Installation in contemporary Chinese art

Van Lutsi Postgraduate student; Institute of Design and Arts; St. Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design 190000, Russia, Saint Petersburg, Kalininsky District str., 17 Fidelity 529986057@qq.com

Installation is one of the youngest and most actively developing branches of Chinese art, which determines the relevance of the study of this artistic trend. The purpose of this work is to identify the specifics of the Chinese installation. The subject of the study is the peculiarities of Chinese installation at its current stage. The object of the research is installation compositions made by Chinese artists.

Installation art is a popular topic for modern research. I.I. Kabakov, a Soviet-American artist and art theorist, in his lecture series "On Total Installation" defines installation as free art without a strict script ^[1]. Art historian A.D. Borovsky examines the history of the formation of modern art, including installations ^[2]. E.Y. Andreeva in her book "Everything and Nothing: Symbolic figures in art of the second half of the 20th century" examines in detail the biographies and artistic heritage of famous Soviet and Russian installers of the 20th century ^[3]. Among the English-speaking art historians who devoted their works to installation art, one can single out Claire Bishop, who in her work "The Art of Installation" explores the development of installation art and its concepts from the 1920s to the present day ^[4].

However, there are significantly fewer works devoted to the study of narrow issues of Chinese installation, and they focus mainly on a retrospective review of the path of formation of this area of contemporary art. There are currently insufficient studies summarizing the findings and analyzing current trends in Chinese installation.

The installation is an art of three-dimensional composition, which is built in space and combines various objects and materials together within the framework of the author's idea. The emergence of this genre in art is associated with Dadaism, an artistic trend that was formed in Europe in the 1910s. Installation has emerged in China relatively recently: the 1980s became a landmark historical period for contemporary art in the country, as it was during this time that Western ideas and values penetrated deep into the country as a result of changes in China's foreign policy and increased sociocultural openness.

At this stage, the Chinese installation had three main characteristic features:

1. The theme of the works of Chinese artists focused on a critical rethinking of the social and artistic experience of the country;

2. In an attempt to master previously unfamiliar art forms as quickly as possible, Chinese authors often resorted to technical copying of Western installations.;

3. The beginning of the formation of the unique path of Chinese installation was experimentation with artistic materials.

A striking example of one of the early installations in modern China is the Book of Heaven, which Xu Bing completed and presented to the public in 1988. From the moment of its conception, the Book of Heaven was considered by its author as a bold artistic provocation. For four years, the artist created "false" hieroglyphs that did not carry a specific meaning, but looked plausible enough that, at a glance, a native speaker would think that he was looking at valid coherent sentences. This effect was also achieved due to the fact that Xu Bing formed his deceptive hieroglyphic system based on classical texts, all of which are known to people brought up in Chinese society.

Fig. 1 Xu Bing "The Book of Heaven", 1988

The purpose of this installation is to make the audience, whose worldview is based on immutable eternal texts, feel the inevitable frustration of being unable to read these texts. The Book of Heaven still encourages people to question their own understanding of historical documents fundamental to Chinese society ^{[8, p. 52]}. As in many others, this work reflects the ideological crisis that was provoked in China by the penetration of Western artistic concepts into the country.

The widespread public attention that the Book of Heaven has attracted internationally has contributed to the formation of a new wave of popularity of Chinese writing in the world, which is a particular example of how the installation affects the appearance and attractiveness of Chinese culture outside the country.

Another landmark work for Chinese installation is "A Brief History of Modern Art after 2 Minutes in the Washing Machine," authored by Huang Yongping. Using an edition of one of the most popular art textbooks in Chinese art academies, Huang Yongping ground the pages of the academic text and placed them on a kind of asymmetrical tray located on a wooden box. The choice of such artistic material, which is atypical for Chinese art, was, of course, not accidental. By vividly portraying the fragility of a scientifically based understanding of art, Huang Yongping offers his audience the idea of the changeability and uncertainty of the future for Chinese artists. This example is a particular confirmation of how experimentation with artistic materials accompanied the path of formation of Chinese installation art.

Fig. 2 Huang Yongping, "A brief history of modern art after 2 minutes in the washing machine", 1989

Some traces of copying the European installation tradition can also be seen in the works of Chinese artists of the 21st century. This trend has weakened significantly by now, but individual examples of its manifestation can still be found. The realistic installation "Fallen Angel", created jointly by Song Yuan and Peng Yu and presented to the public in 2008, stylistically bears significant similarities with the work of Maurizio Cattelan "The Ninth Hour", which became known to the world audience almost 20 years earlier. Thus, the pose of the depicted figures, their facial expressions and the religious theme of the composition combine the two installations under consideration. This particular example confirms the importance of European influence on the development of contemporary art in China. ^{[5, c. 166]}

However, for the traditional worldview of Chinese society, art has always performed significant practical functions. For centuries, it has been a material reflection of socially significant phenomena - political, religious, philosophical, etc. That is why installation in China, despite the initial stage of formal copying of the style of Western artists, has always strived for national authenticity, the expression of the unique and multifaceted experience of Chinese society. This same feature of the Chinese mentality has become one of the reasons why the installation has received such rapid and productive development in the artistic environment of the country. Installation art is often a form of political expression, and this feature has proved to be close to China's national artistic tradition. ^{[6, c. 86]}

Thus, the years 1980-1990 and changes in the political situation triggered the emergence of modern art in China, and then, in a short historical period of the following decades, Chinese artists were able to rethink the Western experience in their work, create and develop their own unique styles, which nevertheless preserved the multifaceted and ancient heritage of Chinese culture. ^{[7, c. 2]}

Starting in the 1990s, society in China began to adapt to new elements of the market economy, which significantly affected the artistic environment. Numerous ways of earning money were opened up to people of art, which became an incentive for the dynamic development of modern art trends in which private exhibition venues were interested. The installation has also been widely developed. However, at the same time, the dependence of art on external financial support caused concern, as Chinese artists felt that the fundamental meaning of their work was being lost. ^{[9, p. 92]} To overcome this ideological dilemma, they increasingly began to seek to discuss important social issues in their work for modern China. Today, acute social issues are still the main theme of Chinese installations.

Exploring the modern installation of China, one can trace the relationship between the choice of materials for creating a composition and the artistic message that the author seeks to express. Based on this statement, the following classification of the Chinese installation can be formulated at its current stage: compositions built using traditional materials, high-tech materials and "eco-friendly" materials.

In accordance with the proposed classification, a women's installation is singled out as a separate artistic direction, the specific characteristic of which is the use of traditional materials for Chinese culture. For the first time, Chinese artists became interested in this direction already in the late 1980s. Over the following decades, the representation of women in installation art only increased. The influence of Western not only artistic but also political ideas has become one of the key sources of inspiration for women's installation in China, but it has never been a defining or limiting factor. Modern artists often raise issues related to the status of women in Chinese society in their works, using objects either from everyday life or related to traditional Chinese crafts.

Among the iconic Chinese artists working within the art of installation, one can single out Qin Yufen. The artist emphasizes that in her work she discusses the relationship between women's experience in Chinese society and the socio-cultural heritage of the country. Domestic work still mainly rests on the shoulders of women, and therefore Qin Yufen's works are built around the symbols of this work: in particular, the use of a clothes dryer as the core of the installation runs through her compositions. She also uses materials traditionally significant for Chinese culture, such as bamboo, silk fabrics, etc. ^{[10, p. 130]}

Thus, the use of materials symbolizing traditional culture allows the authors to talk about the influence of the country's historical experience on its modernity. Women's installation stands out as a separate trend in Chinese contemporary art, as the artists use specific materials and raise issues relevant to the country that are rarely represented in a men's installation.

One of the most significant state issues for today's China is the preservation and enhancement of national heritage in the context of globalization, which has already affected all significant spheres of public life. Modern Chinese culture should be easily recognizable internationally: the artists themselves feel the need for this. That is why, at the moment, the desire for individualization in Chinese art is combined with the tendency to showcase symbols of traditional culture through innovative artistic formats. ^{[11, c. 80]}

The question of the international socio-economic image of China and the influence of modern art on the formation of this image is increasingly being raised. The availability of digital technologies in China's economic system makes it possible to experiment and apply innovative art forms. As a result, installation today often becomes a tool by which China confirms its cultural identity and technological advancement at major international exhibitions. So, in 2021, at the exhibition "Space Illusion – a new generation of Chinese installation", a series of works "New Full Moon Scimitar" was presented, which was completely created using 3D printing and photosensitive materials.

Fig. 3 Chen Tianzhuo, "New Full Moon Scimitar", 2020

This exhibition, which attracted the attention of not only the Chinese but also the international community, featured numerous high-tech works, many of which depicted classic images of Chinese culture. Today, installations made with such innovative materials often symbolize the close relationship between national heritage and scientific and technological progress in China.

A typical example of the third type of this classification, based on the nature of the materials used, is an environmental installation, which is one of the most popular trends in the art of modern China. This is explained both by the fact of the influence of traditional philosophy and by a number of other complex reasons. ^{[12, p. 183]} Large-scale industrial production and the growing problem of overconsumption cause legitimate concerns in the public discourse of the country. The nature of China's economic system makes it impossible to assume that the country's enterprises will reduce their production rates in the coming years. As a result, the problems of air pollution, waste unsuitable for recycling, and many others find extensive representation in the country's contemporary art.

In particular, the installation "Fluctuations of the City", presented to the public in 2019, is one of the most ambitious art projects dedicated to the ecological situation in urban spaces in China. A team of artists, using multiple plastic straws, created a 40-meter-high dragon figure flying through the air between the concrete pillars of an urban building. The bright, eye-catching material underlying this installation composition is a symbol of senseless and daily environmental pollution, while the final form, which is understandable only from a certain angle, reflects the dynamic force with which the Chinese people are moving into a technological future. The "fluctuations of the city" reflect the dichotomy of today's Chinese society: brilliant economic progress against the background of inevitable damage to regional natural systems.

Fig. 4 Zheng Yufei, "City Fluctuations", 2019

The use of "non-ecological" materials to create installations on environmental topics is a rather private technique that allows us to emphasize the reality of the problem being disclosed. In particular, the Global Ring installation, presented in Shanghai in 2019, is a 17-meter arc assembled from almost two tens of thousands of pieces of plastic. Thanks to the mirrored floor covering, visitors to the exhibition get the feeling of a circle of sparkling plastic surrounding a person in the modern world. The lighting in the exhibition hall should evoke associations with the underwater space and the garbage dumped into it. As a result, a visually pleasing but still disturbing work of art is created, which is generally a characteristic feature of installation in China at its current stage of development.

Chinese installation art, despite the fact that it was born under the large-scale influence of the works of foreign artists, is still characterized by a strongly pronounced national specificity. The legacy of traditional culture is clearly visible in Chinese compositions. This feature is especially noticeable in comparison with the installation art of other countries, in particular, with the Russian one.

Thus, the media installation A.R.C.C. 2.0, presented in St. Petersburg in 2022, is dedicated to internal changes and personal development. The audiovisual images seen by the visitors of the exhibition reflect abstract concepts related to a person's personal development and self-search: defining goals and their sincere desires, reflecting on the stages passed and encountering inevitable contradictions along the way. This laser exhibition encourages the audience to analyze universal mental processes. The installation focuses on the study of exclusively individual experience, while collective historical experience is not considered in the framework of this work. However, in a modern Chinese installation, a look into the future is combined with a revision of the concept of the past, forming the specifics of national culture.

In particular, Lin Tianmiao examines in her works how the collective long-term path has affected her personal perception of life and what decisions she has already made and will continue to make throughout her later life. As part of the creation of the installation "Connected and Unrelated," she used intertwined cotton threads as a symbol of the complex but monotonous work that accompanied the life of countless generations of Chinese women. Such a historical context has formed in the artist's mind a natural desire to find her own way through monotonous long-term work.

Using this example, we can trace one of the key distinguishing features of the Chinese installation – the increasingly frequent manifestation of close attention to the collective national experience in the context of the search for individual identity. ^{[14, p. 121]}

The installation becomes the face of modern Chinese art, because it allows to increase interest in the elements of traditional Chinese culture in the international space with the help of artistic techniques understandable to the world audience.

Thus, the following conclusions can be drawn about the role of installation in contemporary Chinese art.:

1. Installation as a separate art direction appeared in China as a result of changes in the political situation and external Western influence. At the first stages, this led to the formal copying of the artistic methods of foreign colleagues, but since the social orientation of the themes revealed in the framework of installation art harmoniously fell on the traditional Chinese social functions of artistic activity, in a short historical period, Chinese artists were able to find their own unique path in this direction.;

2. Installation in China at its current stage of development explores important social issues that concern the minds of the country's creative circles. The consideration of global issues in the works of Chinese artists occurs primarily from the perspective of national history, rather than the personal perception of the author as a separate person. Collective experience in the subject of Chinese installation still prevails over personal experience, but the trend towards individualization is also evident in the work of Chinese artists.;

3. Modern Chinese installation still combines elements of both the East and the West: the works of Chinese artists reflect both certain aspects of traditional culture (for example, classical Chinese art trends, in particular, calligraphy, often become the object of research by installation artists) and Western ones that have passed through the prism of the Chinese worldview. artistic concepts.