The Problem Of Cultural Translation In New Directions Of Chinese Art After The Reform And Opening

Context and aims of my research:This thesis seeks to address a research gap identified by Paul Gladston, who pointed out the lack of focused attention directed at the role of cultural translation in the production and reception of modern and contemporary Chinese art, despite the abundance of academic writing on contemporary Chinese art and its relationship to Western art in general.Since the Reform and Opening, Chinese art undeniably has been affected by the marked increase in intercultural exchange. Cultural translation is an emerging interdisciplinary research theme that in my opinion is most suitable for framing intercultural exchange in our current globalized environment.However, the conceptual framework of cultural translation has not been defined and accepted unanimously up to this point, and it has not been substantiated with concrete examples of its operation. In the belief that cultural translation is not only a valid conceptual tool, but the best possible framework to describe the emergence and nature of contemporary Chinese art, this thesis on the one hand aims to contribute to the clarification of what the contested notion cultural translation entails; on the other hand, it attempts to identify the role of cultural translation in the production of contemporary Chinese art, by analyzing the work of two eminent contemporary Chinese artist, Xu Bing and Gu Wenda, from the perspective of cultural translation. These two case studies were conducted with the double motive of contributing to filling the aforementioned research gap, and simultaneously substantiating my proposed understanding of cultural translation with concrete examples of its operation.The contents of the thesis:Following the introductory first chapter, the second chapter of the thesis gives a summary of the debates and issues concerning cultural translation both as a term and as a concept, and finds that the common ground among scholars for employing the concept of cultural translation is its capacity to debase totalizing and hegemonic narratives of seemingly authentic entities, such as the West, global modernity, nation, host culture etc., and the empowering of those who are subjected to cultural domination.The chapter proposes an understanding of cultural translation based on Homi Bhabha’s concept who first adapted it to describe the process brought fourth by intercultural contact. I gave detailed consideration to Bhabha’s thought, because his ideas established the constructivist perception of culture that I based my assumptions on, regarding phenomena I addressed in this thesis. In light of his theory, cultural translation has always been an inherent function of culture.According to Bhabha, cultural translation produces hybrid works of cultural output, and he pointed out that the similitude of expression should not be mistaken for identical repetition, that the same means of expression, the same signs, employed in different cultural contexts would, in each case, produce results that differ from the output of the culture that has been appropriated. Therefore, hybrid works that are produced through cultural translation are staging the difference between the two cultures.This assertion should give assurance to the large number of domestic Chinese scholars and critics who are concerned about the authenticity of contemporary Chinese art, that it is not merely a repetition of its Western precedents.The concluding remarks of this chapter also address the obscure relationship between cultural translation and hybridity.The third chapter introduces the historical circumstances of Chinese art in the period after the Reform and Opening, when China opened up to global exchange, exposing Chinese artists to the extensive influence of Western art and culture. Following this "information explosion" an explosion of avant-garde art swept across the country starting in the early 1980’s. The chapter takes note of the major artistic currents, groups and events of the 1980’s and 1990’s, and addresses the transition from modern to contemporary in Chinese art.The fourth chapter touches upon the implications of cultural translation for the perception of culture and connects culture theory to the problem of the authenticity of Chinese artistic expression. The second half of the chapter gives an account of the divergent views of Chinese and Western scholars on the topic of the authenticity of contemporary Chinese art.Chinese contemporary art is often accused of being derivative of Western modern and contemporary art, both on the part of domestic and foreign writers, based on the fact that its formation was so heavily influenced by it.A number of domestic critics and scholars show great concern over the authenticity, originality and uniqueness of Chinese contemporary art and lament globalization/Westernization. Scholars in the Chinese diasporas tend to uphold the independence of Chinese contemporary art with its own internal logic of development; while Western scholars regard it as a prime example of hybridity, valuing it for its participation in the "performative deconstruction of authoritative cultural meanings," while offering that contemporary Chinese art is not simply a repetition of its Western precursors.Finally, the chapter introduces the consequences of the Western reception of contemporary Chinese artworks on the expression of "Chineseness.’The above chapters (2-4) lay the necessary foundations for conducting the case studies presented in the fifth chapter by introducing the context of the analyses therein.Based on the supposition that the problem of cultural translation is a problem of personal identity formation in a setting of diverse cultural influences, my thesis demonstrates cultural translation at work in the case of Xu Bing and Gu Wenda.I argue that the phenomenon of cultural translation described in my case studies generally applies to modern and contemporary Chinese art.