The world is undergoing a radical change: traditions are put to the test or "thrown overboard" without thought. The trend of always wanting to pursue and own whatever is the latest, fastest, (supposedly) most avant-garde is the inspiration for numerous cultures of the so-called civilized world. 

　　Much is left behind, in particular the awareness that this planet is finite and that there are no refuges for fortunate individuals. Ultimately, humanity will be forced to agree on a common line of existence if it does not wish to condemn itself to extinction.

　　Deng Guoyuan has been a successful artist in China for decades. He is also President of the renowned Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, which ranks third among China's eight state art academies. Deng deals almost excessively with the question of existence in a world in which nature has not only been tamed but is threatened by massive human intervention. In a long, extremely logical sequence of numerous new creations, he has taken a path that has led from the Chinese tradition of ink drawing to abstract oil painting, to the fragmentation of individual pictorial motifs in which it is just about possible to recognise reminiscences of nature, to artificial installations in which it is only possible to conceive tamed nature in term of retort and is finally preserved as a relic. Another step on this path was his invention of Noah's Garden, a title that uses the figure of the Old Testament servant of God who was spared by the Flood and was able to save new life for a new world with his ark. In Deng's imagination, however, Noah's Garden is an artistic district that leads to an entirely artificial imagination of the world. Trapped in a labyrinth of mirrors, new species and creatures unfold. 

　　Numerous academics have examined his artistic approach to this current work and have opened up new perspectives of understanding. Many thanks go to them for their intensive cooperation. We would also like to thank in particular Deng Guoyuan and his team for this unique cooperation. It was they who first presented this sweeping artistic work through the exhibition and then through academic research in the catalogue, which can be interpreted as the quintessence of Deng in recent decades. In his tireless struggle for answers to the pressing questions and problems of our time, he has succeeded in an unprecedented conveyance of the drama of this worldwide transformation process - including even ongoing genetic manipulation - into an artistic language, without completely abandoning the remaining, apparently increasingly invisible references to Chinese tradition. His oeuvre is best understood when anchored in this frame of reference between Chinese tradition and Western modernity. 

　　We would also like to thank all other key supporters of this project and the many sponsors who provide financial support for the vital cultural exchange between China and Germany. Only with their help was it possible to ensure that the exhibition could be seen both at the Ludwig Museum in Koblenz and in China this autumn. Our sincerest thanks go to all of you who wish to remain unnamed: this elaborate exhibition would have been inconceivable without such substantial financial means. 

​　　I would also like to express my sincere thanks to the team at the Ludwig Museum, in particular our Research Assistant Suzana Leu, who conscientiously supervised the catalogue and the coordination of the exhibition. As always, the entire team at Silvana Editoriale impressed with their very professional, reliable cooperation. Without this collaboration, and especially of course without their publisher Michele Pizzi, it would not have been possible to create such a comprehensive catalogue or to have it represented in the international book world. An essential window for the interested art and world community would have otherwise remain closed. With the catalogue, the museum, like Deng Guoyuan, has the opportunity to share its art and mission on a much sustainable scale. As art lives by being perceived.