Untitled Document

NEW AMSTERDAM ART CONSULTANCY

International Avantgarde Art Standards
Awards & Urgent Warnings 1994

NAAC as an international art consultancy specialized in modern Chinese art is aware of and deeply concerned
with the lack of new standards in the Chinese art world. To fulfil this need the art theoretical Ubu Roi Art Research Committee (URARC) has been established wich consists of the following members

BOARD OF SPECIALISTS

Zhao Shaoruo president URARC
Hans van Dijk general director NAAC,
first secretary URARC
Jule Noth assistent director NAAC,
second secretary URARC

BOARD OF ADVISORS

Chen Tong art critic
Leng Lin art historian
Liu Anping board member Peking NAAC
Ni Haifeng artist
Wu Shanzhuan diplomat
Xu Tan board member Canton NAAC
Zhang Li general executive NAAC
Zhao Bandi artist

THE 1994 URARC REPORT

I. PRINCIPLES, DEFINITIONS AND CATEGORIES

After long and intensive discussions based on profound arthistorical research, the board of specialists of the URARC is glad to present the new INTERNATIONAL AVANTGARDE ART STANDARDS by introducing contemporary CATEGORIES, SUB-CATEGORIES AND SECTIONS and their application on modern Chinese art. THE PRINCIPLES: 1. Avantgarde art can be divided in three main catagories: NEW SOCIALISM, NEW TRADITIONALISM and the art of DING YI & MAI ZHIXIONG. (Socialism and Traditionilism both forming the main roots of the present culture of P.R. China have nothing to do with the art of Ding Yi and Mai Zhixiong, which therefore should be recognized as a main category of equal importance) 2. NEW SOCIALISM can be divided into two sub-catogies: firstly, those artworks who express or reflect a personal opinion or concept about their actual social surroundings or who present a certain view of the world, will be called CONCEPTUAL ART. CONCEPTUAL ART must be divided into two sections: PAINTING and SCULPTURE: For instance the works of Cai Jin, Chen Danqing, Duan Jianyu, Fang Lijun, Feng mengbo, Hong Hao, Hu Zhiying, Li Tianyuan, Qi Zhilong, Qiu Zhijie, Wang Yin, Ye You, Yu Youhan, Zhang Gong, the photograper Zhang Hai'er, Zhang Yajie and the older works of Zhao Bandi and Zhao Jianren can be defined as NEW SOCIALISME, sub-category CONCEPTUAL ART, section PAINTING and the works of Ai Weiwei: "Shoe" and "Safe Sex", both 1987, Xu Tan; "Constant and Varying Speed" 1992 and Zhao Bandi's "Moonflight", 1994: NEW SOCIALISM, sub-category CONCEPTUAL ART, section SCULPTURE. 3. The second sub-catagory of NEW SOCIALISM concerns works of art which only can exist or came into beeing in a certain situation. E.g. the "Formular" of Geng Jianyi played its part in reality and came into beeing during the meeting 1988 in Huangshan preparing the Avant-Garde Exhibition 1989 in the National Gallery, Beijing, like Sun Ping's Share Certificates (A), issued by CHINA SUN PING ART COMPANY LIMITED, April 10, Wuhan, Yan Lei's video registration of the removal of his armpit hair, "Claer Away" 1993, entitled. The video-artworks from 1991 and 1992 of Zhang Peili, which shows uncommented parts of the reality. and the "Labour of Berlin" of Wu Shanzhuan which only existed during his work as a warder in the exhibitionhall and as a waiter in the restaurant of the "Haus der Kulturen der Welt" (House of Cultures of the World) 1993. So did the artworks "Analyses I", June 1990 and "Analyses II", August 1992 which were the actual analysing activities of the New Measurement Group (Xinkedu Xiaozu) Beijing.

This kind of artworks can neither be seperated from the reality nor do they express a certain view on the reality, that's why URARC decided to call this kind of artworks NEW SOCIALISM, sub-category REALISM. Other outstandings works in this sub-category are the series temporary artworks Li Yongbin realized between 1990 and 1994 at his home in Tuanjiehu, Beijing, Liu Anping spreading perfume on the acres of Dazhai and other crimes like the one in the Holiday Inn of 1992 entitled: "The Behaviour of Young Red is Rightous" October 1992, the foam-sculptures 1993 and 1994 of Zhu Ming realised in his studio in Dongcun Beijing before he and Ma Liuming disappeared on June the twelfth this year and the the Po-Mo action of the President of URARC, Zhao Shaoruo executed in the Beijing Dongdan Dahua Video Theatre, July 8, 1994 where he spread nearly a litre black ink over half of the there invited 40 VIPs, representing the quintessence of the Peking Avantgarde Art Circle, and Zhang Huan's action the eleventh of June 1994 in Dongcun. The last mentioned event took one hour anabout 250 cc of Zhang Huan's blood, which, via medical equipment, dripped during fivty minutes out of his body (naked hanging in chains in the rafters of his studio) into a heated flat, metal plate where it boiled and curdled into a small, dark, bubbling and heavily smoking heap, gradually filling the room with an intense, a bit sweetish, smell. 4. The other main-catagory, NEW TRADITIONALISM, consists of three sub-catagories which speak for themselves: Firstly: GARDEN-INSTALLATIONS like the works of, Gu Dexin 1989 in Paris and later in London, and paralel with Lin Yilin realized in Berlin subsequently showed in Rotterdam, Oxford, Odense (Denmark) and Hildesheim (Germany), Jiang Jie's exhibition "Critical Point" at the Gallery of the Central academy of Fine Arts, May 1994. Second: CALLIGAPHY-INSTALLATIONS like those of Ni Haifeng, Xu Bing and Song Haidong's recent works in Shanghai. Third: ART THEORY-INSTALLATIONS like the artworks of Huang Yongping.

II. AWARDS & URGENT WARNINGS

After exhausting research and deep considerations the board of specialists is proud to have the honnour to announce that the first price, the URARC GOLDEN INK BOTTLE 1994, will be presented to Zhao Shaoruo for his refreshing Po-Mo action in the Beijing Dongdan Dahua Video Theatre of July 8, 1994, and who, according to the regulations of the URARC, will be politely invited to be the President of the URARC 1995. The URARC URGENT WARNINGS 1994 will be given to all artists who take it for granted by presenting plans instead of artworks

International Avantgarde Art Categories Sub Categories & Sections
NEW SOCIALISM			NEW TRADITIONALISM			Ding Yi Mai Zhixiong
CONCEPTUALISM		REALISM	GARDEN INSTALLATIONS	CALLIGRAPHY INSTALLATIONS.	ART THEORY INSTALLATIONS.
PAINTING	SCULPTURE	Geng Jianyi Li Yongbin Liu Anping Sun Ping Wu Shanzhuan Xinkedu -Xiao Zu Yan Lei Zhang Peili Zhao Shaoruo Zhu Ming	Gu Dexin Jiang Jie Lin Yilin	Ni Haifeng Xu Bing	Huang Yongping
Cai Jin Chen Danqing Duan Jianyu Fang Lijun Feng Mengbo Hong Hao Hu Zhiying Li Tianyuan Qi Zhilong Qiu Zhijie Wang Yin Ye You Yu Youhan Zhang Gong Zhang Hai'er Zhang Yajie Zhao Jianren	Ai Weiwei Xu Tan Zhao Bandi