Beyond the Future: Papers from the Third Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

Those Who Play With Fire End Up Getting Burnt, 1 999, Beijing This is a poster issued in May this year when un iversity students and unemployed workers were stoning the American embassy in Beijing protesting NATO forces . The protesters were calling for America to be destroyed . You will note that they did not forget to advertise their company on the poster. They even remembered to print their email address . This is an advancement in Chinese propaganda . Th is year sees the beginning of the one hundredth anniversary of the Boxer Rebellion, an anti-imperialist armed struggle in 1 900. The earth is round indeed , and we have indeed gone full circle. Breaking through the shackles of the earth and travelling around the Milky Way is perhaps a future dreamed of by all humans. Studying, Introducing Innovations and Creating Miracles, 1 960 , Shanghai The miracle here is that a woman worker is standing on a satellite spinning in heaven . It shows that we still have to work even when we get to heaven - th is future may not be so bright. Studying in itself is a good thing, but the problem is that the book that the woman in the foreground is learning to read from is a load of rubbish . It says , 'The sun is red . The sun is bright, now we have two suns, one in Beij ing and the other is in the sky. The sun in the sky can only warm the outer body but the sun in Beij ing, Chairman Mao, can warm the heart.' Touring Space in a Spacesh i p, 1 979, Shijiazhuang 1 979 was the first year of China's reforms and open door pol icy. Ch ina began to pull itself free of the perplexing question of whether or not the 'sun' was plural and at last it had let its children fly away up beyond the atmospheric layer with their dogs. The lady in the picture is Chang E, the Moon Goddess, who is with her maid . According to the ancient Ch inese 'colonialist' myth , the Moon Goddess was originally an ordinary Chinese woman. The story goes that she stole and drank an elixir originally intended for her and her husband to take so that they could fly off to heaven together. She broke through the shackles of the earth and became a citizen of the moon. The Moon Goddess in the picture is dancing gracefully, welcoming her little guests from the motherland . Taking a Trip into Space, 1 980, Tianjin Here we are only a year later, with more children, as well as elephants and monkeys, going beyond the future together. I n this romantic version of reality, the children are no longer workers or farmers , nor are they uncle sold iers . They are photographers, dancers, musicians and artists. The work that Geremie Barme and I have on display at the APT3 is the Hua Biao pillars outside the front door of the Gallery. The orig inal Hua Biao pillars, carved in marble, have been situated in front of Tiananmen Square for over 500 years . They are considered to be the symbol of China and the totem pole of the Chinese nation . The original idea of the Hua Biao was to provide a site for ordinary people to post up their criticisms of the government, but its use had already 'gone beyond' its original purpose way back in feudal times . Again let's use posters to take a look at how the Hua Biao has been used and how its original meaning has been 'gone beyond' in the socialist era of the last 50 years. The Founding of the PRC, 1 949, Shanghai The pictures on Tiananmen Square are of Stalin, Lenin, Sun Yat-sen and Mao Zedong . The Hua Biao is positioned in a prominent place in the picture and its size is exaggerated . San Mao Celebrating National Day, 1 957, Shanghai San Mao is the most famous character of Chinese childrens' comics . He is the Chinese version of Tin Tin, and he roams around Shanghai . In this poster, San Mao has come to Beij ing by balloon. Beij ing is a sea of banners and flags and 'Long Live the Motherland' is written on the ribbon . The Hua Biao is there, symbolising the social ist country. 3 1