EUGENE– The University of Oregon Museum of Art will host the only West Coast visit by "Transience: Chinese Experimental Art at the End of the Twentieth Century" when the special summer show arrives July 17 at the museum, 1430 Johnson Lane.

The exhibition, which continues through Sept. 12, will open with a free public reception from noon to 3 p.m. on Saturday, July 17. Included will be family activities with demonstrations of traditional and contemporary art, music and hands-on activities for all ages.

"Transience" documents major trends in current Chinese experimental art (shiyan meishu), which is characterized by a strong desire to explore new territories in artistic expression. The 21 featured artists are among the most active experimental artists. They come from different parts of China and different backgrounds, and their styles and modes of expression vary. But all of them consciously distinguish their art from Chinese official art, academic art, traditional art and commercial art, and they are committed to exploring current social issues by experimenting with artistic language.

"This exhibition is timely not only because it marks the 10th anniversary of Tiananmen Square, but also because it comes at a time when the United States and our own state and region are increasing ties with mainland China," says David Robertson, UO Museum of Art director.

Curated by Wu Hung, eminent historian and scholar of Chinese art, "Transience" is organized around three conceptually linked themes–"Demystification," "Ruins" and "Transience"–which reflect a range of artistic responses to China’s historical past and the rapidly changing socioeconomic environment of the present.

"Demystification" presents work that reinterprets the past in order to present a complex relationship between the individual and the collective social order.

"Ruins" documents the fascination of some contemporary Chinese artists with various kinds of deconstruction through an interplay of demolished residential buildings, dilapidated public spaces and ruined human beings, who are themselves victims of the economic boom and resultant creation of new social spaces.

"Transience" demonstrates the direct response by artists to the new social spaces now emerging in China’s urban centers–spaces of commodity, privacy and interiority.

Together, these three sections comprise a critical view of social change in present-day China, a society increasingly driven by market forces, sliding into an ideological vacuum, experiencing the influence of more western-styled aesthetic standards and yet also characterized by the emergence of new humanistic values.

In conjunction with this exhibition, the Museum of Art will host an artist-in-residence and a series of free weekly MusEvenings! and related events. Unless otherwise noted, all programs will begin at 6 p.m. in the Museum of Art.

• July 21—28 Artist-In-Residence: Wang Gongyi of Hangzhou, China. All are invited to watch as she creates her artwork during regular gallery hours at the art museum.

• July 21 MusEvenings! Lecture: Zheng Sheng Tian, director of the Art Beatus Gallery in Vancouver, British Columbia, will discuss the reception of contemporary Chinese artists in the West.

• July 25 Gallery Talk: At 2 p.m. Sunday, Nicky Combs, a UO graduate student in Asian studies, will speak.

• July 28 MusEvenings! Artist-in-Residence Lecture: From 6—8 p.m., Wang Gongyi concludes her artistic residency with a lecture and discussion of her work.

• Aug. 4 MusEvenings! Lecture: In Room 180 of Prince Lucien Campbell Hall, 1415 Kincaid St. on the UO campus, Wendy Larson, a UO professor of East Asian languages and literature, will lead a discussion on avant-garde film after the screening of a contemporary underground film from China.

• Aug. 11 MusEvenings! Lecture: Britta Erickson, a Stanford University scholar of contemporary Asian art, will speak on "Where is the Tradition in Transience?"

• Aug. 18 MusEvenings! Artist Lecture: Xu Bing, "Transience" artist who uses ancient Chinese methods to explore contemporary Chinese art and 1999 recipient of a "genius grant" from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, will give a lecture regarding his work in the "Transience" exhibition.

• Aug. 25 MusEvenings! Lecture: Richard Kraus, UO professor of political science, will give a lecture on "Art and Anxiety: The Shifting Political and Social Background for Artistic Work in China."

• Sept. 1 MusEvenings! Lecture: Karil Kucera, a UO visiting professor of Asian art, will discuss the "Transience" exhibition.

The "Transience" exhibition is organized by the David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago. It is made possible by the Smart Family Foundation, Inc.; the Lannan Foundation; the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; and the Nathan Cummings Foundation, with the support and encouragement of Beatrice Cummings Mayer, Mary and Roy Cullen, and the John Nuveen Co.

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated 300-page catalogue written by Wu Hung that is available for sale in the UO Museum of Art store.

Accessible to people with disabilities, the UO Museum of Art is open from noon to 8 p.m. Wednesday and from noon to 5 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. Special admission for the "Transience" exhibition is $5 which includes other museum galleries. Suggested general admission for the museum alone is $3, except on Wednesdays when the MusEvenings! program offers free extended viewing hours from 5—8 p.m. Museum members, students, UO employees and children are admitted free to the "Transience" and other museum galleries at all times.

For information, browse http://uoma.uoregon.edu or call (541) 346-3027.

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