Date: May 1- May 30, 2010

Venue: National Art Museum of China (Beijing)

Curator: Fan Di'an, Luc Tuymans, Ai Weiwei

The exchange of contemporary art between Belgium and China is a new achievement of the two countries’ cultural interaction. The exchange can help us not only examine the contemporary art of the two countries from a new perspective, but also pinpoint the cultural similarities and differences related to the two countries’ contemporary art.

In the summer of 2008, Luc Tuymans visited Beijing and met Fan Di'an, the director of National Art Museum of China. He proposed to Fan Dian his plan of holding an exhibition of contemporary art from Belgium and China.

His thought was that a series of topics, such as cultural tradition, social environment and art market, can be initiated by comparing the contemporary art of China, which is a big country and is experiencing radical changes, and the contemporary art of Belgium, which is located in the center of Europe.

They had a very constructive discussion about his proposal then. As an internationally renowned artist, Luc Tuymans curated The Forbidden Empire together with the Palace Museum two years ago, which featured some fascinating encounters between Chinese and Belgian artists from the 15th to the 20th century. Now he is passionately extending the effort to today, in the hope of further promoting the exchange of art between the two countries. This is a dream shared by his Chinese counterparts.

Over the last 30 years, the development of Chinese art is the development of China in miniature. With the advent of globalization, Chinese art has a tendency of reestablishing itself in the world. Cross-culture exchanges, like this exhibition, enable the world and Chinese artists to know more about each other.

Ai Weiwei, a well-known Chinese artist, also actively participated in the planning of the exhibition. Together we selected the artworks in an open-minded and consistent manner. The exhibition focuses on the feelings of artists for realities, instead of world trend of art fashion; it focus on artists’ authentic methodology, instead of their techniques. The name of the exhibition, The State of Things, indicates the fact that only through our continuous pursuit and representation of things, can we create artworks of profound logic and rich meanings.

In 2009, China was invited to hold europalia.china in Belgium. As an extension to the art festival, the exhibition is intended to further enhance the cultural exchange between the two countries.

The opening ceremony of the exhibition coincides with that of Expo 2010 in Shanghai. China is embracing the world at unprecedented speed. Meanwhile, China is also making its own culture and art with unique Chinese features. The exhibition, which shows Belgium and Chinese artworks at the same time, is a vivid display of this fact.