It seems obvious to me that contemporary Chinese time-based art - TopicsExpress

It seems obvious to me that contemporary Chinese time-based art may appear to face an uncertain future in China, due to the its ephemeral elements lacking in com modification and popular appreciation including academic ridicule. However, its only a matter of time before it is hailed the triumph of Chinese art. I sooner imagine this seemingly impermanent or ephemeral art form due to its one-time exhibiting nature embedded in its behavior/performance role, the other Shock of the New not by the former art critic, the former Robert Hughes, but by the contemporary historian and scholar Professor Meiling Cheng. In the shock of the presentation of something new, many are repelled and distracted by the newness of the unfamiliar. Initial aversions to the stark experimentation and the unfamiliarity of the avant-garde in the introductions of Impressionism, and Cubism were quite striking. Then, the more recent Abstract Expressionist Movement of the 1950s later became the triumph of an American art according to the art historian, Irving Sandler. The spontaneity and the liveliness in the nature of the behavior/ performance based art allow for such great fluidity rarely obvious in the more object-based artworks which professor Cheng has alluded to in her argument regarding the Brand Chinas which she perceives to have a detrimental impact on the field of time-based art. Beijing Xingwei, Professor Chengs new book, chronicles her process of retracing certain artistic behavior--seen, heard, recollected, imagined and documented-- in Beijing according to the author. Just reading the introduction, I have gathered that this scholarly text is going to be most informative, enlightening, and transforming especially to the reader with an open mind. Thank you Meiling! I am excited and eager to read more of this great scholarship, an aspect of and culture that has long been unfamiliar to me. paulcblake (Y)