EAST LANSING, MI.- Dr. Wang Chunchen, Beijing-based Adjunct Curator at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University (Broad MSU), has been named curator of the Chinese Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale, which opens June 1 and runs until Nov 24, 2013. Chunchen’s exhibition, chosen by a committee organized by China’s Ministry of Culture, marks the fifth time China has participated in the Venice Biennale. Dr. Chunchen is the first U.S. museum curator based in mainland China, and his first exhibition organized for the Broad MSU, Re-China: As a Cultural Concept, will open on October 4, 2013. This exhibition is the first in the museum’s five-year exhibition series called “The History of Mind in Contemporary Chinese Art.”

Chunchen’s theme for the Chinese Pavilion exhibition is “Transfiguration,” referring to changes in contemporary art; the surpassing of the gap between life and art; and the transformation of life to art, of the commonplace to visual or performance art, and of non-art to art. Works by seven Chinese artists will be featured in the Pavilion: He Yunchang, Hu Yaolin, Miao Xiaochun, Shu Yong, Tong Hongsheng, Wang Qingsong, and Zhang Xiaotao.

“Chunchen is one of the most important curators and scholars of contemporary Chinese art, exemplified by his selection to curate the Chinese Pavilion at this year’s Venice Biennale,” said Michael Rush, Founding Director of the Broad MSU. “We are fortunate to have him on our curatorial team – the exhibitions he is planning will provide Michigan State University and our community with the opportunity to explore the latest developments in contemporary Chinese art and further understand this rapidly changing culture.”

With a unique focus on international contemporary art, the Broad Art Museum at MSU serves as both an educational resource for the campus community and a cultural hub for the central Michigan region. Chunchen’s role at the Broad MSU is an extension of the museum’s mission to serve as a center for questioning and understanding the modern world through engagement with artists and artwork from around the globe.

Re-China will examine how contemporary Chinese artists are redefining the characteristics and possibilities of Chinese reality and Chinese art, including its consciousness of heritage. The term “Re-China” refers to the emergence of a different China, as everyday China changes and is drawn away from past traditions. Traditional habits are changing, the traditional cityscape is changing (or being damaged), the sense of heritage is changing, and as a result, a totally unfamiliar China is being created. The exact future of China cannot be predicted by this present rapid development, but the psychology and attitude of contemporary China is to change. The art being made today tries to discuss, to discover, and to decode the secret and puzzle of China. Re-China: As a Cultural Concept will show different symbolic aspects of such changes reflected in art by different media, from paintings and photography to installation and digital media.

In addition to serving as Adjunct Curator at the Broad MSU, Wang Chunchen is the Head of the Department of Curatorial Research of CAFA Art Museum at the China Central Academy of Fine Arts Beijing. He has curated numerous exhibitions, including Conceptual Renewal: A Brief History of Chinese Contemporary Photography, 2012, Beijing; The First Shenzhen Independent Animation Biennale, 2012, Shenzhen; Sub-Phenomena: A Report of the State of Young Chinese Artists, Beijing, 2012; CAFAM Biennale 2011: Super-Organism, 2011, Beijing; Infinity, 2009, the Galerie Iris Schuhmacher, Berlin; Mixed Maze, 2008, Red Mansion Foundation, London; Supernatural – China’s Photography in the New Century, 2008, ArtGate Gallery, New York; Dynamics of Images, 2008, 798 Photo Gallery, Beijing. In 2009, he won the Chinese Contemporary Art Award to support the development of Art Intervenes in Society—A New Artistic Relationship, which examines works of art inserted into everyday social situations in order to question political and artistic norms. He has also published more than 100 articles on almost every aspect of the impact of Chinese contemporary artists. He is also a great influence on Chinese contemporary art criticism through his translations of art history and theory publications, such as: After the End of Art (Arthur C. Danto), The Abuse of Beauty (Arthur C. Danto), Art Since 1940, The Language of Art History, Theory in Contemporary Art Since 1985, The Phenomenology of Painting, The Interpretation of Art, Postmodernism, Post-socialism and Beyond, etc.