Symbolic production in the space of urban village: A case study of the 2019 Guangzhou airport biennale
Location
Lingnan University / Online Session via Zoom
Start Date
21-5-2021 2:00 PM
End Date
21-5-2021 4:00 PM
Description
The Guangzhou Airport Biennale (2019) was founded against the backdrop of current biennialization of art worlds globally and the renovation of urban villages in China. It served as the inception of the gentrification of Fenghe Village, a hollowing village close to the Baiyun International Airport. Referring to Echigo-Tsumari Art Field (Japan) and Art Wuzhen (China) in terms of the approach of embedding contemporary art in villages and towns, the curators of the Guangzhou Airport Biennale accommodated more than 100 pieces of art in the village space, inside/alongside the old houses, streets, and ponds. This article adopts the frameworks of site specificity as well as biennial as the site of art's symbolic production (Sassatelli 2017), to examine the curation of the Guangzhou Airport Biennale. Via observation, critical discourse analysis, and visual analysis, the article argues that except for a handful of artworks, the alleged conversation with local Cantonese culture was scarcely realized in the art display. It gave way to the reinforcement of symbolic production in the biennials in Asia nowadays, which global stars such as Yayoi Kusama and Olafur Eliasson were invited to "upgrade" the biennial and "worlding" the urbanization project.
Recommended Citation
Zeng, H. (2021, May). Symbolic production in the space of urban village: A case study of the 2019 Guangzhou airport biennale. Presented at Then and Now: Collecting Art and Exhibiting Cultures in Asia Conference, Lingnan University, Hong Kong.
Symbolic production in the space of urban village: A case study of the 2019 Guangzhou airport biennale
Lingnan University / Online Session via Zoom
The Guangzhou Airport Biennale (2019) was founded against the backdrop of current biennialization of art worlds globally and the renovation of urban villages in China. It served as the inception of the gentrification of Fenghe Village, a hollowing village close to the Baiyun International Airport. Referring to Echigo-Tsumari Art Field (Japan) and Art Wuzhen (China) in terms of the approach of embedding contemporary art in villages and towns, the curators of the Guangzhou Airport Biennale accommodated more than 100 pieces of art in the village space, inside/alongside the old houses, streets, and ponds. This article adopts the frameworks of site specificity as well as biennial as the site of art's symbolic production (Sassatelli 2017), to examine the curation of the Guangzhou Airport Biennale. Via observation, critical discourse analysis, and visual analysis, the article argues that except for a handful of artworks, the alleged conversation with local Cantonese culture was scarcely realized in the art display. It gave way to the reinforcement of symbolic production in the biennials in Asia nowadays, which global stars such as Yayoi Kusama and Olafur Eliasson were invited to "upgrade" the biennial and "worlding" the urbanization project.