National Art Museum, Nati

onal Museum No.1 Wu Si Da Jie,
Dongcheng District, Beijing, China 100010
8 July – 13 August 2008

The Red Mansion Foundation was pleased to be chosen to curate the British Pavilion at the Beijing Biennale in July 2008.

Following a show in 2005 in which The Red Mansion Foundation exhibited works by Royal Academicians at the National Art Museum in Beijing, the Chinese Artists Association approached our organization to select a group of artists and their work to be put forward for the Biennale. This show comprised of a group of artists and sculptors that includes former Red Mansion Art Prize winners and a fresh breed of British artists, as well as some more established artists. The full list runs thusly:

Allen Jones, Anthony Francis, Petros Chrisostomou, Bruno Pacheco, Charlotte Crowther, Chris Jones, Christian Ward, David Mach, Francesca Lowe, Ian McKeever, Susan Stockwell and John Bellany.

This exhibition did not aim to be comprehensive but envisaged the exposure of the Chinese audience at the Biennale to a fresh generation of British artists, as well as honouring the legacy of respected and acknowledged artists. The Red Mansion Foundation felt very privileged to be invited to participate in the third Beijing Biennale and to be able to continue its relationship with the Chinese Artist Association.

One of the Red Mansion’s most admired and beloved permanent pieces, a striking sculpture by the artist Zhan Wang, entitled the “Scholar’s Rock”, will be on display over the Summer of 2008 at Wisley Gardens, as part of a sculpture trail for the “China Art Now” season. The trail will link pieces from the British Museum and the Hayward gallery to name a few, and should be a breathtaking experience. Wisley is one of Britain’s best loved garden with 240 acres of land, offering a fascinating blend of the beautiful with practical and innovative design.

Venice
10 June – 21 November 2007

The Red Mansion Foundation was co-sponsor of the Chinese Pavilion at the Venice Biennale this year. The Chinese Pavilion, entitled ‘Everyday Miracles’ was curated by Hou Hanru and focused on the work of four female artists, a valuable and urgent project in both Chinese and international contexts. The artists are Shen Yuan, Kan Xuan, Cao Fei and Yin Xiuzhen. The four artists created site specific works in the Arsenale building and the Vergini Gardens. Both inside and outside of China, despite or perhaps because of the booming development it is undergoing, the passion for contemporary Chinese art often overlooks the particular importance of women artists. Ranging in age from their twenties to mid-forties the artists exemplified in very different ways the evolution of the relationship between female artists and the Chinese art scene.

Curator: Hou Hanru
8 September – 4 November 2007

The Red Mansion Foundation will be supporting The 10th International Istanbul Biennial project in September, entitled ‘Not Only Possible, But Also Necessary – Optimism in the age of global war’. The 10th International Istanbul Biennial, organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, will be open in the city from September 8 – November 4, 2007, under the curatorship of Mr. Hou Hanru, currently Director of Exhibitions and Public Programs at San Francisco Art Institute. The biennial will focus on urban issues and architectural reality as a means of exposing different cultural contexts and artistic visions regarding the complex and diverse forms of modernity.