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Arts & Communication Sound and cross-cultural art in China since 1980s

Exhibitions focused specifically on sound began to Roland Barthes’ semiotic methodology (Barthes,
emerge, attracting attention to the role played by sound 1968) is widely used for the analysis of non-verbal
in exhibition environments. They enhanced the awareness media information. His theoretical framework endows
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of sound art forms such as installations and sculptures. the medium of sound with cultural symbolic attributes;
Sound art has developed rapidly in China over the past thus, sound may be subjected to multiple interpretations
30 years but theoretical and practical research on Chinese through distinct encoding and decoding processes across
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sound art remains insufficient. discrete sociocultural contexts. Music-based political
propaganda, speeches, and news broadcasts played
From an epistemological perspective, contemporary
Chinese art exhibits a dynamic history, which makes it over public loudspeakers, personal radio devices, and
family radio sets represent unique auditory and cultural
challenging to identify clear patterns in its development. memories for Chinese people and artists born between the
Chinese art has lagged in the use of multimedia technology 1950s and 1970s. Sound art was not a formidable presence
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compared to the West, probably because China’s cultural in China during this phase but people were aware of the
isolation policies and technological limitations in the potential of silence or sound as a cultural symbol. Avant-
1980s hindered experimentation and cross-media garde visual and performance art movements such as the
practices. Nevertheless, sound has always been present as “Postsensibility Movement” represented reflections and
a method and means of artistic expression in the evolution experiments on conceptual art, sensibility and rationality,
of contemporary Chinese art.
and tradition and modernity. Such experimentations laid
Given this context, this study focuses on the sound the groundwork that enabled Chinese artists to create art
art and creative practices of Chinese artists since the that transcended traditional media such as painting or
1980s, specifically in exhibition environments (museums, sculpture.
galleries, and formal/informal art spaces). The discussion It is difficult to establish a universally defined history of
is divided into three main sections. First, the paper outlines sound art. Sound art historian Steve Roden noted,
the stages of development of contemporary Chinese art
and defines the role of sound in this progression. Second, it “Sound has not followed a clear trajectory or
examines early sound-intensive exhibitions in China along culminated as a true movement like Futurism or
with representative works, creative concepts, and historical Fluxus; its history is fragmented and chaotic. Yet,
contexts. Finally, it reviews key recent exhibitions and within this chaos, there are many remarkable
personalities in Chinese sound art. In so doing, the study moments. Its development is piecemeal and
aims to expand the understanding of readers apropos the personal for each of us.” 2
origins, early practices, pivotal developments, and leading Therefore, this article does not attempt to offer a
figures in Chinese sound art in exhibition environments. comprehensive chronology of Chinese sound art; rather,
It also purposes to deliver insights into the differences it aims to present a time-sequenced exploration of pivotal
between Chinese and Western sound art vis-à-vis their practices and works that have influenced the development
concepts and creative practices. of Chinese sound art to help readers attain a more intensive
understanding of sound art in Chinese exhibition contexts.
2. The postsensibility movement and
Sound gradually entered the domain of official
the emergence of Chinese sound contemporary art in China through the development of
art: 1979 – 1989 new media art spearheaded by the “Postsense Sensibility”
The first phase (1979 – 1989) concerned the rise of early group and art academies such as the China Academy
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Chinese avant-garde art. Expositions such as the Stars Art of Art. The Postsensibility Movement began in the early
Exhibition (1979), the 85 New Wave Movement, the China/ 1990s and was influenced by antiart concepts derived from
Avant-Garde Art Exhibition, (1989), and the Magiciens de movements such as Fluxus and the Young British Artists.
la Terre display at the Centre Pompidou (1989) marked Chinese artists engaged in discussions about the meaning
the entry of Chinese art onto the international stage. These of Chinese art and the interpretation of conceptual art.
exhibitions predominantly featured visual art; however, The participants of such exchanges belonged primarily to
sound became embedded during this period as a symbol the China Academy of Art (Hangzhou) and the Central
in the collective memory of the Chinese public. It became 1 Post-sense Sensibility is a Chinese experimental art
entrenched in Chinese community life and began to convey practice that began with the 1999 exhibition titled Alien
specific social meanings. This first phase positioned a Bodies and Delusion. The exhibition was a local, privately
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profound cultural and practical foundation for Chinese organized underground event that featured experimental
sound artists. works.

Volume 3 Issue 3 (2025) 2 doi: 10.36922/ac.4669