Art For/Of the Masses: Revisiting the Communist Legacy in Chinese Art

An analysis of the Long March project and its connections with the Socialist art as well as relational art.

Communism has influenced art practices for nearly a century, yet studies on how artists from post-Socialist countries respond to their Communist heritage remain limited in both scope and depth. This article examines how Chinese artists today appropriated, investigated and performed their revolutionary legacy. This article surveys a variety of practices while focusing on the Long March Project (2002), a group project that re-enacted a legendary episode of the Chinese Communist Party in its original locale. While many artists under discussion confront the Communist legacy with a combination of irony and nostalgia, some simulate Maoist strategies to shed new light on issues in contemporary art – its increasing detachment from a wider audience and its persistent fetishisation of individuality. The grassroots and improvisational approach of the Long March, the author argues, leads to a ‘communal aesthetics’: an art practice that appears genuinely collaborative, engaging and provocative in its geo-historical specificity yet falls flat when displayed in institutional settings.

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Work Title Art For/Of the Masses: Revisiting the Communist Legacy in Chinese Art
Access
Open Access
Creators
  1. Chang Tan
Keyword
  1. Chang Tan
  2. Post-Socialist art
  3. Communism
  4. Relational art
  5. Postmodern
  6. Contemporary Chinese art
  7. Art for the masses
  8. The Long March
  9. Lu Jie
  10. Xu Bing
  11. Zhao Bandi
License In Copyright (Rights Reserved)
Work Type Article
Publisher
  1. Third Text
Publication Date April 2, 2012
Publisher Identifier (DOI)
  1. https://doi.org/10.1080/09528822.2012.663974
Deposited March 06, 2024

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Version 1
published

  • Created
  • Added ThirdText_Tan_Final.pdf
  • Added Creator Chang Tan
  • Published
  • Updated Keyword, Publisher, Publisher Identifier (DOI), and 2 more Show Changes
    Keyword
    • Chang Tan, Post-Socialist art, Communism, Relational art, Postmodern, Contemporary Chinese art, Art for the masses, The Long March, Lu Jie, Xu Bing, Zhao Bandi
    Publisher
    • Third Text: Critical Perspective on Contemporary Art & Culture
    • Third Text
    Publisher Identifier (DOI)
    • https://doi.org/10.1080/09528822.2012.663974
    Description
    • An analysis of the Long March project and its connections with the Socialist art as well as relational art.
    • An analysis of the Long March project and its connections with the Socialist art as well as relational art.
    • Communism has influenced art practices for nearly a century, yet studies on how artists from post-Socialist countries respond to their Communist heritage remain limited in both scope and depth. This article examines how Chinese artists today appropriated, investigated and performed their revolutionary legacy. This article surveys a variety of practices while focusing on the Long March Project (2002), a group project that re-enacted a legendary episode of the Chinese Communist Party in its original locale. While many artists under discussion confront the Communist legacy with a combination of irony and nostalgia, some simulate Maoist strategies to shed new light on issues in contemporary art – its increasing detachment from a wider audience and its persistent fetishisation of individuality. The grassroots and improvisational approach of the Long March, the author argues, leads to a ‘communal aesthetics’: an art practice that appears genuinely collaborative, engaging and provocative in its geo-historical specificity yet falls flat when displayed in institutional settings.
    Publication Date
    • 2012-01-01
    • 2012-04-02
  • Updated