Spectacle as Myth: Guanxi, the relational and the urban quotidian in contemporary Chinese art (2005-2008)

This thesis is an interrogation of the spectacle of Chinese contemporary art and the concept of a Chinese modernity, in terms of the legacy from the Communist era, China's social fabric and its urban quotidian.

It contributes to knowledge in a way of understanding Chinese contemporary art that is firmly rooted in both Chinese and Western historical and cultural theories and from the point of view of a Chinese from the diaspora. Its originality also derives from the manner in which it questions the validity of imposing a Western modernity on a Chinese context and its identification of a more complex causal framework influencing fine art discourses globally.

The principle has been to reconstitute the idea of the Orient, in this case China, as a significant Other, not at the periphery of Western culture but with equal stature in terms of hegemony, history and heritage. This has necessitated an interdisciplinary interrogation that accounts for a range of influences such as the Chinese political, social and cultural elements within China's dynamic economic growth and alongside influences of globalisation and Western modernism.

The research is built on the author's academic scholarship in western art theory and practice, Chinese art history and culture and a particular personal connection with China. The first is an undergraduate First Class Honours degree in Fine Art from Central St. Martins and subsequent professional practice as an artist and lecturer, the second a Masters degree in Chinese Art and Archaeology from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and the third as a Chinese from the diaspora, born in a Beijing hutong and whose father's early professional life was inextricably linked to that of Mao.

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