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Call for papers: Special Issue: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art
Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Call for papers: Special Issue: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art

Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art
Volume 7, Issue 1, Spring 2020

Special Issue: Biennials, Triennials in China

Today, biennials and triennials have become one of the most significant phenomena in globalised art world. In 1996, the Shanghai Biennale appeared as the very first art biennial in Mainland China and it was only opened up to welcome international artists and work from its third edition, Shanghai Spirit, curated by Hou Hanru in 2000. Soon after, the Guangzhou Triennial was initiated by Wang Huangsheng at the Guangdong Museum of Art in 2002, and its inaugural exhibition curated by Wu Hung et al., Reinterpretation: A Decade of Experimental Chinese Art, aimed to review historically the experimental art in China in the 1990s. Simultaneously, we see many more established in various cities in China – the Shenzhen Sculpture Biennial (est. 1998), the Chengdu Biennale (est. 2001) and the Nanjing Triennial (est. 2002) for instance, as well as in Taiwan, such as the Taipei Biennial (est. 1992) and the Kuandu Biennale (est. 2008). And more recently, ‘biennial’ events parachuted in smaller cities and villages including Yinchuan (est. 2016), Wuzhen (est. 2016), and An’ren (est. 2017), as part of the biennial institution, whilst in addition, international art fairs, e.g., Art Basel Hong Kong (est. 2013) and West Bund Art & Design in Shanghai (est. 2014), migrated from the world or emerged spontaneously as part of the urban culture. With their different lifespans, short or long, bi/triennials in Greater China have attracted art professionals and audience around the world.

This issue aims to critically examine such an international art platform through (but not limited to) the following perspectives:

  • The history and development of China’s bi/triennials in the international context
  • Agenda and strategies of local authorities, policy makers and art museums
  • The roles of bi/triennial curators and artists, gallerists, collectors and funders
  • Curating, translating, making and censoring bi/triennials in China
  • China’s bi/triennials and their audience
  • The impacts of bi/triennials on local art ecology, urban identity and tourism development
  • Sustainability and the future of bi/triennials in China.

Timeline

  • 1 June 2019, abstracts due (300 words)
  • 30 September 2019, full manuscripts due (6–7,000 words)
  • Publication in Volume 7, Issue 1, Spring 2020

Please send submissions and correspondence to: Principal Editor Jiang Jiehong ccva@bcu.ac.uk with the subject ‘JCCA 7.1’. Please visit Intellect’s website www.intellectbooks.com to follow its house referencing guideline.

Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art is an associate journal of the Centre for Chinese Visual Arts at Birmingham City University.