China has gone through tremendous changes and development since the 1940s. So has the country's contemporary art. Now, an exhibition reflecting the complicated relationship between contemporary art and society is underway in Beijing's 798 Art Zone. 

Dubbed “China Landscape: Selections from the Taikang Collection 2019,” the exhibition comprises 70 pieces of artwork and important archival materials about art and society since the 1940s. 

The works include paintings, sculptures, videos, installations and performance pieces by 55 artists across three generations. 

They were selected from more than a thousand items collected by Taikang Space, an art museum devoted to the collection, exhibition, research and promotion of Chinese contemporary art.

Su Wenxiang, Deputy Director & Chief Curator of Taikang Space, says, "Based on Taikang Space's academic research and collection system, we selected 70 representative pieces from our collection to reflect the social changes in the past seven decades since 1942. It offers a chance to re-examine the history of contemporary art in China and its complex development.” 

The exhibition juxtaposes three historical periods, namely, from 1942 to the pre-Reform-and-Opening-Up period, from the Reform and Opening Up to the present, and thereon toward the future. 

In this way, it underscores the relationship between contemporary art and art from the pre-Reform-and-Opening-Up period, and presents a humanistic landscape in historical contexts through nine chapters. 

Take this set of the first chapter, for example. It contains artist Xu Bing's “new English calligraphy” work "Quotations of Chairman Mao Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art," Jiang Zhaohe's ink painting “From Now On, the Chinese people have stood up,” and the oil painting “Extra Edition on the Liberation of Nanjing” by Wu Zuoren. 

Although they were created in different periods - the first one in 2001, and the second and third both in 1949 - they all depict the beginning of a new era in China's history. 

"This exhibition is an experimental case study for art collection. Instead of a conventional collection framework and chronological narrative, the exhibition chooses a parallel narrative. It focuses on each artwork and the artists' practice, which aims to rediscover its inner logic and complex relationships," says Su.

The exhibition runs through May 5.