You Are Within Me,I Am Within You:Approachability Options For Cultural Studies' Xenology In Encounter With Chinese Contemporary Art And Special Focus Paid To Selected Installations

The thesis analyses several works of Chinese contemporary art with the aim of locating various access possibilities for cultural science-based xenology.The study therefore is effected by means of this academic field and shows the potential of art works for xenological research.According to general conception,the term 'Chinese contemporary art' refers to the artworks which were created in the People's Republic of China after 1979 and is therefore used in this thesis.The selected works of art that are content of the following discussion are:Thinker(1998)by Wang Qingsong,Dialogue(1989)by Tang Song and Xiao Lu,Snow on a Certain Day in a Certain Month in 1968(1979)by Cheng Conglin,Water Splashing Festival(1979)by Yuan Yunsheng,The History.of Chinese Art and A Concise History of Modern Painting in Washing Machine for Two Minutes(1987)by Huang Yongping,Red Humor:Big Character Posters(1986)by Wu Shanzhan,Forest of Stone Steles:re translation and rewriting of Tang Poetry(2005)and United Nations(1993-2003)by Gu Wenda and the installations A Book from the Sky(1988)and Introduction to New English Calligraphy(1996)by Xu Bing.In addition,several other works are mentioned with the intention to illustrate the context.The cultural studies' xenology is one of the central sectors in the field of Intercultural German Studies and sees itself as a field of alien research that tries to encourage the interaction with cultural alterity.Thus,the xenology set itself the goal of contributing to the elaboration of multilingual and multicultural competence in education.Its fundamental premise suggests that all cultures are supposed to be valued and no position should suppress the other one.Instead,it is important to preserve respect and appreciation.In the xenological Intercultural German Studies the encounter between the self and other is regarded as a fruitful interplay that can concretize one's own position.Moreover,strangeness is considered to be both,a relational category and an interpretation result,depending on the respective point of view.By using various points of contact,the thesis initially shows at first that art and especially some Chinese contemporary artworks are suitable for the cultural studies'xenology and provide a broad range of alternative approaches.Examples of such approaches are motifs like hybridity,communication or cultural memory that have been taken up and processed by various Chinese artists in their works.Through the-visual medium of art these areas are graphically represented and by their variety of perspectives and possible interpretations are able to provide potential for diverse xenological disputes.The study of the thesis shows that installations can play an important role particularly in the cultural education in the sense of xenological shaped Intercultural German Studies.This specific form of art is.characterized among other things by the active participation of the viewer and the particular importance of his subjective perception.In such productions,new hybrid areas arise that are similar to the structures of today's global society.By introducing individual theories of various Chinese artists who formulated new concepts of art especially in the eighties,the thesis shows that this genre of art requires an independently thinking subject as a spectator.In this particular thesis,special attention is drawn to Xu Bing's installations A Book from the Sky and Introduction to New English Calligraphy.In both works he uses language and writing as essential elements:In A Book from the Sky,he created thousands of characters that seem similar to those of Chinese writing,but are actually figments on his part and without any meaning.For New English Calligraphy he developed a special writing style,which makes the Latin writing system look like and traditional Chinese calligraphy.In both works of art,the artist succeeds in making alienness tangible,and therefore gives the opportunity to strengthen the viewer's own positions,to encourage cognitive processes and thus opens up new possibilities of understanding.His art also provides an insight into Chinese culture and Chinese thinking.The viewer can learn to get engaged with both and is thus enriched by new experiences and new ways of thinking.With his art,Xu demonstrates that cultural boundaries do not necessarily have to be as serious and disabling as one might assume at first glance.In fact,they can offer the opportunity for knowledge and new dimensions of understanding.Thus,Xu Bing's artwork stands for communicable art based on Chinese art.