From Jean-Paul Sartre to Teresa Teng: Contemporary Cantonese Art in the 1980s

Documentary screening and post-screening discussion

Registration at 6:15 pm
Screening at 6:30 pm followed by discussion* with Huang Xiaopeng, Artist & Anthony Yung, Director

From Jean-Paul Sartre to Teresa Teng: Contemporary Cantonese Art in the 1980s
(2010 / Hong Kong / Dir. Jane DeBevoise, Claire Hsu, Phoebe Wong, Anthony Yung / 48 minutes/ In Cantonese and Mandarin with English subtitles)

The 1980s was a seminal period in the history of contemporary art in China. However, the contribution and experimentalism of the art scene in South China, in particular Guangzhou and Shenzhen, have generally been overlooked. Due in part to the proximity of Hong Kong, western ideas from translated books and articles as well as popular culture in the form of TV shows and Cantopop flooded Guangdong at the end of the Cultural Revolution. This influx of new ideas and popular culture sparked great excitement, debate and experimentation in the arts. This documentary bears witness not only to the reading fever that gripped the Chinese art world in the 1980s. It also highlights the experimentalism and verve of artists and critics in South China whose contributions to the development of contemporary art have been long lasting and deep. Join artist, Huang Xiaopeng and Anthony Yung, Director, for a post-screening discussion.

Huang Xiaopeng, originally from Shanxi Province, is a video and installation artist who lives and works in Guangzhou. He joined the Southern Artists Salon after graduating from the Oil Painting Department at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in 1983. In the late 1980s, he pursued his M.F.A. degree at the Slade College of Arts in London. On returning to China in 2003, Mr. Huang started teaching at the Guangzhou Academy where he runs the 5th Studio, where students are encouraged to explore contemporary methods and media. He is currently teaching at South China Normal University.

Anthony Yung is researcher at Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong. He manages AAA’s major research project ‘Materials of the Future: Documenting Contemporary Chinese Art from 1980-1990’, which produced more than 90 interviews with artist, critics, scholars and other participants and collected a large amount of research materials about Chinese contemporary art from the  late 1970s to early 1990s. Mr. Yung is also the co-founder of Observation Society, an independent art space in Guangzhou. His writings about Chinese and Hong Kong art have been published in Yishu, Leap, Contemporary Art and Investment, and artforum.com.cn, to name a few.

*Post screening discussion conducted in Mandarin

Video: Watch the trailer for From Jean-Paul Sartre to Teresa Teng: Contemporary Cantonese Art in the 1980s (3 mins)

 Click here to visit Asia Society Chinese Arts Documentary Series wesbite.

Screening of From Jean-Paul Sartre to Teresa Teng: Contemporary Cantonese Art in the 1980s is co-presented with

Lead sponsor	Airline sponsor