Unavoidable Innovation of Tradition, Art Institutions, Collections and Exhibitions Nowadays…

When we discuss the integration of art and the city, analyzing and presenting energetic art nowadays is another context that a biennale cannot ignore. The eight sections under the main theme “Super Fusion”, namely, “Polymorphic Co-Existence”, “Urban Co-Habitation”, “Technological Co-Respondence”, “Zeitgeist Co-Evolution”, “Ecological Co-Development”, “Craft Co-Operation”, “Ethnic Co-Creation”, “Artistic Co-Inspiration”, as well as the “Future Co-Conception: Art Museum Director Summit”, jointly interpret the diverse circumstances of the current art ecology. 

Nowadays, in reconsidering history and tradition, they are not restricted to the field of culture and art, nor focused on by any single nation. He Guiyan, the Director of Art Museum of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, pointed out that “from a global perspective, the creation and innovation of traditional culture have become an unavoidable theme today.” In his speech “Traditional Activation and Urban Memory”, he mentioned the importance of the section “Craft Co-Operation” to Chengdu Biennale, as well as to art ecology nowadays in China.

He Guiyan, the Director of Art Museum of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, delivered a speech.

He raised several key questions when conceiving the exhibition. First of all, should we take a local viewpoint or consider it from a global viewpoint when confronting the tradition? Furthermore, he proposed the second question—when is the so-called notion of “tradition” formed? From He Guiyan's viewpoint, either the narrow sense of the word or its broad sense should be inclusive in the context of the exhibition.

Liang Shaoji, “Silence, and Then It Moves”, 480×480×430cm, Acrylic, silk, metal frame, resin stones, 2013-2014

Kathrin von Rechenberg, “Shuliang·Cocoon”, 3×3×3m³, Silk hanging sculpture, 2021

Lin Yan, “Regeneration of Hope #1 - Dubhe”, Dimensions variable, Ink on paper, cotton threads and string lights, 2017

In this chapter, he introduced, the artists’ innovations in “tradition” as being either reflected in the perspective of materials, or as starting with the transformation of concepts behind materials, while others focus on landscape, aesthetic taste, etc.. When it comes to international artists and Chinese artists living and working abroad, they present their contemporary understandings of Chinese tradition based on diversified experiences and cultural contexts. Regardless of the transformation approach and creation methodology, from He Guiyan's viewpoint, “a better traditional transformation of contemporary art lies in the cultural and life awareness behind the works”. Therefore, in this section, the curators intend to “integrate contemporary consciousness, historical culture, and folk skills into the context of contemporary social existence.”

It is also interesting to discuss that the art museum today is far more than a venue for accommodating and displaying artworks. Instead, it seems to be gradually developed into an inseparable part of contemporary art and culture.

Poster of  “Future Co-Conception: Art Museum Directors Summit”

The past decade or so has been a golden period for the development of private art museums in China. While the government has vigorously developed the museum industry, private art museums have also sprung up in various cities across the country. In the booming wave of art museums, it is difficult for us to ignore the heavy blow that the pandemic has brought to art institutions around the world. However, how to transform challenges into opportunities in difficult times? This issue is actively considered by art institutions with different backgrounds and natures. At the “Future Co-Conception: Art Museum Director Summit” held on the 19th, the heads of nearly 30 art museums and art institutions were gathered either online or offline to discuss the “Chinese methods” of art museums in such an era full of challenges and opportunities. The summit was organized under three main topics, namely, “collection”, “exhibition” and “the public”.

Zhang Zikang, Director of CAFA Art Museum, gave a speech.

Zhang Zikang, Director of CAFA Art Museum, gave a speech entitled “The Construction of Art Museums and the Building of the City Image”. He expanded his viewpoint from  “ art museums as the connection between public culture and city”, the  “art museums as the driving force of urban intellectual innovation", and the  “art museum as the promoting force of urban industry upgrade”. It echoed his speech in the “Art Museum Directors Summit” held two days earlier, which addressed that “art museums that survive, and maintain their vitality in difficult situations need to actively deal with the problems that are emerging at the beginning. While on the other hand they must actively consider their roles in the future and make more reflections and experiments. It requires us to re-examine the basic function of art museums, and at the same time, we should adapt ourselves to social needs, interdisciplinary barriers, and broaden the boundaries of art museums”.

Undoubtedly, as an important venue for collecting, displaying, and researching “today’s art”, art museums not only undertake the responsibility of knowledge production and cultural inheritance. In the ever-closer relationship with the audience and cities, public art institutions are also expected to consider their contemporary function in society. In the post-pandemic era, when face-to-face art exchanges and international dialogue are hindered, how should art museums integrate and use their own resources to display contemporary art, transmit academic ideas, and promote cultural exchanges in a broader online space?

Gao Gao, Vice Director of CAFA Art Museum, gave a speech.

Gao Gao, Vice Director of CAFA Art Museum, in her speech “Integration and Application of Academic Resources of CAFA Art Museum”, mentioned the “internal circle” of the work at the art museum brought up by the pandemic. In this case, CAFAM began to sort its academic resources and apply these resources in exhibitions and other art events. As a representative of art museums based on the academy, CAFAM has accumulated profound academic resources since the 1950s, allowing the art museum to form a series of work centered on research on collections. The research facilitates the promotion of offline academic activities such as exhibitions, publications, and digital learning documentaries, and at the same time drives online promotion and further expansion of the collections. In recent years, CAFAM has continued to carry out follow-up work on the basis of the research on SELECTED ARTWORKS FROM THE CAFA ART MUSEUM COLLECTION published in 2018. On the one hand, it continuously expands the scale of collections; on the other hand, it is also committed to a series of special research exhibitions to deepen further study on various topics.

Xiong Yu, Director of Sichuan University Art Museum, gave a speech.

The Sichuan University Art Museum, as another representative university-based art museum, relies on the advantages of a comprehensive university and is committed to the construction of a research-oriented art museum. In the introduction of Xiong Yu, Director of Sichuan University Art Museum, the research of the art museum is divided in three directions, namely, the study of the internal logic development of traditional art forms, the possibility of art development under the fusion of diverse disciplines, and the concerns under the concepts. Supported by the rich and professional disciplinary backgrounds of the comprehensive university, interdisciplinary art projects are promoted here, including art and medicine, biology, visual perception and computer art, and museology, etc. At the same time, Xiong Yu commented that the disciplinary intervention of science and engineering has also made the interdisciplinary cooperation and promotion in the art museum become focused more on experimentation and exploration, emphasizing the logic of the process and the project rather than taking a complete result as the ultimate pursuit.

Wang Xuechuan, Executive Director of MoCA Yinchuan, delivered a speech.

At the same time, regional art museums focus on mobilizing their collection characteristics and their close relationship with cities and regions. For instance, Yinchuan Museum of Contemporary Art is distinctive in their collection of the early Chinese Western-style paintings and historical maps. When talking about the museum’s collection orientation and significance, Wang Xuechuan, Executive Director of MoCA Yinchuan, quoted Lv Peng, who serves as the Artistic Director of MoCA Yinchuan, that “continuously rewriting and interrogating history is what history demands of us.”

What are art museums showing and researching today? In fact, to a certain extent, the works collected by the art museums represent the selection and solidification of a period of history, and they are constantly being met with the public in new contexts through exhibitions and other academic events. At the same time, the institutions’ exhibitions also focus on the contemporary art scene that is constantly growing and changing nowadays. The reactivation of history, collections, and rich and diverse contemporary art jointly constitute the art ecology we see today.

Carsten Höller, “Decimal Clock (Salmon Rose and Novial Gold)”, 100×446cm, Neon light, aluminum structure, electric wire, 2021

DO HO SUH, “Hub”, 313.7×1022.4×151.1cm, Polyester fabric, stainless steel, 2017

Xu Bing, “Background Story: Landscape of the Summer Hills”, 802×60×300cm, Dried plants, garbage, glass, rice paper, 2021

Obviously, the 2021 Chengdu Biennale discusses the notion of “art in today” far more than aforesaid issues. Hot topics such as technological art, ecological art, popular culture, and the fashion industry are all inevitable in the contemporary art scene. More importantly, these cutting-edge, interdisciplinary, fresh arts rooted in the times and social fields, as well as the problems and causes behind them, are not limited to China or a certain nation, but are unprecedented in resonating with the whole world. As President Fan Di'an pointed out in his speech: “Can the curatorial concept of the Chengdu Biennale reflect the general trend or some important features of international art? It may not be enough to just put forward a concept of site-specificity…I think contemporary Chinese artists and their artworks are in sync with international art trends.”

Art and Issues within the Global Context

Keywords: Technological Art, Ecology and Sustainability, Fashion Design and Contemporary Art, the Re-understanding of the Audience/the Public

What issues have international art and exhibitions been concerned about in recent years? It should be admitted that the sudden outbreak of the pandemic has exposed many contradictions and crises hidden in the gaps of rapid social development. The distance in physical space and the quarantine in people’s daily life have instead made people rely more actively on e-communication and remote working styles. Therefore, issues such as changing international relations, sharp ethnic conflicts, rethinking of the relationship between human beings and technology, and nature have attracted unprecedented common attention of all mankind. In this context, the Chengdu Biennale is also devoted to exploring how to reflect the trend of international art development through a biennale.

Qiu Zhijie, Dean of the School of Experimental Art at CAFA, delivered a speech.

In 2021, the integration of technology and art is no longer a fresh idea. The emergence of concepts such as artificial intelligence, NFT, and metaverse provides a broader perspective and possibility for art creation and the interaction between related cultural industries’ development. As the curator of “Technological Co-Respondence”, Qiu Zhijie, who is the Dean of the School of Experimental Art at CAFA, introduced the definition, the development trend and cultural features of technological art. While the specific artworks in this biennale, the efforts made by CAFA in the field of technological art education, and the related platform and discipline construction, were also included in his speech. What is technological art? As an art category, it needs to give priority to the use of the latest technological means for artistic creation. Secondly, it should consider the new evolution of human life and emotion shaped by technological development, and try to use humanistic and artistic means to digest the impact on humans brought up by the development of technology.

Liam Young, “Planet City”, 16mins, Film installation, 2021

Jim Campbell, “Edition26(Temple in Yunnan)”,  39×58×7cm, Low pixel video installation: Custom electronics, 384 LEDs, treated plexiglas, 2018

Michael Frei & Mario von Rickenbach, “KIDS”, 57×37×45cm, Interaction, Puppet, Projection, 2018

Long Xingru&Zhou Tiange, “Sleeping Room”, Real-time program, 2021

Besides, technological art should also be a vision, a perspective of viewing things, Qiu emphasized. The “intangible cultural heritage” appreciated by us nowadays, were cutting-edge in the era when they were born. Hence, from Qiu’s point of view, every era has its own technological art, and the history of art must be deeply integrated with the history of technology. When it comes to the trend of today’s technological art, the development of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, and life science and engineering should be mentioned at the very beginning. Besides, the trend of space art and art creation based on deep-sea exploration are also significant. Most of all, ecological art has recently become a vital manifestation of the socialization of technological art. It is regarded as the intersection of the socialization of technological art and the scientization of social art. In addition to the concern regarding the development of technology, human beings begin to reflect on the problems brought up by such a development.

Jia Yunbo, a Ph.D. student in exhibition planning and visual communication at CAFA, delivered a speech.

Jia Yunbo, a Ph.D. student in exhibition planning and visual communication at CAFA, expanded on Qiu Zhijie’s speech content regarding ecological art in his speech “Ecological Art and Urban Sustainability”. Ecological art is an artistic practice based on ecological concepts, which intends to improve the living environment, restore ecological functions, promote environmental protection concepts, etc., and provide an interdisciplinary imagination and creativity for the sustainable development of human beings. It takes the fusion of cross-discipline as a typical feature. Ecological art, on the one hand, pays attention to the climate, environment, geography, and other natural sciences that are widely associated with the ecological circle; on the one hand, it refers to social sciences such as economy, politics, and culture that are closely related to society.

AMKK, “Paludarium Tachiko”, 208.6×84×90cm, Stainless steel, 2019

Liu Bolin, “Moncler_Iceland No.1, Photography, 180×120cm, 2017

Tong Wenminl, “Tree Roots”, 11′19”, Performance, Dinawan, Malaysia,Single channel video (color, sound), 2019

Nowadays, technological art provides new support for ecological art in terms of information, ideas, and techniques. Besides, the developing society provides problem awareness and application scenarios for practicing ecological art. In Jia Yunbo's introduction, while ecological art uses technology to solve ecological problems, it also strongly appeals to the participation of society to realize ecological ideals through art. Then, he introduced the four dimensions of ecological art and sustainable development, namely improving the public sphere of the city, realizing a better quality of life for communities, creating public cultural events, and a new model of urban ecological aesthetic education. Jia elaborated that these dimensions are for specific ecological art project cases.

Joseph Beuys, “7000 Oaks”, 1982

“Liter of Light” is a global, grassroots movement that uses inexpensive, readily available materials to provide high quality solar lighting to people with limited or no access to electricity.

Ji Yujie, the Director of the Design Department of CAFAM, shared her viewpoints in her speech “Interaction between Contemporary Art, Fashion and Design”. She introduced the future of Chengdu as an emerging new first-tier city and the young generations in this city, and the specific artworks in the “Zeitgeist Co-Evolution” section. In this chapter, a coexisting relationship between contemporary art and fashion design is discussed in-depth, and many topics are involved, such as consumerism, popular culture, and trends in art, which are closely related to young people today. Chengdu is a new first-tier and consumer-oriented city, and young people working and living here are very interested in and actively accepting of avant-garde, conceptual and experimental design, and art. In addition, the art ecology in Chengdu presents its support and protection of emerging artists and art phenomena.

Ji Yujie, the Director of the Design Department of CAFAM, gave a speech.

Ji Yujie further mentioned that, as an academic proposition, the proposing of “Zeitgeist Co-Evolution” was inseparable from the judgment of the main trend of contemporary art development and the consideration of the theme of social and cultural concerns. If we consider a retrospective from a historical point of view, the interaction between artists and commercial and popular culture has emerged in the last century, and the vitality of fashion and design concepts in contemporary art is also deepening. When the new consumption era comes, the IP industry is becoming increasingly mature. Meanwhile, the cross-border cooperation between commercial consumption and fashion design is becoming more frequent than before. Such a trend is reflected in the 2021 Chengdu Biennale through the works and concepts of American artist and designer Kaws, and Chinese artist Cao Fei, among others.

Kaws, “Untitled”, 182.9×132.1cm, Acrylic on shaped canvas, 2016

Cao Fei, “Code Human / 6”, Channel HD video installation, color, sound, 16:9, reflective glass, tempered glass, Dimensions variable, 58 Sec, 2019-2021

Tian Xiaolei, "Post Human Museum", Dimensions variable, Video Installation, 2020-2021

Taking a break from the atmosphere created by different exhibition sections, we were able to re-examine the space hosting the biennale—the two art museums located in the Tianfu Art Park covering an area of more than 3,000 acres. As an emerging venue for urban public art and cultural activities, what kind of relationship should the museum have with the city and its residents? Whether it is the curatorial team's in-depth interpretation of the 2021 Chengdu Biennale from the theme to each section, or the re-discussion of the contemporary functions and working methods of art museums by nearly 30 heads of art institutions, “the audience/the public” is no longer regarded as a passive recipient of knowledge production and dissemination in art museums. On the contrary, either the cultural policymakers or the heads of institutions and curators of exhibitions, are re-examining the influence of “the audience” on institutions and cultural activities.

In the 2018 Frieze London Art Fair, Director of the British Museum Hartwig Fischer pointed out the museum’s contemporary function. This function requires museums and other types of public art institutions to reconsider the increasingly diverse spectators, to develop a new program strategies that is accountable to their contemporary audiences. [1] At the same time, in the curatorial study background, a wide range of public art institutions are positively exploring and adapting to the “Educational Turn” in their interior. For instance, Irish curator Paul O’Neil, emphasized that contemporary curating is no longer merely emphasizing its production and display [2]. In the practices of the New Museology, public education events such as lectures, screening and workshops that were regarded as supplementary to exhibitions, are gradually replaced by the notion of “Public Engagement” addressed by the contemporary museum and curatorial practices.

Under such an international trend, whether it is the “audience” as one of the key topics discussed at the “Future Co-Conception: Art Museum Director Summit”, or the close attention to the city and its residents in various sections under the main theme of "Super Fusion” , or the composition of 17 parallel exhibitions linked throughout the city and closely related to the local art ecology of Chengdu, in the 2021 Chengdu Biennale, the witness and participation of the public have become an important part of this art event that cannot be ignored.

Interior View of Chengdu Tianfu Art Museum and Chengdu Museum of Contemporary Art

The composition of the audience who come to the Chengdu Biennale is complex, and within them, there are undoubtedly only a few with a professional art background, which is precisely the same situation as many art institutions when analyzing the audience they face today. The public art institutions with different natures often adopt various strategies to plan their exhibitions and academic events according to their diverse institutional situations and the analysis of the audience. 

For university-based art museums, as mentioned above, the CAFA Art Museum and the Sichuan University Art Museum, a part of the audience are faculty members and students on campus, and the other part is the public outside the campus. The duality of the audience background makes university-based art museums, on the one hand, mobilize the teaching resources and cultural traditions of the academy, emphasizing professionalism, academic resources and research. While on the other hand, communication and interaction with ordinary people without relevant professional knowledge should also be considered in the process of exhibition and event planning.

On another occasion, for example, the Luxelakes·A4 Art Museum, a representative community-based private art museum in Chengdu, makes full use of its close relationship with the Luxelakes community and residents. In recent years, the art museum has been regarded as a place to inspire the public. In the introduction by Director Sun Li, the art museum is concerned with the public's expectations when they come to the art museum. The “iSTART Children's Art Festival” planned by A4 Art Museum has been held for seven consecutive years. During this process, the project has gradually realized a positive transformation for the public from participation to co-creation. At the same time, it is also trying to build a network that connects more diverse communities through public participation and empowerment. By doing so, the A4 Art Museum expects to develop dialogues among different communities and occupations across the whole city.

Sun Li, Director of Luxelakes·A4 Art Museum, delivered a speech.

After a brief review of the academic events of the 2021 Chengdu Biennale, we may find a more profound and authentic way to understand the main theme “super fusion”. From the viewpoint of President Fan Di’an, the word “fusion” in traditional Chinese culture represents the meaning of brightness, fervency and prosperity, while it also emphasizes a comprehensive atmosphere of integration. Yet the word is not limited in Chinese tradition and aesthetics. In a global discourse, the trend of interdisciplinary and inter-culture allows people to “co-recognize the fusion of different art concepts and art forms, media and languages, the connection between art innovation and the city heritage, as well as the harmony between art scenes and public participation.”

In the new year, “Super Fusion: 2021 Chengdu Biennale” brings diversified voices from all over the world and the most cutting-edge art scenes to a city full of energy. Meanwhile, it expects a wide range of public participation and multi-dimensional comments, feedback, and reflections from the city and its residents.

It is reported that “Super Fusion: 2021 Chengdu Biennale“  will remain on view till April 6th, 2022.

Text by Emily Weimeng Zhou and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO

Image courtesy of the organizer.

Notes:

[1] The conversation happened on 2nd October, 2018 at the Royal Institution in London as one of the events for the 2018 Frieze London Art Fair. The guests include Michael Govan, Director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art LACMA, Sabine Haag, Director, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna and Hartwig Fischer, Director of the British Museum. The entire conversation could be accessed through BBC Radio: https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/play/m0000knp

Accessed in 18th, January, 2021.

[2] O’Neill (2012). The Culture of Curating and the Curating of Culture(s). Cambridge: The MIT Press.

About the exhibition: 

Super Fusion: 2021 Chengdu Biennale

Duration: November 6th, 2021-April 6th, 2022

Opening: November 6th, 2021
Location: Chengdu Tianfu Art Park (Chengdu Tianfu Art Museum, Chengdu Museum Of Contemporary Art )