China Contemporary (English and German Edition) - Softcover

Guldemond, Jaap; Vlassenrood, Linda; De Baan, Christine; Van Pinxteren, Garrie; Du, Huang

Softcover

ISBN 10: 9056625004 ISBN 13: 9789056625009

Publisher: NAi Publishers, 2006

Synopsis

A new world is emerging in China, with urbanization and the wholesale globalization of daily life moving at unprecedented speed. The Communist Party line has been replaced by maxims about working together to build a modern, economically resilient country. Cities are being rigorously adapted to fit this new vision, with disastrous consequences for existing structures and neighborhoods. Social and societal balances have been swiftly, radically altered. Can Chinese identity survive in a consumer society and a radically transformed urban environment, both conceived on a Western model? This first interdisciplinary overview of the country's contemporary arts, architecture, urban planning and visual culture--including television, photography, newspapers, games and blogs--offers the work of some 20 Chinese artists considering these issues, and projects by some 10 Chinese architectural firms. China Contemporary finds that a mix of long standing tradition, decades of Communism and hurriedly translated Western capitalism have resulted in an exciting visual and formal idiom.

About this title

About the Authors

Yang Fudong was born in Beijing in 1971. His work has been shown in the Carnegie International and the Shanghai Biennale, and at the Centre Georges Pompidou and the International Center of Photography. In 2005 it appeared at, among other venues, the Venice and Moscow Biennales and the Tate Modern, with solo shows at Amsterdamis Stedelijk Museum and Kunsthalle Wien.

Ai Weiwei was born in 1957 in Beijing, China. He lived in the U.S. from 1981 to 1993, whereupon he returned to his homeland. His work has been exhibited internationally in group shows in New York, Sweden, Korea, Germany, Belgium, and Switzerland. He lives with his family in Xinjiang, China.

Aaron Betsky has been Director of the Netherlands Architecture Institute in Rotterdam since 2001. Previously, he was Curator of Architecture, Design and Digital Projects at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He is the author of a dozen books, including Landscrapers published in 2002 and Three California Houses, 2003.

Edition details

• Publisher: NAi Publishers
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9056625004
• ISBN 13: 9789056625009
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400