. .9
‘ Chinese whispers
If Glasgow School of Art is going to have artistic collaborations with China, it needs to guarantee space for political criticism, says an art world insider.
lasgow School ofArt recently announced a new association with the (‘entral Academy of line
Arts. Beijing. which promises to be the frrst of
many collaborations. Students now enrolling in Beijing will come to Scotland in 2006 to complete their degrees. and get what (iSA director Sheorra Reid terms ‘a unique springboard to careers in the creative industries worldwide‘. This certainly sounds worthwhile. (‘hina is increasingly recognised as a player in the globalised art market. No longer the object of ()rientalist fantasies. its artists speak the lingua franca of ArtTM: conceptually-
based installations. deconstructions of notions of
identity etc. (‘hinesc artists are now exhibiting around the world both under government control and outside it. As (‘ai (‘iuo-Qiang's I‘Ttlllttttlt‘k’c‘l exhibition and ‘black rainbow‘ event at this year's lidinbur‘gh Festival showed. art can provide a trseftrl space for the negotiation of our
different cultural traditions. (‘ai’s ‘Black Rainbow" over
lidinburgh (‘as'tle used fireworks (for which his home province of l‘ujian is farnotrs) to create a poetic representation of the global climate of fear successfully evoking a sense of the unnatural and unnerving.
()n one level then. the dual factors of increasing global interconnectetlness. and raised awareness of regional particularity make artistic collaboration with (‘hina a natural and welcome development - artistic vocabularies are now shared enough to function without ‘translation‘ while retaining their local flavour. But (iSA's plans are not unproblematic. The ongoing post-Cold War thaw in relations with (‘hina is
motivated primarily by its astonishing powers of
economic production and. increasingly. consumption. In this climate. (‘hina’s suppression of dissenting voices at home is too easily overlooked. Recent reports indicate that human rights abuses in China are not declining as its economy grows. What is termed a 'smokeless war' is being fought by the (‘hinese state against those of its citizens who speak otrt against it. Amnesty lrrternational’s briefing for the 5 September liU—(‘hirra summit highlighted areas of particular concern.
including the increasing restriction of freedom of
expression. especially via the internet; and the continued practice of ‘re-education through labour“ as punishment for 'behaviour" (rather than specified crimes) deemed illegal. ()f course. proponents of norrnalising relations with (‘hirra argue that globalisation is the answer to these problems a liberalised market economy will produce citi/ens who demand political recognition. and gradually see their standard of living rise. One reason why (‘hina is vitally important to the globalisation‘s future as a political project is that it remains to be seen whether such changes will occur. or whether instead its blend of radical market freedom and social control will survive the social upheaval wrought by capitalism. There is no better emblem of this question than (‘hina's
10 THE LIST 7() ()(:l I5 Nov 900:")
THE CHINESE STATE IS FIGHTING WHAT IS TERMED ‘A SMOKELESS WAR' AGAINST ITS CITIZENS In this
‘(ireat l"ir'evv‘;rll' which prevents (‘hinese intemet users from accessing ‘radical‘ news websites. including those provided by the BBC and (ioogle.
(‘hina‘s attempts to control what its citizens can read or say via the internet may yet prove to be a despairing attempt to hold back an irreversible process of change. l)isturbingly. however. Westem rrrulti-nationals fighting to establish themselves in (‘hina have shown that they
are willing to assist in censorship if that is a condition of
doing business. It was reported in June that Microsoft‘s MSN service in (‘hina was blocking blog entries containing words such as ‘freedom' and 'derrrocracy‘. (‘iSA‘s initiative needs to be understood in light of the fact that all universities see themselves as competing for market—share ~ with Asian students being particularly valued consumers. But it would be unfortunate if this
obscured the problems that attend any rrormalising of
relations with (‘hina » namely the risk of tacitly approving a political reality irrirnical to what art has come to stand for in the West: creativity. questioning. freedom. The staff and students of the (‘entral Academy of Fine Arts were
June IQX‘). testimony to the interrelation of art and political critique. Yu Dongyue threw paint on Mao's portrait in Tiananmen Square and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He remains in jail. context (‘ai‘s smoke ‘rainbow‘. as a demonstration of arts ability to make visible the tensions and fears which hang over our world. takes on an extra poignancy and pointedness. But how is the value of strch a gesture to be weighed against the human rights abuses in (‘hina‘s ‘smokeless war"? Art can be a means for the ‘civilising‘ of unacceptable states of affairs. making them respectable. It can also be a space and a means of critique. Let‘s hope that the (‘iSA’s collaborative projects with (‘hina encourage the latter.
Dominic Paterson is Lecturer in History of Art at The University of Glasgow
prominently involved in the protests of
PlUCKING FRUITS FROM THE CULlURAl BUSH
I Jennifer Saunders has started filming a new comedy show alongside long-standing compadre Joanna Lumley. The tremendously satirical- sounding Jam and Jerusalen'; is about the dear old Women‘s Institute. and features several cameos from members of the Ab Fab crew . . . Martin Freeman and Simon Pegg are to star in a new romantic comedy directed by Jake Paltrow (yep. he‘s the uncle to wee Apple). The Good Night is apparently about the gap between reality and media images of female perfection with the leading lady yet to be cast . . . Meanwhile, Chris Martin has revealed he would like to record a Christmas album with Jimmy Krankie. The Coldplay frontman says performing with the 805 comedy legend would be the perfect Christmas gift for fans while he also harbours some much less pleasant sounding desires to duet with Celine Dion . . . Sounding not a lot unlike current BBC US hit Medium comes Ghost Whisperer. a new Jennifer Love Hewitt drama in which she plays a woman who can communicate with dead people . . . Devotees of young Morrissey (pictured) will be delighted that the guy is soon to return to the studio to w0rk on a new CD. entitled Ringleader of the Tormentors, with Tony \fisconti doing the production tasks . . . Old school comedy types The Goodies are back in the old hilarity house wrth news that they are planning a one-off special with some ‘classic' cuts and a whole lot of new material. Got to be better than Springwatch though,eh?