“New Landscape” In Chinese Contemporary Photography And Art Video

Chinese contemporary art is a complex mosaic of different trends such us the Chinese cultural tradition and the influence of Western art. In this paper we have selected just one of those many trends, which represents a "dialogue with tradition" as a way to create an unique contemporary Chinese art rooted in a long cultural tradition different from the Western art aesthetics. This selection wants to "historicize" and frame for the first time these artists as a group united under a common goal: the “new landscape”.As Lang Jingshan, Chinese artists from 90’s who take digital photography and art video from the West, adapt it to the aesthetics of landscape painting to show social problems and their personal concerns. From the nostalgic past approach of Yang Fudong, through awareness by effects on the nature of Yao Lu, irreverent interpretation of landscape of Liu Wei or multidisciplinary research of Chang Yu Chen. Contrary to the negative vision of curators and critics of Western art that consider Chinese art as a merely copy of Western art, the phenomenon of the “new landscape” in photography and art video shows the opposite. They are worthy heirs of the work initiated by Chinese artists as Lang Jingshan as recover the task of building a contemporary Chinese “avant-garde” art, that combine Western with Chinese art and whose ultimate goal is to create an own language of contemporary Chinese art to find their own space and identity.