A Window Suddenly Opens

A lively tour through experimental Chinese photography from the early 1990s to today

The past thirty years were dynamic, transformative decades in Chinese photography. Artists exposed to recent work from around the globe experimented with photography in newly conceptual and expressive ways, and their art from this period offers a portrait of a country at a moment of rapid urbanisation, globalisation, and cultural foment. A Window Suddenly Opens reveals the key role that photography has played in questioning and refashioning the aesthetic and social status quo of modern Chinese society for the past three decades.

Alongside prescient works by Cao Fei, Lin Tianmiao, Rong Rong, Song Dong, Wang Qingsong, Zhang Huan, Zhang Peili, and many other artists, essays and interviews by scholars and curators explore the history of experimental photography in China and the artistic transformations of the digital age. The book also features texts written between 1994 and 2014 by Chinese artists, some published for the first time here in English, which offer essential insights into their ideas and experiences as they forged new creative paths. To explore further, readers can instantly access artist videos inside this book with Hirshhorn Eye, the Hirshhorn Museum’s award-winning image-recognition technology.

Published in association with the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Exhibition Schedule:

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
(November 4, 2022–January 7, 2024)