Sasha Su-Ling Welland, "Experimental Beijing Gender and Globalization in Chinese Contemporary Art," (Duke University Press, 2018)

During the lead-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the censorious attitude that characterized China's post-1989 official response to contemporary art gave way to a new market-driven, culture industry valuation of art. Experimental artists who once struggled against state regulation of artistic expression found themselves being courted to advance China's international image. In Experimental Beijing Sasha Su-Ling Welland examines the interlocking power dynamics in this transformational moment and rapid rise of Chinese contemporary art into a global phenomenon. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and experience as a videographer and curator, Welland analyzes encounters between artists, curators, officials, and urban planners as they negotiated the social role of art and built new cultural institutions. Focusing on the contradictions and exclusions that emerged, Welland traces the complex gender politics involved and shows that feminist forms of art practice hold the potential to reshape consciousness, produce a nonnormative history of Chinese contemporary art, and imagine other, more just worlds. East Asian Studies Podcast Chinese History Podcast Chinese contemporary art Experimental Beijing Sasha Su-Ling Welland Art and politics in China Beijing Olympics art influence Contemporary Chinese artists Feminist art practices in China Art and gender politics in China Ethnographic study of Chinese art Chinese culture industry transformation State regulation of art in China Chinese art market boom Globalization of Chinese contemporary art Cultural institutions in Beijing Art and social change in China Non-normative art history Urban planning and art in China Chinese art and international image Post-1989 Chinese art scene Chinese feminist art movement Art as social critique in China Chinese art curation and exhibitions Gender and art in contemporary China