The Future Demands Your Participation: Contemporary Art from the British Council Collection
The Cultural and Education Section of the British Consulate-General in collaboration with the Shanghai International Culture Association and the Minsheng Art Museum presented The Future Demands Your Participation: Contemporary Art from the British Council Collection in Shanghai from 10 February to 21 March. Comprising 89 artworks by 40 artists, the exhibition featured some of the best examples of contemporary British art from the past thirty years. The exhibition was just one of many British cultural events planned for this year to celebrate the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. Please click here to read more.

“The Road Not Taken” by John Atkin
The construction of this new sculpture will be finished by August 2010 in Ordos City. The opportunity to create a new sculpture for Ordos City Sculpture Park came about through contacts John Atkin made last year at FX Stone, Beijing. He worked with FX Stone on developing a monumental 27-ton sculpture for Olympic Park as part of the integrated cultural celebrations for the Beijing Olympics. Please click here to read more.

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Visual Arts

Sculpting the future—we're bringing you the best Young British Artists - Damien Hirst, Tracy Emin and more.

In the mid-1990s, the BritArt or Young British Artists movement, centering on the work of Damien Hirst, startled the public and artistic community and asserted British influence in the international arts scene. Hard-hitting work continued with Tracey Emin's candid revelations of her inner and everyday life: contemporary British artists use every possible medium of expression, including themselves. New work in video and digital media is celebrated at the Liverpool Biennial and Video Positive, while the National Review of Live Art in Glasgow challenges audiences with new live work by invited performers. The annual Turner Prize, awarded to a British artist under 50, is one of the most prestigious arts prizes in the world and a focus for developments in contemporary art. The Jerwood Prize is the largest award of its kind given to a single artist and has helped to revitalise interest in painting.

Since the heyday of Henry Moore, there has never been a better time for public art in the UK. Rachel Whiteread's monumentalist pieces transform the ordinary. Anthony Gormley's colossal Angel of the North is both the guardian and pride of the north east of England. When Mark Wallinger became the first artist to use the empty plinth in London's Trafalgar Square as a site, his life-sized figure of Christ placed the old against the new, the grand against the humble. These examples can be seen across the UK visual arts scene.

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The British Council Collection Online

The British Council Collection is widely regarded as one of the most comprehensive holdings of modern and contemporary British art in the world.

Article of the Week

What's up in the UK visual arts industry? Want to know more about the UK visual arts awards and various festivals? Find out the answers here.

Transforming Public Spaces

The project aims to increase community awareness of public spaces and to also highlight the role that art can play in shaping cities by transforming public spaces and thereby improving the quality of urban life.

ARTICLE OF THE WEEK

Every week, our editor will present you one article in Chinese to review what happened in the UK music scene lately.

VISUAL ARTS NEWS

December 2010

Shenzhen Action: British Chinese Action Art Encounters

Shenzhen Action: British Chinese Action Art Encounters, jointly brought about by the Cultural and Education Section of the British Consulate-General and the prestigious European contemporary arts curator Jonas Stampe, in partnership with Shenzhen Middle School and Ya Ku Art, is going to be held in Shenzhen on the 3 and 4 December 2010. The influential UK contemporary artists Bill Drummond and Brian Connolly, as well as the Chinese avant-garde artist Yingmei Duan and independent artist Ge Ya will bring to the public live performance, presentations and public discussion on a 2-day span.

Made in Britain – Contemporary Art from the British Council Collection 1980–2010

The Cultural and Education Section of the British Embassy is delighted to present Made in Britain: Contemporary Art from the British Council Collection 1980–2010. This touring exhibition of contemporary British art has been created in partnership with the Sichuan Museum, Xi’an Art Museum, Hong Kong Heritage Museum, and Suzhou Museum.  

Location and dates:
Sichuan Provincial Museum: 17 December 2010 – 20 February 2011
Xi’an Art Museum: March to May 2011
Hong Kong Heritage Museum: June to October 2011
Suzhou Museum: October 2011 to January 2012

November 2010

TEN THOUSAND WAVES at Shanghai Biennale

TEN THOUSAND WAVES, the new video installation by Issac Julien, will be showed at the Shanghai Biennale opened on October 23rd, with the support from the British Council.

October 2010

“East ＆ West” Exhibition Series (I )
—In the Flesh by Billy Cowie VS Reproduction: 2010 by Feng Feng

Time: 16th October - 26th November 2010
Opening Hours: 09:30-17:30, Tuesday to Sunday (Closed on Mondays)
Venue:  A/B Exhibition hall, Guangzhou 53 Art Museum, NO.17-21 Huiyuan Main Street, Guangyuan Express Highway, Guangzhou

Presented by the British Council and Guangzhou 53 Art Museum, the exhibition “East ＆ West” invites Scottish artist Billy Cowie and Chinese artist Feng Feng to create a platform for the dialogue on contemporary art between the East and the West

September 2010

Richard Long: A Thousand Stones

Time: Sept. 10 through Nov. 7, 2010
Venue: James Cohan Gallery Shanghai
Address: 1/F, Building 1, 170 Yue Yang Road

James Cohan Gallery Shanghai is pleased to present the first solo exhibition in China by the internationally renowned British artist Richard Long.

Visual Arts Projects Archive

Please come here to explore the visual arts projects we did or supported in China: Aftershock: Contemporary British Art 1990-2006（2006-2007）， As Is When: A Boom in British Printmaking 1961-1972（2007）， David Blandy Solo Exhibition（2007）， Christopher Cook Solo Exhibition（2007），Silver Of The Stars（2007）.

VISUAL ARTS WEBLINKS

Here are many websites you can check out the information about the UK visual arts. Click here to open the gate to the world of the UK visual arts.

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