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 Looking East: China, India, and the New Cultural Landscape Panelists: Chawla, Saloni Mathur, Barbara Pollack and John S. Wadsworth, Jr. Moderated by Vishakha N. Desai The following white paper is drawn from the remarks of the panelists and moderator for this session, along with the questions and responses from members of the audience. This document is intended to reflect the variety of viewpoints offered during the discussion, and to frame broadly the issues discussed; it should not be taken as a formal statement of opinion by the panelists. The world is undergoing a tectonic shift in economic and political power, with the center of momentum moving from a Euro-American to a Euro-Asian axis. By the year 2050 it is expected that the United States no longer will be the only superpower, and will have to share this status with China. Other projections indicate that in thirty years 56% of world population and 50% of world GDP will be coming from China and India. These changes have begun to, and certainly will continue to, alter the cultural landscape in significant ways. But it is important to consider these developments in historical perspective. For viewed along a greater timeline, the past two hundred years of Western dominance have been an aberration. In a real sense China and India can say to the United States and Europe, "We are back." With respect to cultural as well as economic developments, circumstances are quite different in China and India. In broad terms, contemporary art in India expresses significant continuity with the past, while in China contemporary work is characterized by radical gestures readily assimilated within the avant-garde model of the West. Of course the situation is more nuanced than this. There is work in India that fits well within current modes of international advanced art, such as a piece produced in Bangalore about call centers and globalization. And in China there is a new interest in the literati tradition, with calligraphy requirements being reinstituted in art school curricula and a range of Chinese artists choosing to employ traditional techniques in their work. Yet in general it seems right to associate continuity of tradition with India and disruptive avant-gardism with China. This picture extends to business practices in these countries, with movement in India being more incremental and decision-making governed by the legacy of bureaucratic colonialism, and actions in China tending toward more radical change. The contemporary art world in China is quite complex, and talk of contemporary Chinese art lumps together many very different artists. And within current artistic production it is difficult to distinguish what is Chinese and what is Western. For many Chinese artists are wholly conversant with what is being done in the United States and Europe, embracing ideas from international art practice and transposing them in terms of their own concerns and traditions, both classical and more recent. These artists see themselves as global players, and are increasingly viewed as such. They seek dialog with artists and critics abroad, and have a great ability to anticipate what will be of interest in the international marketplace. The art market is a critical factor, both internationally and locally. The rapid and widespread representation of Chinese artists in international exhibitions, both artists who emigrated to Europe or America years ago and those who live in China, and the interest of Western art galleries in representing and exhibiting these artists, has given Chinese contemporary art an international celebrity that has leapfrogged over mere credibility. And publicity surrounding the prices that contemporary Chinese works have achieved at auction—both at the major Western auction houses and in China—has fueled the fire. Accepted wisdom not long ago identified this market as a European and American one, but wealth generated by the remarkable Chinese economy has spawned much collecting by the newly moneyed, and has been critical to the boom in prices. The attitude of the Chinese government toward contemporary art also has changed greatly. Whereas works of advanced art once were suppressed, they now are considered important exports, both for economic reasons and as a mark of liberalization, viewed as examples of freedom of expression offsetting charges of human rights violations. Chinese officials see support of the nation's contemporary visual art as essential to establishing Beijing and Shanghai as global centers, and contemporary art is to play a leading role and in the massive construction and programming efforts around the 2008 Olympics. In addition, the country has made the construction of hundreds of new museums a major element of its tourist and cultural development programs, including the creation of new venues for contemporary art. Contemporary art even has a place within the government's environmental initiatives as a clean, non-polluting industry. In India, large museums were created during the colonial period modeled on such institutions as the British Museum, and within official culture the experience of the modern from the late nineteenth into the twentieth century has been ignored. But much recent artistic production has developed in response to forces shaping current Indian identity, including Hindu fundamentalism and the effects of globalization. A contemporary gallery system has developed in the last fifteen years in Delhi and Bombay, though the local market is still quite small. The most significant market for contemporary Indian art is within the Indian diaspora, especially in the United States, and the rising interest here is reflected in recent strong auction prices. But the works achieving these prices are not, as is the case with contemporary Chinese work, in the adventurous mode of international advanced art. As this market has become more well known, however, there is greater willingness by parents in India to allow students to attend art schools, because it is thought to promise future income. The notion of culture in India is associated with older historical knowledge, and culture is valued in providing continuity with earlier traditions. Currently the focus on traditional culture also is related to fears of global homogenization. Yet there are many young people who want to move ahead in new artistic directions, impeded in these aspirations by the lack of infrastructure to support their efforts. There is greater support for those artists working with traditional art forms and imagery, but in India they risk falling into the trap of authenticity, a fossilization of tradition disengaged from current issues. There are noteworthy cases that avoid this danger, however, work located in the space between the folkloric and the contemporary, between the local and the global. One example is a group of women who have created traditional scroll paintings representing scenes from the movie Titanic. The unprecedented growth of the Chinese and Indian economies, and the consequent geopolitical changes in national and regional power, already have led to major shifts in the ecology of world culture. This has affected every aspect of the global art world, from forms and centers of artistic production, to commercial venues and markets, to museums and international exhibitions. For more than a century, artistic practice worldwide has been called upon to respond to developments in Europe and America. In the future, it seems, creative production in China and India will be central to creating the context for contemporary culture in the West. For citation, please reference: http://berkshireconference.org/content/2007-looking-east.cfm
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