Incorporating research, symposia, publications and exhibitions, the fruits of “Little Movements — Self Practice in Contemporary Art” will be exhibited at the OCT Contemporary Art Terminal (OCAT) in Overseas Chinese Town (OCT), Nanshan District until Nov. 21.

    Newman Huo

    ORIGINATING from Karlsruhe in Germany in 2006, Global Art and the Museum is a collaborative project initiated by Hans Beiting, German art historian, and Peter Weibel, CEO of the Center for Art and Media Karisruhe.

    The project incorporates research, discussions, workshops, lectures, compositions, publications and Web sites.

    The core of the project is the concept of “global art” as proposed by Belting, which surveys contemporary art practice worldwide and sees an art world with multiple centers.

    The six-year project explores how the globalized economy has shaped the art world, and hopes to propose a new vocabulary and establish a new global value system, which is no longer merely a Western phenomenon and no longer limited merely to individual artists, but also includes the practices of other components of the industry, such as art museums, galleries, and the art market.

    The six-year project is part of a research project called “Little Movements — Self Practice in Contemporary Art” initiated and organized by three young Chinese curators Liu Ding, Lu Yinghua, and Su Wei.

    Incorporating research, symposia, publications and exhibitions, the project studies phenomena such as the Global Art and Museum, They, Concept Store, Libreria Borges Institute of Art, Homeshop, Caochangdi Workstation, Polit-Sheer-Form Office, Once Is Nothing, Company, Copenhagen Free University, Small Productions, The Second World Congress of Free Artists, Zhuhai Slide Show in 1986, 51 Square Meters, Shuangbai Studio, Zhang Peili’s New Media Art Teaching Practice, and Unitednationsplaza.

    The fruits of this research will be exhibited at the OCT Contemporary Art Terminal (OCAT) in Overseas Chinese Town (OCT), Nanshan District until Nov. 21.

    Liu cautioned that the research and exhibition plan of the “Little Movements” project is not a historical retrospective, though it does touch artistic practices from the 1980s, 1990s as well as the past 10 years. Nor is it a global assessment, though it does contain numerous practical cases from the United States and Europe.

    “‘Little Movements’ has nothing to do with scale. The word ‘little’ in the title is not meant as the opposite of ‘large,’ but rather as an adjective for an introspective and contemplative way of working,” said Liu.

    The scope of the “Little Movements” research project covers artistic practices the three curators have come in contact with through their travel and work.

    “These artistic practices base themselves on specific experiences and responses to specific situations through their groundwork,” Liu said.

    “In their practice, they try to feel and understand the boundaries of the art system and extend them through their thinking, speech, research and practice,” he said.

    “In their work, these art practitioners tend to affect our understanding of reality through self-construction and self-practice,” he said.

    Dates: Until Nov. 21

    Hours: 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Closed Monday

    Add: OCT Contemporary Art Terminal, Enping Road, Overseas Chinese Town, Nanshan District (华侨城恩平路OCT当代艺术中心)

    Buses: 21, 26, 32, 54, 59, 101, 105, 109, 121, 204, 209, 223, 234, 327, 328, 350, 370, 390.

    Metro: Hua Qiao Cheng Station (OCT Station 华侨城站), Exit A. Around five minutes’ walk along Enping Road