Connecting the Dots

One of the biggest struggles I had during the process of research on the 2000 Shanghai Biennale was the language barrier.  Due to its earlier existence on the international stage, there were not great abundance of material in English on the 3rd biennale.  As witnessed in some of the translation varieties and depth of meaning in the subtleties lost in English (using my very limited comprehension of Chinese as a young immigrant, now foreign citizen), the issues on the dominance of English, colonial tendencies, within globalization is back on the table.

Google image result for "2000 上海雙年展" (no able to title due to language)

Though I also want to acknowledge that due to my lack of comprehension of the local language, the sources I am drawing my concepts from are either second hand or those not of the "local narrative" (concept presented by Galit Eilat partaining the 31st San Paolo Beinnale).  The distance is significant to the discourse on globalization that comes hand in hand with global exhibitions like beinnales.  As the East (China) is taking these "Western" models and representing them through and with their own voice, the discourse we are having around these biennale are also a translation (representation) of the East (especially in context with the 2000 biennale).  The binary such acknowledgement creates seems to paradox with the idealization of a nation without boundary brought on by globalism and question the depth of meaning behind the word "global" (explored in dialogue in Global Citizenship: The Forum-Expressions of Globalization).

Art work part of "2000 上海雙年展" google search

I intend to set up this exploration on the 2000 Shanghai Biennale through series of juxtapositions (to complement the contradictions throughout the biennale) and as a movement from the local to the global.  Looking through the global eye at the many political (aftermath of Cultural Revolution) and the economic (Open-door policy) factors to the formation of the Shanghai biennale, the originating motivations are not dissimilar to that of Documanta (aftermath of WW2) and Venice Biennale (economic reform). Looking through the local eye, the 2000 Shanghai Biennale is significant landmark to the identity of the succession of biennales in Shanghai and the position of China in the global contemporary art world.