The Visual Politics of Reinventing China

Project overview

The project addresses the intersecting ways that Chinese contemporary art and nation branding are now connected. In particular, the project aims to trace the growing power, cachet and cultural capital of Chinese contemporary art. Central to the inquiry is how visual culture and art diplomacy are cultivated, integrated and capitalised to enhance the country’s reputation. How are these two domains – contemporary art and nation branding – now embedded within each other? We hope to advance a fresh conceptualisation of this art and politics nexus by weaving different bodies of research: Chinese (cultural) nationalism; branding and macromarketing; Chinese visual culture and the globalised art world.