Canton Express: Urbanization and contemporary Chinese art

Canton Express was a project situated within the larger exhibition Zone of Urgency in the Venice Biennale in 2003. It was the first comprehensive exhibition focusing on the relationship of urbanization and cultural landscape in the Pearl River Delta and presented on an international platform. Since the open-door policy in 1979, the Pearl River Delta played a pioneering role in China’s economic reform and urbanization throughout the 1980s and 1990s. This was resulted with unprecedent transformation of the cityscape and inhabitants’ lifestyle. More importantly, it defined the artistic context and character of the southern region uniquely from other parts of China, providing an opportunity for an alternative narrative in the discourse of contemporary Chinese art. Taking Canton Express as a case to reflect the uncanny observations and immediate responses among the fourteen participating artists and collectives on the new reality brought by urbanization and economic development which may, however, conflicted with the socialist-communist political ideology. And such tension nevertheless triggered a collective consciousness in the artistic community and their traits of flexibility, openness and self-autonomy to seek for an artistic identity independent from the existing narrative of contemporary Chinese art legitimized by the officials for biennales held inside and outside China. On this note, the essay will point out Canton Express proposed an interdisciplinary curatorial methodology for positioning ‘urbanism’ in the discourse. It will also provide examples of how it was instituted into the official system, expanding the multiplicity of contemporary Chinese art other than the market and political symbols, and shifted attention to art productions from a local perspective with global resonance. Through Canton Express and curatorial projects held afterwards, this essay attempts to prompt future research and discussion on qualities and conditions for artistic production and circulation of Chinese art in a world emerging from the COVID-19.