“Wen Pulin Archive of Chinese Avant-Garde Art of the 1980s and 1990s” Discussion Series: Concept, Action, Performance: The Path of Performance Art

On December 11th the talk, Concept, Action, Performance: The Path of Performance Art, held in the Red Brick Art Museum’s Auditorium. The talk is organised in conjunction with our current exhibition: Wen Pulin Archive of Chinese Avant-Garde Art of the 1980s and 1990s. As witnesses to Chinese performance art the participants Wen Pulin and curator Jonas Stampe will discuss the past, present and future of Chinese performance art.

Although performance art grew in prominence in Europe and the United States from about the middle of the 20th century, its appearance in China came a full eighty years later; moreover, it was not until the 1990s that Chinese performance art really attracted the attention of the media and the public. Performance art can shock, it can be markedly avant-garde and it also has the ability to truly represent an individual’s expression. Performance artists try to challenge existing concepts and institutions and work towards the destruction of existing rules in order to achieve a truly socially involved art form. In this discussion the two guests will look back to the history of the development of Chinese performance art, aiming to find historical perspectives that might hint at the future directions and possibilities of performance art.

Discussants Introduction：
Wen Pulin
Director, art critic, writer
In 2005 at Cornell University in the USA the Wen Pulin Archive of Chinese Avant-Garde Art was inaugurated.
In 2007 at the University of California, San Diego the Wen Pulin Archive of Chinese Avant-Garde Art was inaugurated.
Experimental Theater
1984-1986 director of experimental dramas: The Teahouse, Uncle’s Dream, Schweyk in the Second World War, Timon of Athens.
Modern Art Activities
1988 Bandaging the Great Wall; recorded the film Great Earthquake; recorded various avant-garde art activities in Beijing.
In 1996 the TV program Art Star in which he comprehensively promoted Chinese contemporary art.
Planning Exhibitions: “Seven Sins”, “Liberation”, “Crossing”, “Datong DaZhang”, and others.
Documentary
Contemporary Art: China Action, Seven Sins.
Tibet: The Holy Land of the Ascetic, Da Mu Tianzang, Living Buddha.
Publishing
Contemporary Art: Jianghupiao, Datong DaZhang
Tibet: The Living Buddha of Bhagavan, The Promised Land, The Holy Land of the Venerable.

Jonas Stampe
Jonas Stampe is the curator and founder of Beijing Live. Specialized as a curator of performance art, Stampe has since 2001 produced 46 international events in different locations around the world, curated over 1500 performance art works and worked with more than 350 artists from 56 countries. Stampe visited China for the first time in 2009 as the invited co-curator of the 10th edition of Open festival in Beijing Between 2010 and 2014 he curated Guangzhou Live. In October 2016 he started a new international performance art festival in the capital, BEIJING LIVE, taking place at the Danish Cultural Center in the 798 Art Zone, featuring 30 Chinese and international artists during 10 days.