China's New Art, Post-1989

China's New Art, Post-1989 was the first major collection of Chinese experimental art to exhibit outside the country. The exhibition took place between January 30 to February 28, 1993, as part of Hong Kong Arts Festival in Hong Kong City Hall and at Pao Galleries, Hong Kong Arts Centre. The touring exhibition travelled to Taipei, Melbourne, London, Vancouver, and various cities in the USA from 1993 to 1997.

Considered a seminal snapshot of the Chinese avant-garde scene of the time, the exhibition served as an inspiration

Curators

The exhibition was curated by Chang Tsongzung Johnson, 張頌仁 and Li Xianting, 栗憲庭, with assistant curator Liao Wen. The Hong Kong exhibition curator was Oscar Ho Hing-Kay. The show included an "extraordinary roll-call"^[2] of artists, such as Wang Guangyi, Gu Wenda, Fang Lijun, and Zeng Fanzhi.

Curator Chang Tsongzung wrote, "The art of the Post-1989 period was significant as it characterised the spirit of the new decade, closing the chapter of the 1980s. It was important also for the fact that it presented to the world the first major coherent overview of China's experimental art scene, and has maintained a continuing dialogue ever since."^[3]

A catalog of the exhibition, edited by Valerie C. Doran and featuring a preface by Chang Tsongzung, offers an in-depth study of the artistic undercurrents and cultural sensibilities for the creation of experimental art in China during the late 1980s and the early 1990s, through contributions from a number of noted critics and art historians. The original publisher Hanart TZ Gallery has donated the publication rights of the book to Asia Art Archive.

Artists

The exhibition included works by Ah Xian, 阿仙; CAI Jin, 蔡錦; CHEN Haiyan, 陳海燕;