DUSSELDORF.- Within its spacious exhibition premises, the NRW-Forum Düsseldorf is presenting an overview of the CHINA 8 exhibition, which is spread across eight cities along the Rhine and the Ruhr. On show in the North-Rhine Westphalian capital are individual works from around 35 of the altogether 120 Chinese artists who are participating in this inter-city exhibition project. Represented are the artistic genres of painting, sculpture, installation, object art, photography, video, ink painting and calligraphy. Serving as an entrée as it were, the exhibition in the NRW-Forum Düsseldorf can also be read as an invitation for visitors to acquaint themselves with the entire spectrum of contemporary Chinese art from China at eight further venues along the Rhine and Ruhr.

CHINA 8 grants the viewer the opportunity to experience the diverse range of positions, dimensions and peculiarities from the current art scene of the Middle Kingdom – of course, only in the form of snapshots and extracts, rather than as an encyclopedic survey. The visitor to the NRW-Forum Düsseldorf will find the door opening to grant a small, but intensive insight: for example, the artist Shen Fan is staging a monumental light installation in Düsseldorf, as a 3-dimensional homage to Chinese ink painting – and seven smaller light installations by the concept artist are also on show in Hagen. Zhang Huan is presenting in Düsseldorf two paintings made from consecrated ash – with further works awaiting discovery in the MKM Museum Küppersmühle in Duisburg. On view in the NRW-Forum Düsseldorf is a sculpture by Zhang Ding, which explores the inherent tensions within stability and balance – and in the Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten Marl a sound installation by the same artist can also be experienced. The presentation in the NRW-Forum Düsseldorf seeks to inspire visitors to embark on a round trip through the Ruhr region in order to engage in a more intensive encounter with these artists and their works.

With works by: Chen Wenbo, Chen Wenling (Düsseldorf Airport), Ding Yi, Han Feng, Hu Jieming, Huang Min, Huang Rui, Kum Chi Keung, Lam Tungpang, Leung Chi Wo, Li Luming, Liu Jianhua, Lv Shanchuan, Miao Xiaochun, Mou Huan, Nadim Abbas, Shang Yang, Shen Fan, Shi Hui, Song Kun, Su Xinping, Wang Dongling, Wang Gongxin Wang Huangsheng, Wang Qingsong, Xu Bing, Xu Jiang, Xu Longsen, Yan Pei-Ming, Yu Hong, Yue Minjun, Zhang Ding, Zhang Enli, Zhang Fangbai, Zhang Huan, Zhang Lujiang, Zhang Xiaogang, Zhou Zixi