Course Syllabus WInter 2019

Weekly Reading Schedule

Note that the syllabus may change to accommodate your interests as the semester progresses. Please keep an eye on the course website.

Week One BEGINNINGS, EXPERIMENTS, CHALLENGES
Jan 8 - (Tu): Introductions
Wu Hung, "A Chinese Dream by Wang Jin," Public Culture 12, no. 1 (2000): 75-92. AVAILABLE ONLINE through the U of A Library website. Search for the eJournal title in the library catalogue, then for the title of the article.

STUDY IMAGES:
Wang Jin, A Chinese Dream. 1997-present. PVC with embroidered fishing thread; dimensions vary. 王晋《中国之梦》
top


Jan 10 - (Th): Propaganda and Censorship


Wu Hung, Remaking Beijing (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005), read from last paragraph on p. 171 to p. 177 (PDF).

STUDY IMAGES:
Dong Xiwen, The Founding of the Nation. 董希文《开国大典》
Sun Zixi, Standing in front of Tiananmen (1964) 孙滋溪《天安门前》
Cultural Revolution (1966-76) posters 文化大革命海报与宣传画
top

Week Two THE END OF THE REVOLUTION?
Jan 15 - (Tu): Making Art Modern
Hilary Binks, "The Star Group of Artists‚" http://www.zeestone.com/article.php?articleID=16

Gao Minglu, Total Modernity and the Avant-Garde in Twentieth-Century Chinese Art (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2011), please read pp. 65-77. AVAILABLE ONLINE through the U of A
Library website.

STUDY IMAGES:
Scar Art 伤痕美术
Rustic Realism 乡土写实主义
The Stars 星星
Wang Keping 王克平
Xiamen Dada 厦门达达
Huang Yong Ping 黄永砯
top

Jan 17 - (Th): COMMUNES AND ART
In-class activity.

Professor Claypool will discuss the exploratory visual analysis assignment. Please see the requirements page for information about the assignment, due on Thursday, February 7, before class.

Week Three THE CHINA SPHERE
Jan 22 - (Tu): Dreaming of Imperial China

quick discussion about note-taking in an art history class and the first assignment

Jonathan Hay, "Adventures in the China Sphere and Transnationalism: The Chinese Artist Outside China," in China without Borders: An Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Art, ed. Melissa Walt Thompson (London: Goedhuis Contemporary, 2001), please read pp. 22-25, up to the sub-section that begins "The transnational as its own subject." (PDF)

STUDY IMAGES:
Fung Ming Chip 馮明秋 Infinity mural, Cambridge University
Tseng Yuho 曾佑和
Yang Yanping 楊燕屏
Zhang Daqian 张大千 (In a slightly modifed version of the Wade-Giles romanization system, his name is spelled "Chang Tai-chien" or "Chang "Da-chien") clip from documentary about the artist (filmed by Michael Sullivan, emeritus professor of Chinese art history, Stanford University)
top

Jan 24 - (Th): Building a China Sphere? New Architecture
Victoria & Albert Museum catalogue CHINA DESIGN NOW excerpt of essay on architecture by Zhu Jianfei, "Beijing: Future City" (PDF)

STUDY IMAGES:
Ma Qingyun/m.a.d.a. spam 马清运 China Construction Pavilion proposed for Cooper-Hewitt Museum, Pacific Asia Museum, South University of Science and Technology in Shenzhou (南方科技大学）relink
I.M. Pei 贝聿铭 Pei Partnership Architects贝氏建筑事务所 Suzhou Museum 苏州博物馆
Yung Ho Chang 张永和, Feichang jianzhu atelier 非常建筑 SPLIT HOUSE-- click on the icon third from the left on the bottom row of the Feichang jianzhu atelier website, and PINGOD MUSEUM (TODAY ART MUSEUM) which is the second icon from the left in the top row
798 Art Zone 798艺术区 video
top

Week Four NO U-TURN
Jan 29 - (Tu):  Tiananmen Square: A Brief History
Please sit with your communes at the beginning of class.
Ellen Johnston Laing, "The Political and Artistic Significance of the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall," in The Winking Owl (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988), chapter 9 pp. 90-96. (PDF).

STUDY IMAGES:
The Square, see http://tsquare.tv/tour/
top

Jan 31 - (Th): 1989
Gao MInglu, Total Modernity, pp. 147-166. AVAILABLE ONLINE through the U of A Library website.
ACADEMIC HONESTY CONTRACTS DUE

STUDY IMAGES:
"Gate of Heavenly Peace" 天安门 documentary clips: for Chinese with Chinese subtitles click here; for English language version, click here.
top

HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR!

Week Five CAPITALIST REALISM
Feb 5 - (Tu):  Mao Pop! 毛熱
Han Li, guest lecture
Francesa dal Lago, "Personal Mao: Reshaping an Icon in Contemporary Chinese Art," Art Journal 58, No. 2. (Summer, 1999): 46-59. AVAILABLE ONLINE through the U of A Library website. Search for the eJournal title in the library catalogue, then for the article title.

STUDY IMAGES:
Li Shan 李山, Rouge Series
Wang Guangyi 王广义 Art Asia Pacific video: http://vimeo.com/38326258 Chairman Mao AO, the triptych (around 4:50 in the video)
Cai Guo-Qiang 蔡国强, Venice’s Rent Collection Courtyard http://www.caiguoqiang.com/projects/venices-rent-collection-courtyard
Yu Youhan 余友涵, Chairman Mao Talking with Peasants of Shaoshan
Wang Xingwei 王兴伟, Path Towards the East. Also called:The Oriental Way: The Road to Anyuan, 1995. Oil on canvas.
Zhang Hongtu 张宏图, Material Mao http://www.momao.com/ GO TO GALLERY 1, then to MATERIAL MAO (MeshMao, Quaker Oats, Ping Pong Mao and any other Mao you would like to talk about)
Gao Brothers 高氏兄弟, 2009 underground exhibition
please watch video "Forbidden Art in China" linked to this New York Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/arts/design/06gao.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
top

Feb 7 - (Th): Money and Art
Britta Erickson, "Contemporary Chinese Art: To Get Rich Is Glorious," Yishu 23 (December 2007): 8-16 (PDF).

STUDY IMAGES:
Luo Brothers 罗氏兄弟
Wang Qingsong 王庆松
Zhao Bandi 赵半狄
Zhou Tiehai 周铁海
top

Nota bene: Exploratory/Visual Analysis due today before class begins.

Week Six PERFORMANCE ART
Feb 12 - (Tu): Body and Art
Richard Vine, New China New Art (New York: Prestel, 2011), pp. 76-87 (PDF).

STUDY IMAGES:
Liu Bolin 刘勃麟
Zhang Huan 张洹
top

Feb 14 - (Th): Calligraphy as a Performance Art? Postmodern Scripts for a Postmodern China
Britta Erickson, "The Art of Xu Bing," available online

"the crisis of calligraphy and the new way of tea: an interview with wenda gu"
- by melissa chu, january 4th, 2002 in new york, available online, click here (search under "interviews")

STUDY IMAGES:
Xu Bing 徐冰
Gu Wenda 谷文达
top

Week Seven READING WEEK

Week Eight DIGITAL CHINA
Feb 26- (Tu): MIDTERM EXAM

Feb 28 - (Th):  The Mediasphere: Neo Impressionism
Saatchi Gallery website for Li Yan, click here.

Lisa Claypool, "Revisiting the Technological Society: A Conversation with Feng Mengbo”《重访技术社会：与冯梦波交谈》Yishu: The Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art 12, no. 4 (July/August 2013): 69-76. (PDF). There are English and Chinese language versions of this interview.

Note: we will dedicate 45 minutes of the session to GENDER + SEX + ART. Communes will make 10-minute presentations about artists during the March 5 and 7 class sessions.

Week Nine GENDER + SEX + ART
Mar 5 - (Tu): Reflections
Patricia Eichenbaum Karetzky, "Time and Love: Cai Jin's New Works," Yishu12, no. 6 (November-December 2013): 45-59 (PDF)

Holland Cotter, "China's Female Artists Quietly Emerge," New York Times (July 30, 2008). AVAILABLE ONLINE through the U of A Library website. Search for the newspaper title in the library catalogue, then for the article.

The presentations will proceed in the order listed below, beginning with Cai Jin and ending with Xiyadie. Please be prepared to present on Tuesday.

STUDY IMAGES:
Cai Jin 蔡锦
Cui Xiuwen 崔岫闻
Ming Wong
Lin Tianmiao 林天苗 (note that the website URL will appear to take you to Wang Gongxin's site)
Wang Zi 王子
Yin Xiuzhen 尹秀珍
Xing Danwen 邢丹文
Xiyadie 西亚蝶
top

Mar 7 - (Th): Reflections

STUDY IMAGES:
Cai Jin 蔡锦
Cui Xiuwen 崔岫闻
Ming Wong
Lin Tianmiao林天苗
Yin Xiuzhen 尹秀珍
Xing Danwen 邢丹文
Wang Zi 王子
Xiyadie 西亚蝶
top

Week Ten POST STUDIO ART
Mar 12 - (Tu) Made in China
We'll finish up discussion of post-impressionism by looking at the work of:
Feng Mengbo 冯梦波
Xie Xiaoze 谢晓泽

Then we'll study post studio art.
“The China Syndrome: Lisa Claypool in Conversation with Peter Kreider and Zhou Yi” 《中國綜合症: 周翊和Peter Kreider 與祁珊立對話》Modern China Studies 18, no. 2 (2011): 215-33. (PDF)

STUDY IMAGES:
Peter Kreider
Zhou Yi 周翊
top

Mar 14 - (Th): Beijing Commune :: Edmonton Commune
Chang Tan, "Art for/of the Masses," Third Text, 26, no. 2 (2012): please read from p. 186 beginning with THE EXPERIMENTAL SCOPE OF THE LONG MARCH to p. 194.AVAILABLE ONLINE through the U of A Library website. Search for the eJournal title in the library catalogue (UNDER eJOURNAL), then for the article.

What's the difference between mass art and art for/of the masses?

STUDY IMAGES:
The Beijing 2008 Opening Ceremony 北京奥运会开幕式
The Long March 长征
Polit-Sheer-Form Office (Beijing Commune 北京公社)
top

Week Eleven SUSTAINABILITY?
Mar 19 - (Tu): Garbage
Stephanie Cash, Review of Yao Lu exhibition at Bruce Silverstein Gallery, Art in America 98, no. 3 (March 2010): 148. (PDF)

Pauline Yao, "Hong Hao's 'AS IT IS,'" available online, click here

Art21 interview, "Cao Fei: Coming Up Hip-Hop and Questioning Utopia," available online, click here

STUDY IMAGES:
Edward Burtynsky (please read notes beneath photographs in the China series)
Cao Fei 曹斐 Whose Utopia? (2006)
Hong Hao 洪浩
Yang Yongliang 杨泳梁
Yao Lu 姚璐
top 

Mar 21 - (Th): Chen Qiulin and the Three Gorges Project
Wu Hung, Displacement: The Three Gorges Dam and Contemporary Chinese Art (Chicago: Smart Museum of Art, 2008), passages on Chen Qiulin and Liu Xiaodong (PDF)

STUDY IMAGES:
Chen Qiulin 陈秋林
top

Week Twelve CHINA URBAN
Mar 26 - (Tu): Cities in Motion
China Urban exhibition catalogue. Reed College Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery, April 7-June 7, 2009. Lisa Claypool, "Cityphilia."

STUDY IMAGES:
Cao Fei 曹斐 Sanyuanli (2003)
Song Dong 宋东
Xing Danwen 邢丹文 Urban Fiction (2004-present)
Yin Xiuzhen 尹秀珍 Portable Cities
Cao Fei 曹斐, RMB City, A Second Life Planning (2007)
top

Mar 28 - (Th): Where is Shanghai?
Lisa Claypool, “Where is Shanghai?” Orientations 41, no 1 (January/February 2010): 50-54. (PDF)

STUDY IMAGES:
Ding Yi 丁乙
Liu Dahong 刘大鸿
Shen Fan 申凡
Zheng Chongbin 郑重宾
top

Weeks Thirteen & Fourteen ART TO THE PEOPLE
Apr 2- (Tu): Communes commune
Working out the final details about social media and map of the Long March.
Final exam study guide will be handed out.

Apr 4 - (Th): Communes commune
Working out the final details about social media and map of the Long March.

Apr 9 - (Tu) - THE LONG MARCH: ART TO THE PEOPLE

Apr 11 - (Th) - Class will not meet. If you are planning to write a Long March Photo Essay, this would be a good time to do so.

The date of the final exam is Tuesday, April 23, 2:00-4:00, FAB 2-20.

©lrc