The Transforming Marks of Ink. Contemporary Chines Ink Painting

27.06.2008 to 14.09.2008


An exhibition of the National Art Museum of China, Beijing in cooperation with the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

The exhibition "The Transforming Marks of Ink. Contemporary Chinese Ink Painting" offers a broad insight into the art of present day China, putting the genuine Chinese art form that is ink painting firmly in the spotlight. The connections between the style's artistic and philosophic roots and the way these are then in turn applied in paintings today are examined at two separate locations, Berlin and Dresden.

Visitors to the exhibitions will have the chance to see the significant influence which China ink painting still exerts on Chinese art today. This diverse and versatile technique lives on in a wide variety of forms and technical possibilities, appearing in such diverse mediums as the traditional scroll and the video installation. Together the two venues mutually complement one another and reflect differing aspects of the art on view, as well as managing to also reflect something of each individual city. While the Berlin exhibition aims to portray the individual struggling to come to grips with China's increasing urbanization, in Dresden attention is focused on the individual at one with nature and the transition of traditional landscape painting into current forms. The exhibition's guest curator is Fan Di'an, Director of the National Art Museum of China.

The exhibition is under the patronage of the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Horst Köhler, and the President of the People´s Republic of China, Hu Jintao.

Exhibition place in Dresden: Kunsthalle im Lipsiusbau, Brühlsche Terrasse