The China Project

46 Art ‘after’ performance The development of performance art in China took a further turn in the late 1990s with the rise of ‘shock art’, in which the viewer is confronted with the physical body turned corpse, leaving the self unidentified. With the self in danger of becoming nobody, or rather no -body, the body becomes abject to it -self. Starting in 1998, several artists began producing works in which human body parts and animal corpses were used. These ranged from site-specific installations to performances and real-time happenings that directly confronted the senses of the audience. Around the same period, performance art became increasingly connected to its re-mediation into other forms and other media, presenting a clearer role for the re-mediation of performance art in other media, including in photography and video. Until recently, performance art in China has received less attention than it merits, although it proves crucial in discussions on the overall development of contemporary art over the past 30 years, including in discourses of installation, photography, video and new media art. The development of performance art is often accompanied by new awareness about the role that the artist’s body has in relation to his or her physical environment. This can also be seen in the 1996 performance Stamping the water by Song Dong. For this performance, Song used a large seal with the character ‘water’ carved in it, to continuously make stamps on the water surface of the lake in Lhasa, Tibet. Thirty years after China embarked on an economic and institutional reform program that generated new developments in the production of modern and contemporary art, performance art still defines an important role of that development. Performance art formulates processes through which the immediate experience of the artist gives rise to the notion that the body in contemporary art in China not only is of space , but is of time . Hence, images of performances do not precede an interaction with the body in performance, but rather define the process through which the body gives form to art. The significant concept of re-embodiment gives performance art long-lasting value, including through artists who focus their work on performance photography, performance video, and performance installation. Song Dong / China b.1966 Stamping the water (detail) 1996 Type C photograph, ed. 1/4 / 36 photographs: 120 x 80cm (each, irreg., approx.) / Purchased 2002. Queensland Art Gallery Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery