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A Window Suddenly Opens

Contemporary Photography in China
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
A Window Suddenly Opens offers a lively tour through experimental Chinese photography from the early 1990s to the present day. This period captures a transformative era marked by rapid urbanisation, globalisation, and cultural change in China. Featuring works by artists such as Cao Fei, Lin Tianmiao, Rong Rong, and Zhang Peili, the book explores how photography challenged and reshaped aesthetic and social norms in modern Chinese society. Accompanied by insightful essays and interviews, it also includes newly translated texts by Chinese artists, providing unique perspectives on their creative journeys. Readers can deepen their experience through artist videos accessible via the Hirshhorn Museum’s award-winning image-recognition technology.
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Format: Hardback
$9599
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book is ideal for readers interested in contemporary art, photography, Chinese culture, and visual studies. It suits artists, scholars, and general audiences eager to understand China’s cultural evolution through cutting-edge photographic work.

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

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

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)

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780300269888

Publisher: Yale University Press

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 22 August 2023

Country: United States

Imprint: Yale University Press

Illustration: 150 color illus.

Contributors:

  • Edited by Melissa Chiu
  • Edited by Betsy Johnson
  • Contributions by Claire Roberts
  • Contributions by Orville Schell
  • Contributions by Karen Smith
  • Contributions by Taliesin Thomas

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 229.0mm

Height: 279.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 240

About the Author

Melissa Chiu is director and Betsy Johnson is assistant curator at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

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