| Date | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday, April 14, 2011 | 1:00PM - 3:00PM | External Event, University of Toronto Art Center, 15 King's College Circle |
Screening and Public Q&A
“From Jean-Paul Sartre to Teresa Teng: Contemporary Cantonese Art in the 1980s” is a documentary film about the development of contemporary art in Southern China in the 1980s. Though the 1980s was a seminal period in the history of contemporary art in China, the contribution and experimentalism of the art scene in South China, particularly in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, have thus far been overlooked. Based on primary research, rare footage and personal interviews with key artists, this documentary film bears witness not only to the “Reading Fever” that gripped the Chinese art world in the 1980s, but also to the influx of popular culture such as Canto pop that flooded over the border to Guangdong from Hong Kong at the end of the Cultural Revolution. From Jean-Paul Sartre to Teresa Teng highlights the experimentalism and vitality of artists, critics, and curators in South China during this time, including Hou Hanru, Wang Huangsheng, Chen Tong, Yang Jiechang, Wang Du, and members of the Big Tailed Elephant Group, including Chen Shaoxiong, Lin Yilin and Xu Tan, whose contributions to the development of contemporary art have been long lasting and deep.
This film forms part of a major research and website project entitled Materials of the Future: Documenting Contemporary Chinese Art from 1980-1990. All materials collected in conjunction with this project, which was launched in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, and New York in the fall of 2010, are publicly accessible at Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong. A portion of these materials is also available on Asia Art Archive’s dedicated website www.china1980s.org .
Dr. Jane DeBevoise is an independent advisor and art historian, based in Hong Kong and New York. Prior to moving to Hong Kong, Dr. DeBevoise was Deputy Director of the Guggenheim Museum (1996-2002), responsible for museum operations and exhibitions globally. She is now the Chair of the Board of Directors of Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong, and a Trustee of Asian Cultural Council and The China Institute in New York.
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