A Proposal for “Sheng Project“

Size: 240mm×320mm, 160mm×240mm, 160mm×240mm

Pages: 732, 146, 356

First Printing Time: December 2021

Initiated by the Institute of Contemporary Art and Social Thought of the China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, and Long March Project, Beijing, “A Proposal for Sheng Project” takes Zheng Shengtian, a seminal pioneer of Chinese contemporary art, whose life and career spanning eight decades, as the subject of a study, seeking to reactivate our historical sense and perception of Chinese art and society in the Revolution/post-Revolution era.

In 2009, Zheng Shengtian launched a website called “Sheng Project”, which is meant to serve as a precursor of an open archive. In 2015, Long March Project and the Institute of Contemporary Art and Social Thought began studying the content of the archive, taking it as a unique case study and attempting to reassess the narrative of China's twentieth-century art history via an individual’s life experience. The six-year research came to fruition in the form of a curatorial proposal titled "A Proposal for 'Sheng Project’". The proposal is composed of three parts, I Was Supposed to Go to Mexico, YISHU≠ART, and a reader.

The research and editorial team (in alphabetical order by last name) includes Zian Chen, Cheng Yi, Roy Hoh, Clement Huang, Zhanna Khromykh, Don Li-Leger, Theresa Liang, Mo Ai, Lu Jie, Shen Jun, Tang Xiaolin, Tong Xinxin, Wang Shihua, Wang Yimeng, Yi Mengyuan, Yu Li, Yu Xiaohui, Yuan Anqi, Marisol Villela, and Zhang Yang.

Initiated by the Institute of Contemporary Art and Social Thought of the China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, and Long March Project, Beijing, “A Proposal for Sheng Project” takes Zheng Shengtian, a seminal pioneer of Chinese contemporary art, whose life and career spanning eight decades, as the subject of a study, seeking to reactivate our historical sense and perception of Chinese art and society in the Revolution/post-Revolution era.

In 2009, Zheng Shengtian launched a website called “Sheng Project”, which is meant to serve as a precursor of an open archive. In 2015, Long March Project and the Institute of Contemporary Art and Social Thought began studying the content of the archive, taking it as a unique case study and attempting to reassess the narrative of China's twentieth-century art history via an individual’s life experience. The six-year research came to fruition in the form of a curatorial proposal titled "A Proposal for 'Sheng Project’". The proposal is composed of three parts, I Was Supposed to Go to Mexico, YISHU≠ART, and a reader.

The research and editorial team (in alphabetical order by last name) includes Zian Chen, Cheng Yi, Roy Hoh, Clement Huang, Zhanna Khromykh, Don Li-Leger, Theresa Liang, Mo Ai, Lu Jie, Shen Jun, Tang Xiaolin, Tong Xinxin, Wang Shihua, Wang Yimeng, Yi Mengyuan, Yu Li, Yu Xiaohui, Yuan Anqi, Marisol Villela, and Zhang Yang.