***  Haus der Kulturen der Welt: Forum1 Archive  ***
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   [Date]: Thu, 2 Dec 1999 10:55:59 -0800 (PST)
   [From]: The Spanish Canadian Web <nclassic@vcn.bc.ca>
     [To]: Cultural Exchange via Internet <forum1@hkw.kbx.de>
[Subject]: Re: [forum1] Re: Opinions versus Censorship



Hi Britta & all:


On Thu, 2 Dec 1999, Britta Erickson wrote:

> The Chinese authorities would have closed down the "Post Sensation" show
> with or without the questionable hygiene elements.  Installation and
> performance art, and sometimes even exhibitions of fairly unremarkable
> paintings, frequently get in trouble in China.  The human bodies that Su
> Yuan used were ones that were for rent at the hospital or morgue--I forget.

I think there is a highly politic and ideological issue underneath. Why
these artists are doing this? What kind of art is this? What kind of
society or parto of society express itself trough this?

I think that quite often (today as in the old times) many artists without
enough mastery, message or aesthetic, spiritual, cultural contribution try
to make noise using the recurse of scandal. It is a way of to get
attention, and one of the trademarks of Su work, of a vulgar work. 

Also there is the influence of the unleashed "rat race" now in fashion in
some sectors of Russia and China... many of the repressed greedy
capitalist now flourish and of course sell their deads, their daugters,
everything is on sale for that sector ( just remember the scandals with
the burials and dead people in Moscu, etc). I think those artists are more
characterised by vulgarity, greed and desire to imitate western art than
developing their own art, growing from their situation and contributing
with something new. From time to time we heard from that kind of shows and
those artists are gone after their 10 minutes of fame, because after the
scandal, there is little, if any, left. Their art work is often weak and
do not get any attention, that is why quite often the desesperate and make
the wildest moves to get attention and money. And this is part of our
"Sane Society" (see the grsat Erich Fromm classic).

What I would like to see if the work of the new comunists in China and
Russia, the artists that are still Russian and Chinese but moving of the
flow of contemporary times. These should be highly critic artists and they
should be highly repressed ind those countries today. They should be in a
process but I think that they could provide the most innovative, original
and interesting work. Specially if they have been seriously trained and
have brainstormed the contemporary paradox of our times.

I want to quote some old Chinese masters that are as actual as yesterday.

"There are five things that make someones's work Su (vulgar):... 4) In
brushwork, to learn from a Su or bad teacher, ignorant about the old
master's techniques, metods, and to punish the brush making it dry and
stiff, and deliberately trying to shock people with a weird style..."

and 

"... Ya (quality, high level) can only be captured when Su is abandoned.
Therefore, under certain conditions one is not fit to paint, such as:
Those who have lost their child-like heart; those who are chasing money
and profit; and those who want flatter otters, and those who are lazy and
not hardworkers; the above are steeped in Su and far from Ya."

Shen Tsung-Chian, 18 century.

I think this is a good reading to many artists in China today and also for
ourselves. I think you are right in discussing this issue and it seems 
to me that those are one more of the Su works, far form the best art
available. But a function of the critic and the Ya artist is to ask what
is going on? Why? What does it mean? And this is allways good.

One more quote... and sorry if in the translation I make a mistake (the
original I have is in Spanish)

"Only that one who loves mankind can be a great artist"

Leon Tolstoi

I think you are righ Britta, any art have many layers, that is my theory,
and as much of the layers fou offer you may be a better artist... and one
of them, the cherry on the cake, is the spiritual quality... and depth.

Well... I am writing too much and I have to go to work...

Best wishes to all


Jose Tlatelpas





> Susan--did the family members complain?  I had assumed that if the bodies
> were for rent, the family members did not care about the bodies.  The live
> animals were what bother me, but I know that there is a cultural difference
> in attitudes towards animals.  I agree with what Christy said:  "I think
> artists can be just as cruel and crazed as the rest of the
> population.  The cruel use of animals or humans is not improved by the
> creative or beautiful or moving ways in which it is done."
> 
> --Britta

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