Cao Zhen

    caozhen0806@126.com

    SHENZHEN OCT Contemporary Art Terminal (OCAT) is holding two exhibitions from Jan. 26 to March 26 at OCT-LOFT in Nanshan District. The two exhibitions aim to research contemporary Chinese art and its creators and to help record Chinese art history.

    The exhibition in OCAT Hall A is entitled “History Lessons — Reflections on OCAT Publishing,” which reappraises and presents 12 publications that OCAT has released since 2005.

    The second in Hall B is “Alternatives to Ritual — A Case Study of Shenzhen OCT Contemporary Art Terminal,” which exhibits selected past art projects.

    “Publications are the foundation of the research of art history. The Hall A project is for recognizing art history composition. We want to explore the relationship between publications, exhibitions and research through looking back at the OCAT publications in the past eight years,” said Fang Lihua, one of the curators of the Hall A exhibition.

    Some exhibited OCAT publications review Chinese contemporary art in the 1980s, such as “Create History: Commemoration Exhibition of Chinese Modern Art in the 1980s.” Some try to research the history of ideology in art, such as “State Legacy, Research in the Visualization of Political History,” and some examine artists’ working methods, such as “Artistic Working Manual of Zhang Peili.”

    Apart from OCAT publications, world-famous philosophy books and videos recording dialogues between contemporary Chinese artists are also on display. The artists involved include Liu Ding, Xu Tan, Wang Junyi, Qin Jin and Zhou Li.

    “Compared with the West, the research and recording of Chinese art history is very poor,” said Fan Jingzhong, a professor of China Academy of Art, at a lecture at He Xiangning Art Museum on Saturday. Fan is renowned for translating and promoting Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich’s “The Story of Art” in China in the 1980s.

    “The Story of Art,” first published in 1950, is widely regarded both as a seminal work of criticism, and as one of the most accessible introductions to the visual arts. It has sold over 7 million copies to become the best-selling book of art criticism of all time and has been translated into approximately 30 languages.

    The Hall B exhibition “Alternatives to Ritual” is curated by Shanghai-based independent curator Biljana Ciric.

    Ciric’s touring project began in the open space at the Shanghai Goethe Institute in the autumn of last year. In Shenzhen, she invited artists and curators to approach OCAT as a case study in the discussion of the creative practices of art organizations, and the possibilities for self-expression and self-definition.

    The project aims to foster closer cooperation between all levels of the organization’s team. This includes sharing every facet of the OCAT working environment, including components that are rarely opened to the public, such as collections and document archives.

    Dates: Until March 26

    Venue: OCAT, OCT-LOFT, Enping Road, Overseas Chinese Town, Nanshan District (南山区华侨城恩平路创意文化园OCT当代艺术中心)

    Metro: Luobao Line, Qiaocheng East Station (侨城东站), Exit A