Works by Hong Hao, Sui Jianguo and Wang Luyan are currently presented in the exhibition “The China Moment: Contextualizing Individualism in Chinese Contemporary Art” at Documenta Institut.

With The China Moment, the documenta Institut focuses on a decisive phase in contemporary Chinese art. Spanning the period from the 1980s to the present day, the exhibition examines how art in China reflected society during a time of profound transformation against the backdrop of a shift from globalization to the multipolar present.

The 1980s marked the beginning of a period of profound political and economic change. Under the influence of Deng Xiaoping's reforms, a new artistic language emerged that combined individuality, social participation and humanistic perspectives. At the same time, China's opening up and increasing international networking offered new spaces for artistic experimentation and exchange with global discourses on individualism and social transformation. The exhibition shows how art not only reflected social developments, but often anticipated them. It reveals how the relationships between the individual, the state and society shifted and highlights what social energies, collective experiments and individual self-concepts emerged during this period.

Acting as both research project and exhibition The China Moment combines historical and narrative elements. Using archival materials, paintings, photographs, videos, installations, sounds and performances, the show presents works of art alongside the social contexts in which they were created — from spontaneous gatherings and illegal exhibitions in apartments to experimental club and performance scenes.