Pulse Reaction II

Curator: Ruijun Shen
Topical researchers: Ruijun Shen, Anthony Yung, Liang Jianhua, Bao Dong
Speakers: Wei Bingqiang, Liu Weiwei, Zhu Zhoubin, Song Ta, Zhang Hanlu, Wang Jianwei, Chen Tong, Li Randong, Freya Chou, Manray Hsu, Sheng Wei, Man Yu, Liao Guohe
Participants and artists: Qiu Xiaofei, Wang Yin, Mao Chenyu, Fang Lihua, Li Binyuan, Liu Xiaodong, Liu Weiwei, Lü Shengzhong, Wang Jianwei, Li Yifan, Li Gongming, Chen Tong, Chen Jianjun, Zheng Guogu, Duan Jianyu, Hu Bin, Xu Bing, Liang Shuo, Cao Zhenglu, Man Yu, Pun Ngai

Continuing in the model of Pulse Reaction I of providing a platform for the exchange of ideas between Chinese contemporary art practitioners, Pulse Reaction II invites 32 artists and scholars to Times Museum to carry out four days of intensive discussion on themes relating to reality and realism. The discussions, research projects and artworks related to this event will be on display at Times Museum.

Realism as a method of artistic expression was introduced to China during the New Cultural Movement. Owing to the specific needs of China, and a series of cultural policies such as the Talks at the Yan’an Forum on Art and Literature, the discursive system of realism came to dominate the mainstream of Chinese literary and artistic creation. Through the art education system, the exhibition system and art criticism, this line of thinking came to have a profound impact on the artistic language and modes of thought among several generations of artists. The discussion of realism is in order to take stock of the effect this discursive system has on us, to examine our cognitive foundations with a serene mindset, to further open up the Chinese reality with its many details and contradictions, and to further explore the various possibilities for artists to engage in the artistic transformation of this reality. The discussion will revolve around the four themes of Two Kinds of Realism, On the Countryside, Social Intervention Is Not What Matters and Truth. The discussion will touch on many topics, including the Talks at the Yan’an Forum on Art and Literature, the roots and impact of the discursive system of realism, the Chinese experience and the agrarian awareness at the root of its society, painting practice in the countryside, the relationship between the social reality and art, and the concept that “everyone is an artist.” By compiling related documents and presenting related artworks, we hope to create within the museum a field for the concentrated exchange of ideas, open different dimensions of China’s contemporary reality and artistic intervention therein, and explore ways for the individual spirits of artists to apply and confront the rich material of reality.