2. “We’re not in Kansas any more…..”
SO let’s engage our students in talking and writing about
art that will amaze, astonish and engage their curiosity
4. Why contemporary art?
Students need to know about ‘the art of now’ because:
• it is engaging, interesting and thought-provoking
• it is ‘of their own time’ and relates to our world and all its
issues
• it connects to the ‘artworld’, a real place with real people,
making real artworks
• it connects directly with their own artmaking practice
• it assists students to make connections in their art writing,
and to develop their ‘art literacy’
• students WANT to engage with it, even when they are
challenged by its form or its content
6. Why Chinese art?
• Because it is so exciting, so new, so constantly changing and
so important!
• Because Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong are recognised as
three of the key art centres on the planet right now and
their importance in the art market and the field of
contemporary art continues to grow.
• Taipei continues to develop as a newer art centre and some
of the most interesting artists practising in a range of
disciplines are working in Taiwan.
• Because we have access to fantastic resources in the White
Rabbit Gallery and the 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian
Art in Sydney and QAGOMA in Brisbane (especially the APT)
8. Why is it different?
• Chinese artists discovered Modernism and
Postmodernism all at once, in the 1980s – a
unique historical accident that results in art unlike
anything else on the planet
• Significant influences combine ancient Chinese
traditions (literati painting, folk art, gongbi
realism) with Soviet socialist realism, Duchamp
and Dada, Rauschenberg, Beuys and – of course –
the Sensation exhibition!
• Economic conditions/rigorous academic training
• It’s an explosive mix!
9. How does Chinese art education produce artists of such
technical virtuosity and capacity to innovate?
10.
11.
12.
13. But what will it do for YOUR students?
• Excite their curiosity
• Provoke them
• Push them out of their comfort zone
• Engage them in learning some important
history – and some geopolitics
• Link their study of art with the real world –
right here, right now!
• Link with their BOW development
14. What happens when a Year 12 student REALLY absorbs these influences?
Rachel Cronin, Year 12 2012, ‘Babel’, documented form, photomedia, video, artist’s book
15. My artwork explores communication and miscommunication, through language
and across cultures. My intent was to emphasise the importance of language in
our contemporary society both in shaping our identity and in building networks
globally through interaction with others. Through the representation of language
in all of its forms, I hoped to envelop and confront my audience, inviting them to
question the ability of language to enhance communication, or paradoxically
initiate miscommunication. Using the extended metaphor of the biblical story
'The Tower of Babel’, I worked across the mediums of photography and film,
resulting in a documented form.
Influencing artists: Zhang Huan, Susan Hiller, Jenny Holzer, Laurens Tan, Wenda
Gu, Xu Bing, Yang Zhenzhong
16.
17.
18. “Like Beuys in the 70s or Duchamp in 1917, with Ai Weiwei we have the privilege
of seeing a modern master in his moment.” (Jonathan Jones, The Guardian, 2013
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2013/may/21/venice-
biennale-ai-weiwei-beuys
19.
20. For the Venice Biennale, Ai Weiwei created an installation detailing his 81 days of
incarceration by the Chinese government back in 2011. Entitled S.A.C.R.E.D(Supper,
Accusers, Cleansing, Ritual, Entropy, and Doubt), the installation at
the Sant’Antonin church features six iron boxes that display scenes of his captivity.
Source: http://arrestedmotion.com/2013/05/showing-ai-weiwei-s-a-c-r-e-d-the-venice-
biennale/
24. Australian artist Guo Jian was arrested, and deported from China for his
installation prior to the June 4 anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre
25. For the work in question, The Square (2014) Guo created a diorama of Tiananmen Square
and covered it with 160 kg (352 lb) of ground pork. “I wanted to do something privately to
mark the anniversary,” Guo said. “But I should have covered [the diorama] in plastic first.
It would have been easier to clean up.”
26. Wan Liya, in Two Cities Gallery, M50, Shanghai ,photograph Luise Guest
Past and Present – Layers of Meaning
42. • How can we design case studies for our students using
this most exciting contemporary work?
• How can we structure learning to assist them in engaged,
authentic understandings of contemporary practice?
• How will they move from engaging with contemporary
practices to their artmaking?
Han Yajuan. ‘Travel Alone’ oil on canvas
image courtesy the artist
And what about
critical thinking?
43. And what about resources?
• Start with the ‘hook’ for your students –
engaging, fascinating contemporary artworks
that will intrigue – and provoke - them
• Use sources such as the Venice Biennale, The
MCA, 4A, White Rabbit Gallery, QAGOMA,
regional galleries – and social media!
• Try Ocula - http://ocula.com/
• http://artasiapacific.com/
45. What I want for my students…
• That they get as excited about and engaged
with art writing as they are about artmaking
• That each one of them can surprise
themselves with the level of their
achievement
• That they leave my class with a desire to know
more about art – especially contemporary art
• That they respond authentically to artworks
• So – it all starts with the work itself
47. LIU ZHUOQUAN AND GAO RONG
UNLESS OTHERWISE IDENTIFIED WITH SOURCES, ALL PHOTOGRAPHS WERE TAKEN BY LUISE GUEST
AND ARE REPRODUCED WITH THE PERMISSION OF THE ARTISTS AND THEIR GALLERIES
Two Case Studies of Artists’ Practice
51. Traditional ‘inside painted’ snuff bottles (“Nei Hua”), were painted with a
fine curved bamboo brush, and with the details first, backgrounds second
52. All images of Liu Zhuoquan and his works courtesy the artist and China Art Projects
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.
58.
59. “On the surface life seems quiet and calm, but underneath
danger lurks, represented by the idea of scientific specimens in
bottles. Also we use bottles all the time in our daily life, so they
are a symbol of the everyday. Traditionally painted snuff bottles
emphasised the imaginary world contained inside the bottle, so
in my everyday bottles I am also creating an imaginary world.”
60.
61. “Bottles can be a place to conceal or save memories, the past
and our history. Some of my bottles contain memories of the
Cultural Revolution times, and other reflections of real events,
but in a ‘veiled’ way. In the place where I was born the temple
was used for the ashes of the dead, which were contained in
bottles. My name is the name of this temple.”
62.
63. “My time in Tibet was very important, and the influence of
Tibetan culture is there in my work. The Tibetan attitude to
death and their philosophy is quite different, and this can be
seen in their ‘sky burial’ ceremony. It is necessary always to
have a dream as life and death are so interconnected.”
71. Compare and contrast the practice of Liu
Zhuoquan with Australian artist Fiona
Hall. In particular, look at her works
‘Mourning Chorus’ and ‘Cell Culture’ and
comment on the way that each artist has
employed ‘found’ and discarded
materials to make a comment about
their world.
Images of Hall’s works from
http://roslynoxley9.com.au/artists/17/Fiona_Hall/481/
Art Critical Connections
73. Gao Rong looks out her window at the changing face of Beijing….
All images of Gao Rong and her works courtesy the artist (and White Rabbit Gallery)
74.
75. Gao Rong, ‘Station’ 2011
Fabric Thread Sponge Metal
Image courtesy the artist
and White Rabbit Gallery
How can students engage with Gao
Rong’s works?
Themes of Daily Life, Femininity, Family,
Journeying….
Links with Pop Art, and with the Feminist works
of artists such as Judy Chicago and Miriam
Schapiro
Gao Rong says she was inspired by Tracey Emin –
another rebellious female!
76.
77. Gao Rong, Level 1/2, Unit 8,
Building 5, Hua Jiadi, North
Village (2010) fabric, thread,
sponge, metal, image reproduced
courtesy of the artist and White
Rabbit Gallery.
78.
79.
80.
81.
82.
83. Gao Rong
The Static Eternity, 2012
Cloth, Wire, Steel, Cotton,
Sponge, Board
Image courtesy the artist,
White Rabbit Gallery and the
Biennale of Sydney
See following three slides for
details of this work.
87. Look out for a re-
staging of “Static
Eternity” in the
next White Rabbit
exhibition later
this year, and a
solo exhibition at
Dominik Mersch,
and an article in
Artist Profile!
89. Beyond artmaking – what about art literacy and
authentic, exciting, fully engaged student
artwriting?
90. Huang Yong Ping, ‘Leviathanation’ at Tang Galleries Beijing 2011 (photo L. Guest)
Find the “hook”!
91. Art Critical Interpretation
Ways to ensure that student
writing is authentic and rich
• Strategies for eliciting
genuine responses
• Socratic Dialogues
• Collaborative tasks
• ‘Learning conversations’
• Avoiding plagiarism
• Applying art language
• Developing research skills
• Using ICT and social media
Huang Yong Ping, ‘Two Baits’, 2001, iron, fibreglass, metal sheets, 160 x 300 x 800 cm.
Image reproduced courtesy of the artist and Rockbund Museum, Shanghai.
92. Some successful strategies
• Student websites / blogs
• Student video productions
• Using multi-media
• Collaborations between schools – crossing
borders and breaking down those classroom
walls
• Innovative uses of social media
• The ‘Flipped Classroom’
93. Year 11 student web sites from Loreto
Kirribilli, Sydney
• http://laralovesart.weebly.com/
• http://carlacritique.weebly.com/
• http://artwritingbyalana.weebly.com/
• http://aliceartwriting.weebly.com/
• http://wigart.weebly.com/
• How does this work?
94. Planning a learning experience for
your students
• Select a contemporary artist from the Asia
Pacific region
• Select one or two works which you know will
intrigue/confuse/surprise your students
• Ai Weiwei? Song Dong? Liu Zhuoquan? Cao
Fei? Cai Guo-Qiang? He Xiangyu?
• Start to develop the introductory lesson:
“the hook!”
95. Using ‘the art of now’ for
authentic art learning
• Step 1: invite students to observe, think,
speculate and wonder
• Step 2: require students to use rich language and
their developing art vocabulary to describe,
analyse and interpret a work without plagiarism
or 2nd-hand ideas
• Step 3: Invite students to ask “What if?”
• Step 4: Invite students to consider the
relationships to their own artmaking and hence
their rich understanding of artists’ practice
96. What if?
What if Liu Zhuoquan used new
bottles straight from the factory?
Would the meaning be different?
What if YOU made an installation of
objects painted in bottles to reflect
an issue of concern to you – what
would they be?
Imagine other ways of installing these
works, fragile as they are – if YOU
were the curator, what would you
suggest to the artist?
What if Liu doesn’t do any of the painting himself?
Does it matter? Is it still his own artwork?
97. Build the differentiation
• A “common” core task – reading and
questions
• A “learning conversation” – structured with
provocative questions – could take the form of
a socratic dialogue
• Differentiated tasks for groups identified with
quantifiable data – transparent and clearly
communicated to students
• A “real” piece of published writing
98. And back to Ai Weiwei again…a model
of description, speculation, deduction
and contextualisation
• http://vimeo.com/64886243
