Exposition CHINESE UTOPIAS REVISITED – THE
ELEPHANTS, BOZAR 17th July – 30th August
Curated by: Xu Bing and Hans M. de Wolf
Cao Fei, Whose Utopia - My Future is Not a Dream
(2006), Photography, Courtesy the artist and Vitamin
Creative Space
From 17 July to the beginning of September, under the
auspices of Brussels International, visit.Brussels, VUB
and BOZAR, Brussels will host an important exhibition
of contemporary Chinese art entitled Chinese Utopias
Revisited : The Elephants.
This exhibition, initiated by Brussels Capital Region, is
the Brussels twin of the very beautiful exhibition
organised in October 2014 in Peking as part of the
Brussels Days celebration that took place in the
Chinese capital to mark 20 years of relations between
Brussels and Peking. Master Mould & Copy Room
displayed the work of a number of Belgian, European
and Chinese artists at the renowned CAFA Museum,
which was very well received by the Chinese public.
For a couple of decades already the old art world in the West wakes up on the fact that an amazing
phenomenon has emerged far away in China and is still winning in force: Chinese artists have been recognized
for making important contributions to the globalized art world. Some Europeans try to turn a blind eye on the
phenomenon. They believe this is young wine that is missing tradition. However, others have understood the
historical change Chinese artists have brought forward and are trying to get them into their systems.
The artists showing in this exhibition are considered to be the 8 most renowned contemporary artists from
China nowadays. They have exhibited their artworks in high-platforms and institutions for contemporary art,
like the biennale in Venice, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Modern in London, MUH KA in
Antwerp, and on Documenta in Kassel. However, it is the first time that these artists are presented together in a
group exhibition like in Chinese Utopias Revisited – The Elephants.
Chinese Utopias Revisited – The Elephants (an exhibition conceived together by a Chinese and a Belgian
curator) is neither about denial, neither about appropriation of Chinese contemporary art. It is the fruit of a
unique curatorial approach. Never before a most exclusive choice of Chinese artists has been presented in a
major European city in a fair and open dialogue with colleague artists from the West. The effect is totally
refreshing. Our Chinese counterparts are no longer in the first place distinguished by their Chinese nationality,
but become logical and appreciated contributors into a universal debate called: the visual arts. For those who
will not join, they probably never will.
With: Cao Fei, Liu Xiaodong, Song Dong, Sun Yuan & Peng Yu, Wang Jiuliang, Xu Bing, Yang Fudong, Yin Xiuzhen
And: Michelangelo Antonioni, Alighiero e Boetti, Dirk Braeckman, Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, Marcel Broodthaers,
Le Corbusier, Harun Farocki, Andreas Gursky, Jan Kempenaers, Bodys Isek Kingelez, Jan Lauwers, Jyvia Soma
Mashe, Guy Rombouts, Klaus Scherübel, Curt Siodmak, Robert Siodmak, Joëlle Tuerlinckx, Edgar G. Ulmer, Fred
Zinnemann
Presscontact: Sanne Sinnige, sfsinnige@gmail.com
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