The curator’s wish 策展人的愿望

Gen Y — The curator’s wish list is a panoramic overview of the creative intensity and diversity of Chinese artists born after 1980. In the present circumstances of the global pandemic crisis, it is above all a curatorial exercise of observation, documentation, sharing and virtual experience.

I was born in Macau in 1952. I lived there until I was about four and a half years. Son of a Portuguese military officer I was well cared for by my mother, with the help of a young Chinese maid, and an African soldier from Mozambique (me, my sister, and my youngest brother used to call him Nãnã). My mother told me that I had learned to speak Cantonese with the Chinese girls in the house. I wonder if there is a way to retrieve this linguistic treasure from my brain.

As an artist, a writer, and sometimes a curator too, I decided to know more about Chinese contemporary art by the end of the 1990s. I made a trip to Shanghai for this purpose in late 1998. And in 1999 I invited several artists from Shanghai to a biennale (BM99) in a northern Portuguese town called Maia. Chen Yanyin, Ding Yi, Hu Jieming, Shen Fan, Shi Yong, Xu Zhen, Yang Zhenzhong, and Zhou Tiehai were some of the guests. Since then Chinese contemporary art got a tremendous push, becoming less of an epiphenomenon of western art, and having more to say and to show of its fabric and ideas.

I am now curious about the impact of new technologies and social networks among the artists belonging to the Chinese Millennials, also known as Generation Y (or only Gen Y). How do they deal with complexity and cognitive issues? How do they play with digital time? How do they mix atoms with Gigabytes? Do white cubes still serve post-contemporary art, or the traditional art market for that matter?

During the preparation of this year’s edition of The New Art Fest, a catastrophic world event came upon us, invisible, but destructive as hell. All daily life crashed like a house of cards. Museums and art galleries close. Artists could no longer work on their studios. We all had to go digital and to go online, leaving behind most of our physical spaces and stuff. Political tensions around the world made the rest os the present global hysteria. Sponsors vanished. We are stuck!

For the time being the festival will run online only. Let’s hope we’ll be able to service our purpose and make the best of the four sections of The New Art Fest ’20: Gen Y, Bit Street Honk Kong, Maker Art, and The House of Thoughts.

In the absence of a white cube free of virus, most of The New Art Fest had to migrate to online heaven, on a time-based frame: one artist a day.

Gen Y will open on July 9, followed by Maker Art opening on July 29, and Bit Street Hong Kong (a cross-platform collaboration between The New Art Fest and Content Lab) from August 7 onwards. The House of Thoughts will take place later on.

Finally, my wish list for Gen Y:

aaajiao, a.k.a. Xu Wenkai 徐文恺 (Xi’an, 1984)

Baoyang Chen 陈抱阳 (Hangzhou, 1989)

Chen Yiyun 陈义云 (Shanghai, 1988)

Cheng Ran 程然 (Inner Mongolia, 1981)

Cheuk Wing Nam 卓穎嵐 (Hong Kong, 1983)

Feng Chen 冯晨 (Wuhan, 1986)

Gao Yujie 高玉洁 (Henan, 1991)

Guo Cheng 郭城 (Beijing, 1988)

h0nh1m aka Chris Cheung Hon Him 張 瀚謙 (Hong Kong, 1983)

Hong Wai 洪慧(Shanghai/ Macau, 1982)

Hui Ye 葉慧 (Canton, 1981)

Jiayu Liu 刘佳玉 (Liaoning, 1990)

Kenny Wong 黃智銓 (Hong Kong, 1987)

Li Ming 李明 (Yuanjiang, Hunan, 1986)

Li Ran 李然 (Hubei, 1986)

Lin Ke 林科 (Wenzhou, 1984)

Lu Yang 陆扬 (Shanghai, 1984)

Ma Qiusha 马秋莎 (Beijing, 1982)

Miao Ying 苗颖 (Shanghai, 1985)

Peng Yun 彭韞 (SiChuan, 1982)

Shi Zheng 施政 (1990)

Song Ta 宋拓 (Leizhou, Guangdong, 1988)

Sun Xiaoxing 孫曉星 (Tianjin, 1986)

Sun Xun 孙逊 (Fuxin, 1980)

Tianyi Zhang 張天譯 (Hunan, 1995) and Ling Liu 柳泠 (1989, Hangzhou)

Yang Jian 杨健 (Fujian, 1982)

Yuge Zhou 周雨歌 (Beijing, 1985)

Y世代–策展人的愿望清单概述了1980年以后出生的中国艺术家的创作强度和多样性。在全球大流行危机的当前形势下，首要的是策展活动的观察，记录，分享和虚拟体验。

我于1952年在澳门出生。我住在那里直到大约四年半。我是一位葡萄牙军官的儿子，在一位年轻的中国女佣和一位来自莫桑比克的非洲士兵（我，我的姐姐和我的最小弟弟曾经叫他Nãnã）的帮助下，我的母亲照顾得很好。妈妈告诉我，我学会了和家里的中国女孩说广东话。我想知道是否有办法从我的大脑中检索这种语言宝藏。

作为艺术家，作家，有时甚至是策展人，我决定在1990年代末进一步了解中国当代艺术。为此，我于1998年底前往上海。1999年，我邀请几位来自上海的艺术家参加了葡萄牙北部小镇迈亚（Maia）的双年展（BM99）。陈彦银，丁乙，胡介鸣，沉凡，石勇，徐震，杨振中和周铁海是部分客人。
从那时起，中国当代艺术得到了巨大的推动，逐渐不再是西方艺术的典范，而是拥有更多的话语权和表现力。

我现在对新技术和社交网络对中国千禧一代（也称为Y一代）（或Y一代）艺术家的影响感到好奇。他们如何处理复杂性和认知问题？他们如何玩数字时间？他们如何将原子与千兆字节混合？在这个问题上，白色立方体是否仍然服务于后现代艺术或传统艺术市场？

在今年版的新艺术节的筹备过程中，一场灾难性的世界大事件降临到我们身边，这是看不见的，但却具有毁灭性的破坏力。日常生活像纸牌屋一样崩溃。博物馆和美术馆关闭。艺术家无法再在其工作室工作。我们所有人都必须数字化并上网，从而留下了大多数物理空间和东西。全世界的政治紧张局势使其余的人成为当前的全球歇斯底里。赞助商消失了。我们被卡住！

目前，音乐节仅在网上举行。希望我们能够为我们的目标服务，并充分利用2020年新艺术节的四个部分：Y世代，Bit Street Honk Kong，Maker Art和The House of Thought。

在没有病毒的白色立方体的情况下，大多数新艺术节都必须在基于时间的框架上迁移到在线天堂，每天只有一位艺术家。

Y世代将于7月9日开幕，接着是Maker Art将于7月29日开幕，以及Bit Street Hong Kong（新艺术节与内容实验室之间的跨平台合作）将于8月7日开始。思想之家将在稍后举行。