Week1-Review of Tue&Thu’s seminar

Part I: Discuss the organization

At the beginning of the class, Dr. JL asked us to have a discussion about the gallery or the exhibition we visited. In our group, we selected some different organizations for exhibitions. Like the Scottish National Gallery, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, and so on. I visited Talbot Rice Gallery last weekend, and to see the exhibition of Qiu Zhijie. A Chinese artist and curator, currently a Professor at the School of Transmedia Art, China Academy of Fine Art. Qiu Zhijie’s exhibition is on display in the white-domed exhibition hall of the Talbot Rice Gallery. In the art space on the second floor, Talbot Rice gallery exhibits his map of the art ecology, and personally, I would prefer their exhibition on the second floor, because when the format is small and dense, the light shining on the painting can make people’s attention more focused. In today’s seminar, as Dr. JL said, sometimes small is really beautiful, and I think about the organization of this exhibition. The lighting of the exhibition has been arranged from the psychological point of view of the audience, something that makes me equally consider the whole exhibition as a whole and its viewability. For the curators, it was a success in terms of lighting.

In this part, I think Qiu Zhijie’s exhibition should belong to the minor, because it is more like an inter-academic cooperation, or an exchange of works by artists from other countries.
Another exhibition I visited was at the National Gallery of Scotland on Impressionist paintings, Tasting Impressionism: Modern French Art from Millet to Matisse. Among them are Monet’s authentic works. Although there are no paintings as famous as the water lilies in Paris, there are many very well-known works on display. Monet’s gleaming poplars, the intense blooms of Van Gogh’s orchard, Gauguin’s frenetic Martinique, and more. I think this should be the ‘major’ exhibition that J.L. told us in class, because this exhibition is a symbol of regional culture to a certain extent. The exhibition explores how Scotland became an important place for Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. One of the art collections. The exhibition hall named after William Henry Playfair, an outstanding Scottish architect in the 19th century, is decorated with Impressionist colors, where the audience can see some dusty works of some artists during their growth, such as Degas’s portraits, blue Picasso in the color period. The collection of works of such prestige and quality in Scotland may be attributed to two opportunities – the progressive purchases of the directors of the Scottish National Gallery in the first half of the 20th century, and the generosity of the likes of Sir Alexander and Rosalind Maitland Donations, both reflect the enlightened state of Scottish artistic taste between the wars and after.

Monet, “Haystacks in the Snow”, 1891

Gauguin, The Vision After the Sermon, 1888

Part II: About the “set text” reading

I choose the chapter PiLi – Interview 2006, from p95-p103. Because as a Chinese, I am really concerned about Chinese contemporary art’s history and development. And I found that artist PiLi’s point is exactly what I identify with and try to spread.

The artist’s career unfolded in Glasgow when he found a strong alternative and artist-run scene. He began to think about opening a non-profit art space in Beijing. I was born in Beijing. And I had been to his art space before when I was in Beijing, it touched me so much. His art space let me start to think about Chinese contemporary art and made me think about being a great curator.

And in his interview, I thought there should be two-stage of his career time. The first one must be his “curator life”, he attended the 3rd Shanghai Biennale and this event was a benchmark, a revolutionary project for him, for Chinese contemporary art. Since then the government has incorporated contemporary art into its cultural programs and asked professionals to curate shows. The second stage of his career life was feeling the exhibitions from a collector’s point of view. Like his point of the first Media City Seoul in 2000. The gallery tried to make people see how media could bring about changes in our thinking about exhibition space. This time in Pi’s view, the gallery meant it should include cultural change, expanding audiences, and new technologies.

His journey and growing experience were ones that I think I can adequately refer to and have created a very strong interest in contemporary Chinese and world art. So I have chosen this interview.