Microsoft Word - 164-167 Open Ground Forward 7-27.docx Vol 4, No 1 (2015) | ISSN 2155-1162 (online) | DOI 10.5195/contemp.2015.153 http://contemporaneity.pitt.edu Foreword �� � � � Gao Minglu ��� Abstract An introduction to the Open Ground Blog interviews included in this issue of Contemporaneity. About the Author Gao Minglu is a critic, curator, and research professor of contemporary Chinese Art in the Department of the History of Art and Architecture at the University of Pittsburgh. Contemporaneity: Historical Presence in Visual Culture http://contemporaneity.pitt.edu Vol 4, No 1 (2015) | ISSN 2155-1162 (online) | DOI 10.5195/contemp.2015.153 Madeline Eschenburg and Ellen Larson have been involved in many events taking place in Beijing since the summer of 2014. The four papers included in this issue of Contemporaneity are selected from Madeline and Ellen’s blog. I am very glad to read their essays and interviews, which provide various perspectives of Chinese contemporary art. The figures discussed in the papers represent four groups of people from different generations in the Chinese contemporary art world. The No Name Group began their art activities in the 1970s, Xu Bing was from the 1980s avant-garde movement, Xing Danwen from 1990s video and photography, and finally, Hua Er, Lihui Dong, Antonie Angerer and Emma Karasz are from different professional backgrounds but all working in art institutions as curators, gallery owners, etc. in the Chinese contemporary world of the twenty-first century. 2014 .'*�;Y� OKD�)3 ”Q & Foreword �� Gao Minglu ��� 1 6 6 F o r e w o r d � P Contemporaneity: Historical Presence in Visual Culture http://contemporaneity.pitt.edu Vol 4, No 1 (2015) | ISSN 2155-1162 (online) | DOI 10.5195/contemp.2015.153 The third issue is the relationship between art and society. Xu Bing discussed the relationship within the context of his career over the last three decades. What is the relationship represented in an artist’s work? It is a good understanding of a period? As Xu said, “an artist must not separate himself from the period.” But what does the “period” mean? It is a historical term or metaphysical concept, such as historical spirit. To my understanding, however, “period” here is not just a time period, but a complex system of energy produced by different social forces from the same time. The unification as well as conflict of this energy can make the society change and develop. The duty of an excellent artist is to discover and represent this social energy. G�� “ ”�CMY “ ”8��Z+8�� NT� �JY D Of course, all of these issues may be associated with the notion of contemporaneity in art. The contemporaneity, however, always responds to a particular period and specific cultural area: individualism in the 1970s, feminist art that started in early 1990s, and the relationship between art and society, which has confused generations of Chinese artists who have continually pursued a better understanding and judgment of what contemporaneity is for their particular historical moment. Since in China there has never been a linear historical progression from modern art to postmodern art to contemporary art, contemporaneity perhaps can be interpreted as a feature of the period. Although its meaning changes over time, it has created a consciousness of being permanently modern, permanently contemporary, or, simply a permanent novelty (sometimes, old as new) in the creation of art since the early twentieth century in China. 1CY6: $��.�D� “�� ”� �.��;D“)3 ”# “ ”� JH —" —1�3W51� 6�Y“1�3” 5 5L Y-IY �F?4D � 1 6 7 G a o M i n g l u V ! B Contemporaneity: Historical Presence in Visual Culture http://contemporaneity.pitt.edu Vol 4, No 1 (2015) | ISSN 2155-1162 (online) | DOI 10.5195/contemp.2015.153 New articles in this journal are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 United States License. This journal is operated by the University Library System of the University of Pittsburgh as part of its D-Scribe Digital Publishing Program, and is co-sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Press.