Golden Flow - Beijing Contemporary Art Expo 2020
The exhibition “Golden Broth” opened on August 8, 2020, on the 27th floor of CHAO in Sanlitun, Beijing. It served as the thematic exhibition of the “Art Essays” section of Beijing Contemporary Art Expo 2020, and was the first unit of the fair to be presented that year. The show was curated by Yang Zi.
The exhibition brought together more than fifty works by 35 Chinese and international artists, spanning over a century of artistic creation. It included works from the early 20th century as well as many new pieces produced specifically for the exhibition. Featuring installations, videos, performances, paintings, and photographs, the works—all closely linked to the idea of “gold”—created a boiling golden vortex in the capital as it emerged from the pandemic.
The concept of “Golden Broth” was derived from the ways in which the iconographic meanings of precious metals and gemstones in cultural history resonate within contemporary reality. Gold, as a condensed and symbolic color, acted as a guiding thread throughout the show. Historically, gold had been widely used by royal families across cultures to signify prestige, and it was also a dominant color in medieval European icon paintings. In Asia, gold similarly appeared broadly in sculptures and temple architecture. After electroplated gold became popular in the mid-19th century, the color entered everyday decorative life on a large scale. Flowing through the color gold were tensions between power and wealth, spiritual transcendence and the aesthetics of the ordinary.
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Gold has been a frequently used color during China’s decades of rapid economic growth. This hue—once reserved for imperial aristocracy—has, in some sense, evolved into a display of wealth. In this regard, gold not only carries its original symbolic system but also reflects China’s economic rise and the flourishing of popular, secular aesthetic tastes that accompanied it. Now, as China’s economic expansion enters a more moderate phase, we are prompted to re-examine how gold has been inherited, absorbed, and transformed in cultural expressions since the Reform and Opening-up era.
Curator
Yang Zi
Organizers
Beijing Contemporary Art Expo
CHAO Art Center
Artist
Chen Wenbo
Chen Zhe
Fu Dan
Gao Weigang
Hu Qingyan
Huang Hankan
Jiang Cheng
Käthe Kollwitz
Li Gang
Li Weiyi
Liu Fang
Liu Shiyuan
Lu Yang
Ma Qiusha
Nabuchi
Pu Yingwei
Giovanni Ozzola
Keiko Sone
Sun Cunming
Wan Yang
Wang Bo
Wang Haiyang
Wang Mao
Wang Shang
Wang Sishun
Wang Xiaoqu
Wu Daxin
Wu Wei
Yan Lei
Yang Jian
Yao Cong
Zang Kunkun
Zhai Jing
Zhan Rui
Zhang Guangyu
Acknowledgments to the galleries:
AIKE
BANK
Beijing Commune
Galleria Continua
CLC Gallery
Tang Contemporary Art
Tokyo Gallery + BTAP
Hive Center for Contemporary Art
Hua’er Space (Húr Space)
Tabula Rasa Gallery
Galerie Urs Meile
MadeIn Gallery
Magician Space
A Thousand Plateaus Art Space
Shixiang Space
Spiral / Wacoal Art Center
SPURS Gallery
Antenna Space
Gallery 55
WuYong Space
Asia Art Center
A2Z Art Gallery
This Shop
Fingerprint Gallery
