Tang Contemporary Art is pleased to announce the opening of its 28th Anniversary Exhibition "Golden" on May 22, 2024 at 4pm at Beijing 1st & 2nd Space. Curated by Cui Cancan, with Fiona Lu and Michela Sena as executive curators, the exhibition brings together nearly 100 representative works by 72 artists/groups from around the world.

 

In 1997, Tang Gallery was founded on a bustling commercial street in Bangkok, with a space of just over 200 square feet. It was a moment full of dreams, challenges and unknowns, and the eve before the market for Chinese contemporary art was ushered in. Today, Tang Contemporary Art spaces are located in Beijing, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Seoul and Singapore, all of which are international metropolises, and the eight spaces make Tang one of the few giants among Asian galleries.

 

The small history of Tang's exhibitions over the past 28 years is also a big history of the times. At the beginning of the new century, during the first wave of internationalisation, Tang held a series of group and solo exhibitions of Chinese contemporary art in Southeast Asia, including Fang Lijun, Wang Guangyi, Zhang Xiaogang, Yue Minjun, Zhou Chunya, Zeng Fanzhi, Liu Xiaodong, Mao Yan, etc. After 2006, Tang held intensive exhibitions to promote the "French Phenomenon" and "Guangdong Phenomenon" of Chinese contemporary art, as well as to introduce the Chinese story to the world theatre. It was also at this time that 798 entered the era of installation, sculpture, video, performance and photography. After 2008, Tang presented a series of large-scale solo exhibitions combing Chinese experimental art, including Chen Zhen, Huang Yongping, Shen Yuan, Wang Du, Yang Jiecang, Yan Peiming, Xu Tan, Lin Yilin, Chen Shaoxiong, Wang Qingsong, Weng Fen, Xiangjing, Wang Jianwei, Zhu Jinshi, Yang Zhenzhong, and so on, just as it has been nicknamed that “Tang holds half of the sky of China's installation art”.

 

From 2012 to 2024, Tang returned to the display of new paintings and mediums, with the stalwarts of the Post-60s, Post-70s, Post-80s, and Post-90s upsurging in the gallery's exhibitions, including Zhao Bandi, Yan Lei, Wang Yin, Zheng Guogu, Yin Zhaoyang, He An, Qin Qi, Chen Yujun, Li Qing, Wang Sishun, Cai Lei, Wu Wei, Leng Guangmin, Yang Bodu, and Xiyao Wang, etc. During the past 28 years, Tang has continued to trace back to its origins in Bangkok, and has paid attention to art in Southeast Asia, South Korea, Japan, and the United States and Europe. Presenting exhibitions of artists like Nam June Paik, Adel Abdessemed, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Niki de Saint Phalle, Chun Kwang Young, etc. Tang has represented and collaborated with hundreds of artists from different regions.

 

The 28 years of Tang have also been radical, experimental and avant-garde. In 2009, Sun Yuan & Peng Yu's Freedom began the wave of experimentation in large spaces; in 2013, Micheal Lin transformed Tang into a public car park, and art continued to change the gallery's attributes; in 2015, Ai Weiwei moved a Ming Dynasty shrine into the exhibition hall, and the gallery went from remodelling to exhibiting in nearly eight months; in 2016, Zhao Zhao started his "Taklamakan Project", a trilogy that tells the grand past of the West; in 2020, the gallery hosted its first solo exhibition of post-00s artist Guo Yuheng, drawing attention to the future of the new generation. Therefore, over the past 28 years, Tang's stance in considering the present is to elaborating both enduring history and surging phenomen.

 

In 28 years, no matter how the times change, Tang has never stopped experimenting and expanding, it has gone from art to reality, from local to international, from business to finance. In 28 years, the flowing present is always full of opportunities and challenges, and Tang has had its moments of firmness and hesitations, its highs and lows, but it has never ceased exploring itself between dreams and survival, dilemmas and changes.

 

Historical changes also come from changes in the gallery system. In 2000, unlike the previous gallery model that emphasised commerce over academic research, Tang established a system whereby exhibitions were curated by gallery curators. Today, it has collaborated with dozens of curators active in different fields and regions to produce exhibitions on themes related to humanity, regionality, identity, medium, concept, and experiments with art system, and has published more than 200 artist albums and publications. In 2006, Tang was no longer limited to gallery space, and established sponsorship for artists' projects in art museums and biennials, and has so far assisted nearly 100 artists' projects in different art museums and biennials around the world, with footprints in London, New York, Paris, Kassel, Venice, etc.

 

In 2008, through the Hong Kong, Bangkok and Beijing spaces, Tang initiated a model of artist's multi-venue and touring exhibitions, with the eight spaces providing more room for the large number of artists to exhibit their works. In 2017, the establishment of Tang's second space in Beijing with two huge exhibition halls demonstrate the gallery's ambition with the times. It opened up a model of retrospective exhibition of artists in dual spaces, showcasing the journeys spanning decades of artists such as Chen Danqing, Luo Zhongli, Mao Xuhui, Tan Ping, Xu Jiang and Liu Qinghe, etc. In other words, Tang completes the systematic inadequacy and absence of domestic art museums.

 

History chronicles glorious triumphs and cherished dreams, but also the sting of challenges and the weight of loss. Over the past 28 years, the tides of the art world have propelled some artists to dazzling prominence, while others have receded from the spotlight. Yet, in today's understanding, art is not about replacing or overshadowing. It is the collective stories of those celebrated and those unrecognized that weave together the vibrant tapestry of art history.

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