Abstract

Transience: Chinese Experimental Art at the End of the Twentieth Century is a groundbreaking and timely exhibition organized by The David and Alfred Smart Museum of Chicago. Guest curator Wu Hung, a leading expert on ancient and contemporary Chinese art, identified three critical aspects of current artistic production in China and tightly focused the exhibition to explore those themes—"Demystification," "Ruins," and "Transience." With its concentration on individual artists through close readings of specific works, Transience constitutes a new voice in the current discussion about contemporary Chinese art and its place in post-national cultural understanding.