THE Shanghai Biennial 2000 opened in the Shanghai Art Gallery in November, and will be welcoming art lovers right through to January 2001. This, the third Biennial, is a particularly significant event since, in contrast to the previous two, it will provide a venue wherein contemporary Chinese artists may, for the first time, exhibit their work under the auspices of the government.In the previous two biennials held in Shanghai, works on display were comparatively restricted in scope. However, on this occasion Shanghai hopes to demonstrate that the city, as well as China, is now throwing its artistic net over a much wider area, to include contemporary, as well as traditional arts in its official repertoire of exhibited Chinese works. Modes of arts in this exhibition include oil painting, traditional Chinese painting, wood carving, sculpture, photography, interior decor and video art, and a dozen representative artists from 18 countries have been invited to participate in the exhibition. The biennial is being administered according to the international practice, whereby the exhibited works are selected according to the agreement of the exhibition designers and the art committee. This is the first time an exhibition has been organized in this way in China.

This biennial is considered a symbolic event and a milestone in Chinese artistic development. Although it has been subject to much criticism, the fact of its being held is proof that more and more Chinese are interested in seeing what kind of contemporary arts are being created in China at the onset of the new millennium.

Exchange between East and West
　　Contemporary arts first arrived in China about two decades ago, and Chinese artists at the time accordingly modeled their work largely on that of the West. By the 1990s, certain artists had formulated their own creative concepts, but contemporary arts were nevertheless closely linked with traditional concepts and the progress of such works was obstructed. Artists therefore had no other alternative than to go to the West to put into practice their ideas in a relatively uninhibited environment.
　　Chinese artists have participated in many important international exhibitions, and their works have attracted international interest for their unmistakably oriental quality, further distinguished by a contemporary flair. During an art exhibition entitled China! held at Bonn Museum in Germany, its sponsor declared that the exhibition housed pieces of the best Chinese art works unavailable for exhibition in China itself.
　　The views expressed by some Westerners on Chinese culture, as in certain satires on features of Chinese history and wholesale exaggeration of its negative aspects, are unacceptable to the Chinese. However, to win commercial success and to be accepted by international contemporary art circles, Chinese artists must, to some extent, conform to Western aesthetic concepts. Chinese artists hope that their government may be willing to give them more support, so as to make possible some kind of dialogue with Western artists on a more or less equal basis. The Third Shanghai Biennial Exhibition was held in such a spirit. Mr. Hou Hanru from France, one of the exhibition designers, confirmed that in selecting show pieces, an emphasis was laid on the spiritual communication between Western and traditional Chinese works.
　　One of the exhibits in the exhibition hall in the first floor of the new gallery is a pile of sand shaped in the style of Western architecture to represent the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, as originally opened by the British on the Bund in Shanghai. Its shade of faded yellow is in sharp contrast to its surroundings, and the whole fragile edifice appears to be on the brink of collapse. The intended theme of Huang Yongping, creator of the work, is that of the influence of post-colonial culture and the globalization process on life and culture in the new century.
　　Many Chinese works currently on exhibition seek to combine the cultural essence of China and the West. For instance, in his sculpture series, Sui Jianguo dresses the classic Western sculptures the Dying Slave and Discobolus in traditional Chinese clothes. This humorous but harmonious combination shows the artist's deep contemplation of the complementary aspects of Eastern and Western culture.

Dialogue between Artists and the Government
　　Due to its strong cultural atmosphere, Beijing is the birthplace of contemporary Chinese arts. This eventuated when groups of young artists migrated to Beijing's western suburbs and lived near the Old Summer Palace, in a way similar to the American artists that were down to Greenwich Village. These artists lived an isolated life and were known as the marginals.
　　In 1989, a group of contemporary artists presented a spontaneous art exhibition at the Chinese Art Gallery in Beijing. Being imbued with an excessively naive artistic concept, on the opening day of this exhibition one artist fired a shot from a real pistol into a telephone booth. This understandably resulted in extreme caution on the part of the government as regards contemporary culture, and the imposition of indefinite veto on any future exhibitions of this genre. Since then, many contemporary schools of art have moved to Shanghai. Hearing of this phenomenon, many Western art aficionados have made Shanghai their first port of call when traveling to China. Since it was in this great eastern metropolis that the Chinese began to study and accept Western civilization, the city has thus become a melting pot for diverse cultures, providing untrammeled space for artistic development.
　　Zhang Qing, another designer of the biennial, remarked: "One reason for the government's ostensible reservations as regards contemporary art is a lack of communications. The central government, as well as a large number of provincial governments, does, in fact, actively support the arts. We spent a great deal of time persuading the government to allow this exhibition to be staged. Our hope is that they might nurture the development of artists and artistic movements in the same way as a father cares for his child. Only in this way, can Chinese artistic development stand on its own feet, rather than submissively following the West. The biennial is an appropriate way to legitimize contemporary art in China, and let more Chinese people be aware of its existence."

Communication between Artists and Society
　　Despite all the planning and thought that went into the Shanghai Biennial Exhibition, the number of visitors has so far been far fewer than was expected. Most of the people lost in deep scrutiny of the work at the exhibition are professional artists, while lay attendees normally take a brief glance, and questions and remarks such as, "What does it mean?" and "I don't understand," are frequently heard. Some people just gaze at the work in utter bafflement.
　　Many viewers do, however, stop before a photo named Zhao Bandi and Panda, and smile gently. In the photo a toy panda is nervously hiding behind a tree in the deep forest, while a primitive man stands by the tree, with a stick in his hand, looking angrily ahead, saying to the panda, "Here they come again, cutting around like crazy" the panda replies, "Don't push me, I can bite too." The giant panda is a rare animal on the brink of extinction in China, and the area of primitive forest in which it lives has drastically reduced in recent years. Zhao Bandi, the photograph's creator, uses an exaggerated and dramatic method to express his message, and the work has won great appreciation from those who have attended the exhibition. As a public service advertisement, it is vivid, understandable and convincing. However, from an artistic point of view, it is sadly lacking.
　　The behavior art in the exhibition arouses great interest among visitors. A woman in a bikini lies on the ground covered with flowers, green leaves and fruits. Five people pour crabs onto her, which crawl all over her body in their hundreds. The surrounding viewers evince different reactions: some are curious, others incredulous, while there are those who just enjoy being in the crowd. Suddenly, a crab falls near the foot of one of the crowd, creating a disturbance. Someone picks up the crab and drops it on to the woman's body as a practical joke.
　　Mr. Hou Hanru is indifferent to the viewers' responses. "It is clear that art is not a tool or a service, but a form of individual expression," says the French-Chinese designer. "An exhibition must first be considered as a venue for artistic expression, rather than in terms of how many visitors it can attract."
　　The exhibition has aroused great interest within the Chinese media. CCTV and more than five local television stations have carried detailed reports on the event, and there have been feature articles about it in Chinese newspapers and magazines. The Chinese mass media began looking into contemporary arts in 1998, and books on avant-garde art now sell in Chinese bookstores. In 2000 alone, some 70 to 80 books were published, or are in the process of publication by local art presses, as a means to introducing contemporary and avant-garde art works to the general public. Acknowledgment of contemporary arts is also reflected in the increasing number of art collectors. Some middle-class white-collar workers in Shanghai have started to collect contemporary art works, and at the same time private art galleries have emerged, such as the Shanghe Art Gallery in Chengdu, the Dongyu Art Gallery in Shenyang and the Taida Art Gallery in Tianjin. These galleries collect, exhibit and store contemporary art creations as part of their normal business operation. In 1999 and 2000, large-scale contemporary art exhibitions were held in these three private galleries.
　　As we progress further into the 21st century, avant-garde art will find its niche in China's treasure house of artworks, gaining greater exposure and appreciation as China gains pace with global trends.

XIAO LIN is a freelance writer.