There should be a place for Australian art and artists in Sino-Australian diplomacy

On the wall to the left of the door of the central hall of the National Museum of China, Beijing, there is a sign indicating that it operates under the leadership of Xi Jinping's cultural thought. Across Tiananmen Square from the museum is the gateway to the Forbidden City, where the image of Mao Zedong is still prominent.

He too, of course, often cited for his reflection on culture.

Culture and politics have long been closely linked in China. If that wasn't clear enough, these words go on, telling us that the role of culture is:

fostering vigorous revolutionary spirit and passion for creativity, gathering magnificent strength to strive for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the realization of the Chinese dream.

The impact of this thinking on the ground across the country is clear. China first and almost only. If you want art to debate the direction of Chinese leadership or a debate about the centrality of Chinese culture, forget it.

I was told that all exhibitions in China must now be controlled by the authorities. Some international artists traveling to China, as part of their visa application, are asked to sign documents stipulating that they will not create or exhibit work. Let the artists leave, if they can. These galleries cannot display images of Mao or Xi, because, probably rightly, they are open to satire.

Not only does this have implications for audiences and artists in China, but it is also important to consider what this means for Australian artists and Australian diplomacy in China.

China first

I have long been surprised that the founding painting of the PRC, Dong Xiwen's Declaration of the Republic, first produced in 1953 (and variously modified as its characters fell in popularity) and occupying pride of place in the National Museum, is said, in the label, to have Chinese characteristics without ever mentioning that in its concept it is, its structure and execution of a history painting in the great European tradition.

Other works on display in museums across the country also ignore their international history.

The labeling of the woodblock print collection owned by the Shanghai Chinese Art Museum indicates that this tradition originated in China and transmitted to the world. In fact, China competes with Korea as the place where woodcuts were first made, and the tradition exhibited in Shanghai comes from Turn Kollwitz and Soviet socialist realists. It was something that the great writer Lu Xun said in the 1920s when he so vigorously supported their importation into China.

This is not to deny Chinese culture, but simply to say please give fair information to an increasingly isolated public.

I say cut, I mean cut from original works from elsewhere and from foreign artists themselves. I'm sure young Chinese people can access images online, but physically encountering art is another thing. I recently wrote a goodbye of the 2024 Yokohama Triennale in Japan, led by two Chinese curators, where I found it hard to say that being there was the key reward of the exhibition. The experience cannot take place only online.

During a recent two-week tour of China, I was aware of only one major exhibition of foreign art, that of Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto at the NGO UCCA Contemporary Art Center in the 798 arts district in Beijing, and smaller individual exhibitions organized by cultural agencies in other countries, such as the Goethe Institut or the Institut Français.

Australia-China relations

In this climate, how might the Australian arts community interact with their Chinese colleagues and audiences? We're currently doing little things, here and there, that barely touch the sides.

Artists everywhere want to interact with others, understand differences, be challenged and inspired. China offers all of this in spades.

Australia has important relations with China. If one wants to take it to a more complex level, one needs something that will function as a sustained and serious professional effort.

The only way for us to have meaningful physical engagement is to create our own cultural venue. Beijing's 798 Arts District is the ideal site with its mix of museums, shopping galleries and foreign agencies.

I would not suggest such a site in Japan or Korea: we have long-standing professional relationships there which easily transform into useful and rewarding projects, not requiring on-site presence.

China is different, especially now.

At the end of 2023, the Albanian government committed to continuing a Coalition-era A$40 million grant program for strengthen Australia-China relations.

This money could be used to support an Australian cultural center as a hub for engagement, for the first time in our history with China.

If there was an appetite, it is for a similar emphasis on the role of culture in our nation's future, as Xi Jinping says for China.