1993 APT1 Conference : Identity, tradition and change

6 rad ica ls who are close to the cu r ren t leadersh ip , p a r t i c u l a r ly in monolithic s t a t e s . c. New Contemporaries: the ye s te rd ay and th e now ii [sic: a Japane se foreign loan word, gairaigo) In te rn a tion a l exh ib itions of r e p r e s e n t a t iv e contemporary a r t often exclude those a r t i s t s and works which don't p a r tic u la r ly r ep r e sen t anything', except, perhaps, pain, beau ty , and the pecu lia r in te g r ity of t h e i r a r t i s t i c vision. There seems to be a dread fu l and ty r a nn ic a l p res su re of resou rces and time on o t h e r - c u l t u r a l cu ra to rs , who even with the most generous b r e ad th of vision are forced to find a r t i s t s who r e p r e s e n t s u c h - a n d - s u c h a tendency, a r t i s t s who can serve a r in g - h o l d e r to display fa r more complex a r t world phenomena th a n most o t h e r - c u l t u r a l a r t worlds have time for. This re s u lts in the genealogies of the works which do get exposed be ing lost, and in the lonely cruc ibles of some kinds of modern a r t ge tting s hun ted off aside, since it is no t p a r tic u la r ly in tune with anything . Take th e case of Fei Zheng in China. Th ru s t aside by th e Cu ltu ra l Revolution in China and forced to serve as an a n t i - a i r c r a f t gunne r on Hainan Island to shoot a t US' B -5 2 s during the War in Vietnam, he is given a li t t l e space in the Ha lf C u t-O ff exhibition in 1985 as one of those who had his a r tis tic ca r ee r d ra s tica lly deflected. One sees his work from time to time in a r t magazines, bu t how would one show h is a r t in a modern a r t show as r e p r e s e n tin g any th ing except t e a r s of grim melancholy for los t dreams, for which even he had suffered? Sometimes all t h a t r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s rep re sen t is a s ty lis tic category. d. Gaps: the hole in cu ltu ra l fabrics There are many kinds of gaps in cu ltu ra l fabric, many types of social margina lization which sometimes find express ion or ally with a topic in a r t