The first stop of the tour of China Pavilion of 58th Venice Biennale opened on Saturday at the Guardian Art Center (GAC) in Beijing.

The exhibition is organized by the GAC, supported by China Arts Entertainment Group Ltd. (GAEG), and curated by Wu Hongliang, vice president of Beijing Fine Art Academy.

The exhibition features 34 works of art, covering different types of installations, images, prints, and sculptures.

After the opening ceremony, CGTN interviewed Wu Hongliang, the curator of the China Pavilion, and asked him about the relationship between Venice Biennale and China Pavilion and the conception of the China tour exhibition.

"Since the opening of the China Pavilion in Venice on May 9 this year, it has received a great deal of attention, which has prompted this exhibition tour of China," Wu said.

The theme of the China Pavilion of the 58th Venice Biennale is "Re-Rui," according to Wu Hongliang, this theme is also a response to the special theme of "May You Live in Interesting Times" by the curator of the Venice Biennale in 2019, Ralph Rugoff.

On the one hand, the tour follows the core concepts and elements of the Chinese Pavilion in Venice. On the other hand, it re-deduces the exhibition line according to the space, functional division, and geographical location of the exhibition hall, to bring visitors a different experience.

According to Wu, in addition to the local works exhibited in Venice, several artists have added their latest works and past representative works to this exhibition, giving visitors a more comprehensive understanding of the artists. 

In Wu Hongliang's opinion, the exhibition tour in China is not only an exhibition but also a project to construct a management system for the China Pavilion at Venice Biennale from curation to the return tour.

From the early stage of curation, he began to contact and discuss with many domestic art galleries and institutions, and also got a lot of support, which can make the progress of the China Pavilion in Venice smooth.

"And since the Venice Biennale, we have been planning the exhibition tour of China. To be honest, I think I need to take it more seriously," Wu added.

In order to let more visitors know more about the relationship between the Venice Biennale and the China Pavilion, a special wall was set up at the beginning of the exhibition to introduce the centuries-old biennale.

"Therefore, it may be more convenient for audiences to enter the exhibition in the China Pavilion after they have a preliminary understanding of the Venice Biennale with a history of more than 100 years," said Wu.

In addition, according to Wu, the China Pavilion actually just finished its exhibition in Venice in November, which also brought a lot of difficulties to the China exhibition tour in December. For example, part of the exhibits originally planned to be shipped back to China by sea had to be back to China by air due to time problems. However, due to the close cooperation of the team, the display and arrangement of the whole exhibition met their expectations.

"Re-Rui – China Pavilion of the 58th Venice Biennale" will be exhibited at GAC from December 22, 2019, to March 8, 2020.

Videographer: Hu Hanpeng

Video editor: Zhang Ning