Chinese Whispers. A new look at contemporary Chinese art

19-06-2016 16:01

The exhibition “Chinese Whispers” provides an opportunity to explore the vast country through the eyes of Chinese artists, from Ai Weiwei to Zhuang Hui.

Around 150 recent works of the Sigg and M+Sigg collection include paintings, photography, interactive videos and some quite extraordinary art installations.

The exhibit’s title refers to the game in which people whisper a message to one another, in the end misinterpreting it. There is a similarity in this game to the encounters of different cultures.

The exhibition provides a deep insight into China’s art scene of the past fifteen years and documents the ways in which Chinese artists have carved out their positions between east and west, between tradition and progress.

It also reflects their confident attempts to bridge the gaps, and to define their own identities in a global art system.
The works on display express the impact of recent sweeping changes on China's urbanism, use of resources, criticism of the political system, and the documentation of its most recent history as well as personal introspection.

In the late 1970s, Uli Sigg – a Swiss business journalist, entrepreneur, former ambassador to China (1995-1998) and art collector – became interested in contemporary Chinese art and was its first systematic collector.

Boasting more than 2,200 works by some 350 artists and representing various genres across 40 years of Chinese art history, Sigg’s collection of contemporary Chinese art is considered the largest in the world.

(0) Comments