It is an honorable and special moment for us, for on October 19th 2019, the Whitebox Art Center will have its ten-year anniversary.

Founded in 2009, the Whitebox Art Center is located in the 798 art district of Beijing. It is a Bauhaus architect-style industrial complex designed and constructed by the former GDR architectural institute in 1952. Apart from retaining the spirit of the original building, new design was introduced on the basis of the abandoned factory building and it was invested by Whitebox (Beijing) Culture and Art Co., Ltd. Having a free exhibition space of nearly 840 m², the Whitebox Art Center mainly organizes the exhibition of Chinese contemporary art. At the same time, it promotes the exchange of Chinese contemporary art and international culture and art, with its concern in development trend and the latest trends of domestic and international contemporary art. In addition, Whitebox Art Center has long been committed to intersectional art exhibitions, academic promotion, resource integration and emphasized the interaction and dissemination of art exchanges at home and abroad, exploring new ways for the development of art industrialization. Whitebox Art Center exhibits works of domestic and international famous contemporary artists, as well as actively discovers, cultivates and introduces young and emerging artists. It designs and plans according to the multi-functional needs of contemporary culture, explaining the idea that art changes life.

Re-Space II:Transmigration of Art, the special project of Whitebox Art Center will have its opening on October 18^th 2019, whereas with no opening ceremony. As a ten-year summary of Whitebox Art Center, this exhibition will use some collection paintings as a thread to introduce collection sculptures, photographs, videos and installations. The 3^rd floor of Whitebox Art center will also be opened to public for the first time, so as to construct a perceptible spiritual space. Artists who had their works presented in Whitebox will be back again in this space with their art context, media and concept. The Whitebox team will take this one-month exhibition as a chance to summarize the whole year and will include these artworks in a catalogue named ‘10 years in Whitebox Art Center’, which will  be presented during the closing ceremony. Our purpose is to summarize the past as well as to look forward to the future. 

‘Transmigration of Art’ was the idea of Sun Yongzeng, the director of Whitebox Art Center, after his visit to La Biennale di Venezia in 2019. He was intrigued by exhibitions shown in the British Gallery and Fondation Pinault, with minimalism and restrained aesthetic, which stoke him as a fresh breeze. Art is a kind of reincarnation. Some special contemporary art propositions will be back to its original state, which touches the viewers the most, after going through interferences of different medias. They are post-forms of concepts and social arts which are relatively complicated. Today’s qualified contemporary art requires artists to be based in his/her inner truth. After reducing techniques of classicalism, forms of modernism and concepts of postmodernism, he/she should be still able to keep his/her own art trait.

Looking back over the past 10 years, the Whitebox Art Center has worked with nearly 40 outstanding curators at home and abroad to plan 105 large-scale group exhibitions and artist solo exhibitions, supported nearly 50 non-profit experimental projects, and cooperated with nearly 200 excellent artists at home and abroad. We have held 120 public events such as academic seminars and art education, promoted the landing of more than 10 public art exhibitions and projects, and actively promoted intersectional cooperation between art and design, gradually established a rational relationship between the academic and commercial side of contemporary art, and expanded the public perception of contemporary art.

Whitebox Art Center has started its cooperation with Tianda Group and Tianda Culture since this year, to explore more in public art and scientific art. We’ve welcomed as well ‘Yunpufa high tea’, Tianda Group’s brand, in Whitebox Art Center to present an art and tea atmosphere. 

Heading into the next decade, We’d like to thank sincerely every artist and curator who has devoted great exhibitions to Whitebox Art Center and also thank everyone of you who is always there with us in our growing path. We welcome you to join us in this exhibition at the end of the year, to feel the art of perception which brings us the most real touch and a resounding feeling!

Re-Space II :Transmigration of Art

Whitebox Art Center's ten-year special project: Re-Space II : Transmigration of Art, continues the exhibition concept of last year’s Re-Space project, that is, if a work exists as a kind of space, we can draw from every painting, sculpture, photography, installation, utensil and furniture its space trait. Starting from the internal space of a work, we build a new connection between each work by combing them, to create another space. The exhibition will have its opening on October 18^th 2019, whereas with no opening ceremony. As a ten-year summary of Whitebox Art Center, this exhibition will use some collection paintings as a thread to introduce collection sculptures, photographs, videos and installations. The 3^rd floor of Whitebox Art center will also be opened to public for the first time, so as to construct a perceptible spiritual space. Artists who had their works presented in Whitebox will be back again in this space with their art context, media and concept. The Whitebox team will take this one-month exhibition as a chance to summarize the whole year and will include these artworks in a catalogue named ’10 years in Whitebox Art Center’, which will  be presented during the closing ceremony. Our purpose is to summarize the past as well as to look forward to the future. 

‘Transmigration of Art’ was first a simple idea coming to my mind in Summer this year. After seeing La Biennale di Venezia in 2019, I was intrigued by exhibitions shown in the British Gallery and Fondation Pinault, with minimalism and restrained aesthetic, which stoke me as a fresh breeze. It made me reflect that some of the specific contemporary art propositions that are politically correct for the Biennale, such as sociological anthropology, human rights, race, geo-relations, religion, ideology, and so on, are important, but they are not the most important issues of the moment. What we need is to first surpass these issues and to focus more on the true value of art. What we need is to search an art form which is still able to touch people in this complicated world, in which we’ve been exposed to overfull concepts and social arts. Today’s qualified contemporary art requires artists to be based in his/her inner truth. After reducing techniques of classicalism, forms of modernism and concepts of postmodernism, he/she should be still able to keep his/her own art trait. What we feel more and more each day is that there is less and less space for artists to express themselves, for they are surrounded by unlimited expressions in the emerging medias, such as we-media and social media. It’s like what photography had done to painting hundreds of years ago and what Duchamp’s ready-mades had done to easel art, today’s social medias and we-medias are facilitating the multiple expressions and at the same time crashing the living space of art expressions since Duchamp’s times. 

In the plane leaving Venice, I wrote down several words in the memorandum : calm, simple, natural, empty, restrained, undemonstrative, quiet, tranquil, subtraction and integrity. All these words have strong Chinese cultural characteristics, and they are my reflection and resistance to vision-stimulating art produced in today’s noisy society. And they are also reminders to keep myself sensible to new art and to perceptions towards the world. 

Ten years in Whitebox Art Center, we’ve put in our time and efforts. Looking back over the past 10 years, the Whitebox Art Center has worked with nearly 40 outstanding curators at home and abroad to plan 105 large-scale group exhibitions and artist solo exhibitions, supported nearly 50 non-profit experimental projects, and cooperated with nearly 200 excellent artists at home and abroad. We have held 120 public events such as academic seminars and art education, promoted the landing of more than 10 public art exhibitions and projects, and actively promoted intersectional cooperation between art and design, gradually established a rational relationship between the academic and commercial side of contemporary art, and expanded the public perception of contemporary art.

Heading into the next decade, I’d like to thank sincerely every artist and curator who has devoted great exhibitions to Whitebox Art Center and also thank everyone of you who is always there with us in our growing path.

           Sun Yongzeng, director of Whitbox Art Center

                                     2019.10.17