The 14th Gwangju Biennale China Pavilion: Gwangju Imneam Art Museum, South
Korea Art Salon | Joint Exhibition by Song Yang and Wu Guanzhong: Transcript of
High-end Academic Interview
Time: November 8, 2026, 2:30 PM
Location: 14th Gwangju Biennale China Pavilion: Gwangju Imneam Art Museum, South Korea
Guest lineup
Key guest
Li Tiejun | Curator, senior art museum operator, has served as Executive Director of
the Beijing Museum of Contemporary Art and Director of the Huantie Times Art
Museum, with decades of experience in art museum academic operations, curating, and art academic research
Fan Xueli | Co-curator, Vice President of Baiyaxuan Art, Core Responsible Person
for Global Copyright Operation and International Market Promotion of Wu
Guanzhong Art
Song Yang | Father of badgirl, international trend artist, one of the world’s top 100
trend artists, founder of sixteen SYART Song Yang Art Museums, and founder of the
YAA Asian Young Artists Nomination Exhibition
Local curatorial teams from South Korea and Hong Kong, as well as academic and
institutional guests (present throughout the entire process and participating in
academic discussions)
Several senior international curators and academic representatives from the art world,
including Jia Jingjing, curator of the parallel exhibition of the Gwangju Biennale in
South Korea and YARC International Art Center; Prof. Shirley Yeung, curator from
Hong Kong; Xie Qiuyang, executive director of the Guangzhou branch of Song Yang
Art Museum; Mr. Xu Shouzhen, chairman of the Asia International Foundation, Asia
Culture and Art Foundation, and Asia United Culture and Art Center, jointly attended
the symposium and participated in the entire academic discussion, forming a completecuratorial academic system for the bidirectional interaction between the mainland and
Hong Kong in this exhibition.
Location: China Pavilion at the 14th Gwangju Biennale: The Art Lounge of the
Gwangju Imamura Art Museum in South Korea, combining Eastern elegance with
international contemporary style. The main visual poster of the “Song Yang x Wu
Guanzhong Official Art Collaboration Exhibition” is displayed on site, showcasing
the coexistence and contrast between Wu Guanzhong’s ink and wash ink paintings
with the contemporary visual trends of Song Yang, forming an artistic space for a
fourfold dialogue between classic and contemporary, East and West, elegance and
popularity, tradition and future.
Host (Jia Jingjing, curator of the parallel exhibition of the Gwangju Biennale and
YARC International Art Center)
Welcome, esteemed guests from the art world, to the Imnak Art Museum in Gwangju, South Korea. The inaugural stop of “Song Yang x Wu Guanzhong Official Art
Collaboration Exhibition and Bad Girl 20th Anniversary Global Tour” is in Hong
Kong. As a significant project showcasing China’s century-long artistic heritage and
aesthetic innovations of the new era to the global audience, it has garnered
considerable attention from the international art community.
This discussion is jointly participated by the core curatorial team from the mainland,
local curatorial forces in Hong Kong, institutional representatives, and top artists. Based on the multi-dimensional perspectives of art philosophy, aesthetic history, and
social development history, it delves deeply into the intergenerational, cross-media, and cross-time and space artistic innovation practices. At the same time, this salonalso receives strong support from the Asian Culture and Arts Foundation. Chairman
Xu Shouzhen, as an important promoter of Asian cultural exchanges, also attended the
event. In the future, he will also share the Asian and global values of the project from
the perspective of international institutions.
First, may I ask Mr. Li Tiejun, the curator, who has been deeply involved in the
academic operation and curatorial research system of art museums for decades, based
on a macro perspective of art history, how you define the academic value, era value, and international value of this exhibition?
Li Tiejun
It is a great honor to participate in and lead this significant art practice in this
international cultural hub where Eastern and Western civilizations blend and ancient
and modern aesthetics coexist. The core reason why Song Yang’s solo exhibition in
Hong Kong can become the starting point of this global tour is that it naturally
possesses a cultural attribute of two-way dialogue: inwardly embracing the roots of
Chinese culture and outwardly connecting to the global contemporary art scene. The
successful implementation and global promotion of this exhibition are inseparable
from the academic support and local deep cultivation of the local curatorial team in
Hong Kong, as well as the attention and support of international institutions such as
the Asian Cultural and Art Foundation. It is a fruitful outcome of the collaborative
efforts between mainland and Hong Kong art forces in the era of art. After decades of deep exploration in the museum system, I have always adhered to a
core academic belief: art venues have never been mere physical containers for
displaying static works, but rather social spiritual fields that embody the iteration of
civilization, the evolution of aesthetics, and the innovation of thought. The history of
human art development essentially confirms Hegel’s aesthetic assertion: art is the
perceptual manifestation of the absolute spirit of the times. Throughout the millennia
of artistic evolution, all epoch-making artistic innovations inevitably achieve a dual
breakthrough: one is tracing and inheriting the traditional cultural lineage, and the
other is reconstructing the aesthetic of the current era.
Looking back on the century-long progression of modern art in China, Mr. Wu
Guanzhong is undoubtedly the icebreaker of the modernization of Eastern aesthetics.
In an era of opposition between Chinese and Western art, rigid traditional ink painting
patterns, and a closed aesthetic system, he completed a revolutionary aesthetic
revolution throughout his life: breaking the shackles of the ink and wash dogma, dissolving the binary division between Chinese and Western art, and practicing the
artistic truth of “ink and wash should follow the times”. He deeply integrated the
Eastern philosophy of negative space, qi and yun, and the Western aesthetics of
composition and color logic. From the perspective of social development history, Wu
Guanzhong ended the dual dilemma of “conservatism and rigidity” and “wholesale
Westernization” in modern Chinese art, laying a solid foundation for the moderntransformation of traditional Chinese aesthetics and the global expression of Eastern
art. This is the core value that has been recorded in art history.
Entering the current era of AI digital civilization, human art is undergoing a paradigm
shift. The contemporary art theorist Don Ihde’s “Theory of the Art World” reveals that
the boundaries of art are always fluid, and aesthetic forms always evolve with the
iteration of productivity in different eras. Song Yang, as a pivotal figure in China’s
new generation of trendy art, has been deeply engaged in creation for two decades. With Bad Girl as the core visual IP, he has constructed a contemporary youth
aesthetic system that is compatible with the digital era, in line with international
aesthetics, and rooted in Eastern cultural context. He has broken down the barriers
between elite museum art and popular trendy art, completed the contemporary
re-enchantment of traditional aesthetics, and opened up a new path for the youthful
and international dissemination of Chinese art.
From the perspective of art philosophy, this exhibition achieves a crucial dialectical
unity. The art world has long been trapped in metaphysical dualisms such as
“traditional/contemporary, ink/trendy toys, elite/mass, Eastern/Western.” However,
the core of this exhibition lies in the philosophy of coexistence and the aesthetics of
flux: Wu Guanzhong represents the classic ontology rooted in national cultural
context, which is the spiritual foundation of Chinese art; Song Yang represents the
contemporary extension based on the tide of the times, which is the future form of
Chinese art. The dialogue between the two across time and space confirms the core of
Heidegger’s artistic existentialism: classics do not perish with the end of the era, and
the contemporary does not lose its roots due to the iteration of trends. The vitality of
art lies in its sustainable inheritance and dynamic renewal.
From the perspective of aesthetic system, this practice reconstructs the aesthetic
hierarchy of contemporary China. Traditional classical aesthetics emphasizes artistic
conception, blank space, and the interplay of void and solid; digital contemporary
aesthetics focuses on experience, interaction, and empathetic immersion. We use
immersive exhibition as a medium to allow Wu Guanzhong’s freehand brushwork and
Eastern philosophy to deeply penetrate and mutually empower Song Yang’s digital
visuals and trend narrative. This thoroughly overcomes the era’s maladies of
“excessive disenchantment, spiritual emptiness, and aesthetic nihilism” in modern
aesthetics, realizing the contemporary revitalization of traditional aesthetics and the
rooting of contemporary aesthetic context.
From the perspective of social development history, this global tour is an inevitable
practice of civilization iteration. Agricultural civilization gave birth to the traditional
ink aesthetic, industrial civilization nurtured modern composition art, and digital AI
civilization will inevitably give rise to a new art form that is cross-disciplinary,
immersive, and globalized. This exhibition, which first launched in Hong Kong and
then traveled to Beijing, Guangzhou, Boao, and Gwangju, South Korea, radiates tothe world. Essentially, it proclaims to the world that Chinese art has long broken
through the rigid label of single classical symbols, forming a complete living
civilization system that inherits cultural traditions, innovates with the times, and
spreads internationally.
As a practitioner with long-term experience in venue operation and academic research,
I firmly believe that the best inheritance is not to preserve classics in isolation, and the
best innovation is not to sever tradition. In the current era of AI aesthetic proliferation
and visual fragmentation, this cross-generational art dialogue aims to establish a
philosophical height, aesthetic depth, and historical breadth for contemporary Chinese
art, allowing the Eastern cultural tradition to continue to grow and reach the world
through the fusion of ancient and modern, and the interconnection of East and West.
host
Thank you, Teacher Li Tiejun, for your insightful and comprehensive sharing, which
encompasses both a broad historical perspective and a high level of contemporary
awareness. Here, I would like to specifically inquire about a question that is of great
concern in the industry: Teacher Li Tiejun, you have been in the industry for decades, having led and planned countless national and international major exhibitions, and
handled numerous academic exhibitions featuring prominent artists and masters. Why, at this particular time, did you dedicate yourself to leading and planning a large-scale
solo exhibition of Teacher Song Yang, and promoting an official joint dialogue
between her and Mr. Wu Guanzhong’s top-tier IP? What are your core curatorial
intentions and academic selection logic?
Li Tiejun, this is a crucial issue that concerns the positioning of contemporary
Chinese art history. Over the years of curating and researching the museum system
and sorting through a century of art history, I have adhered to a steadfast criterion: to
promote only those artists and projects that truly embody the height of their era, possess historical significance, have international appeal, and can be included in art
History.
The core reason for fully managing this official cross-generational collaboration
exhibition “Wu Guanzhong x Song Yang” lies in one sentence: Song Yang is
undoubtedly a leading artist among the younger generation in China today, and a
pivotal figure who can represent Chinese art globally in this era. Looking at the
contemporary art ecosystem, most trendy creations remain stuck in commercial
symbols, short-term popularity, and superficial visuals, lacking cultural context, depth, and a sustainable artistic system. However, Song Yang stands apart:
First，He possesses a continuous, comprehensive, and self-contained artistic creation
trajectory spanning two decades. With “Bad Girl” as a visual symbol of the era, he has
been a driving force throughout the development of Chinese contemporary art. He is
the creator of an original IP that is most consistent, widely recognized domestically, and highly identifiable internationally among contemporary young Chinese artists.
Second，He has bridged the gap between traditional masters and contemporary young
artists. Mr. Wu Guanzhong accomplished the modernization of traditional ink
painting and the internationalization of Eastern aesthetics; Song Yang has achieved
the youthfulness, trendiness, globalization, and systematization of Chinese
contemporary art. These two generations of artists, one following the other, one from
the past and one from the present, one classic and one contemporary, together
complete the complete chain of the modernization of Chinese art over the past
century.
Third，Song Yang is one of the very few young art masters in China who truly
possesses a comprehensive framework encompassing an art museum system, an
academic system, and an international dissemination system. Many trendy artists only
have works but no academic achievements; only traffic but no venues; only individualproducts but no system. However, Song Yang has been consistently building her own
art museum matrix for many years, deeply cultivating academic knowledge, and
persisting in international exhibition output, truly achieving “works that stand firm, academic achievements that are deeply rooted, and dissemination that goes far”.
For this reason, among numerous young artists, I have uniquely chosen to facilitate an
official-level collaborative dialogue between Song Yang and Mr. Wu Guanzhong.
This is not a commercial collaboration, but an intergenerational relay, cultural
continuation, and era transition of art history significance: Wu Guanzhong laid the
foundation for Eastern modern aesthetics, while Song Yang ushered in the era of
digital civilization and the new chapter of Chinese aesthetics in the context of
globalization. This is also the fundamental intention behind my dedication to planning
and promoting this global tour exhibition debuting in Hong Kong. Host
A very insightful and historically astute interpretation. Next, I would like to ask Ms. Fan Xueli, the co-curator. As the deputy general manager of Baiyaxuan Art and the
core person in charge of Wu Guanzhong’s global copyright and international
promotion, Baiyaxuan, as the sole official operating agency of Wu Guanzhong’s art, attaches great importance to this cross-generational joint project and is fully
committed to empowering it. Could you please discuss the significant historical
significance and industry value of this collaboration from the perspectives of classic
cultural inheritance, official IP endorsement, and international strategic layout.
Fan Xueli
Thank you, host. As the sole official core operating institution for Wu Guanzhong’s
art, Baiyaxuan has been carrying out its mission for decades, which is not just to
preserve copyrights and organize paintings, but to safeguard the aesthetic spirit that
Mr. Wu Guanzhong pursued throughout his life and to continuously perpetuate the
ideological vitality of this modern art from the East. Mr. Wu repeatedly emphasized
during his lifetime that “art should not be enclosed in an ivory tower.” He spent his
entire life breaking boundaries, unwilling for Eastern aesthetics to become static,antique specimens in museums for people to admire. This point is the fundamental
criterion for us to judge all cross-border collaborations.
The community gathers around the classics
Collaborative projects featuring artistic IPs are emerging endlessly, with most merely
extracting visual elements and serving as decorative symbols for traffic packaging. Such consumer-driven grafting has always been firmly rejected in our review process. This time, we chose to initiate an official-level collaborative dialogue with Song Yang
and our exhibition team. The core lies not in the combination of visual patterns, but in
the resonance of spiritual pedigrees. Wu Guanzhong, with his own efforts, tore down
the barriers between ink and modernism, attempting to give the world a universal
expression context for Eastern lines, negative space, and artistic charm. Song Yang, after two decades of constructing the aesthetic system of Bad Girl, is committed to
allowing the locally rooted artistic image to cross boundaries and reach the younger
generation. The underlying pursuit of both is consistent: to demolish the invisible high
walls between art and the public.
From the perspective of inheriting the spirit of classic art, this collaboration has
achieved an extremely valuable “translation”. Mr. Wu’s creative language, built upon
paper, ink, and oil paint, carries the modernity of the last century. As time transitions
into the digital era, the visual experiences and perception methods of young audiences
have completely changed. Song Yang’s creative system provides a gentle bridge:
young people naturally move towards the Eastern artistic conception of the interplay
of reality and illusion depicted by Wu Guanzhong through their familiar and
empathetic visual language of Bad Girl, understanding that “ink should follow the
times” is not just a slogan, but a continuous and unbroken aesthetic path. Classics are
no longer imparted through dogmatic explanations, but are reborn in dialogue with
contemporary creation. When it comes to official IP endorsement, Baiyaxuan has been deeply involved in the
academic oversight and visual approval of the exhibition, adhering to two unwavering
principles: Firstly, we will never distort or entertain the core and aesthetic qualities of
Wu Guanzhong’s art. Secondly, we fully respect the independence of Song Yang’s
creation and do not require him to imitate ink painting styles or conform to classical
paradigms. This is an equal dialogue across time and space, not a dimensional
reduction review of classics against contemporary art, nor is it a contemporary
consumption of classics for leverage. We do not regard Wu Guanzhong as a signboard
to boost traffic, but rather treat his art as an open and dialogic source of ideas.
From the perspective of international strategic layout and industry value, the overseas
art market has long had a fragmented understanding of Chinese modern art: Wu
Guanzhong, who represents the peak of Eastern modernism in the 20th century, has
mostly remained within academic and collecting circles; while trendy art, despite its
potential for global dissemination, is often simply classified as a commercial
consumer product. This global tour exhibition juxtaposes and mutually verifies these
two long-separated threads, presenting a continuous and complete narrative of
Chinese modern aesthetics to the world. This also establishes a paradigm for the entire
industry: the revitalization of classic IPs is not simply a matter of commerciallicensing, but a long-term cultural strategy based on artistic historical logic and
academic consensus. We hope that this exhibition, which starts from Hong Kong and proceeds to the
Gwangju Biennale and other global venues, will inspire more peers: the best fate for
classics is not to be sealed forever in albums and exhibition cabinets, but to continue
to meet creators from different eras, and through new dialogues, constantly generate
new aesthetic insights.
Host/Hostess
Thank you, Teacher Fan Xueli, for your profound and insightful explanation, which
has allowed us to see the rigorous academic foundation and long-term cultural
aspirations behind the operation of classic IPs. Next, we would like to invite Teacher
Song Yang, the creator and artist of this exhibition, to talk about how, as a creative
subject, you have gained new insights through this collaboration with Mr. Wu
Guanzhong’s artistic dialogue spanning generations, and through your creative
practice of “Bad Girl” over the past twenty years?
Song Yang
For twenty years, Bad Girl has never been just an IP or a trendy image to me. It has
been a spiritual carrier for me to continuously perceive the world and express my
emotions. Many people would simply define it as trendy art, but for me, I have been
searching for a contemporary visual language that belongs to Asia and the East. For a
long time in the past, I created more based on intuition, but this time, conversing with
Mr. Wu Guanzhong’s works, it feels like I have found a clear spiritual source. When I read Wu Guanzhong’s paintings, what touches me the most has never been the
subjects like landscapes or birds and animals, but the flowing lines and the breathing
sensation between the blank spaces in his paintings. The wind, light, and space he
depicts are not objective realist reproductions, but the poetic sensations perceived by
the soul. This is similar to the core of Bad Girl: Bad Girl is sometimes melancholy,
sometimes soft, and it does not have a fixed plot that has been pre-written. It leaves a
large blank space for the viewer, and everyone can see themselves in it. This is an
extremely precious part of Eastern aesthetics.
Pop art is often misunderstood by the outside world as transient and fast-food-like, but
I always believe that a weighty pop image can also carry a profound culture. I am
unwilling to be just a temporary symbol of popularity. I hope Bad Girl can gradually
settle down and become a visual memory of our era. The conversation with Mr. Wu
Guanzhong constantly reminds me that all new visual languages are rooted in our own
cultural soil; true classics are never afraid to collide with new languages, and they
always possess the power to embrace new beginnings. This collaboration is not an end
for me, but a brand-new starting point. Moving forward, I will continue to explore on
this path.
host
Thank you, Teacher Song Yang, for your sincere and poetic sharing. Next, let’s
welcome Chairman Xu Shouzhen of the Asian Culture and Arts Foundation to share
his views on the Asian and global values of this project from the perspective of an
institution engaged in cross-regional cultural exchanges in Asia.
Xu Shouzhen
The path of Eastern aesthetics pioneered by a master, coupled with the two-decade
systematic artistic exploration of a new generation of artists, has forged this
cross-time and cross-space dialogue. In the AI digital era, exhibitions have gone
beyond borders, providing an important practical example for the global
dissemination of Eastern art. What Wu Guanzhong left to posterity is not just a
painting paradigm, but also a breakthrough spirit rooted in the local and facing the
world. Song Yang rejects fast-food, trend-driven creation, blending Wu Guanzhong’s
ink charm with the visual language of Generation Z to achieve a continuation of
spiritual threads. The exhibition, with Hong Kong as a hub and Chinese and Korean
institutions collaborating, demonstrates that Eastern art does not have to choosebetween adhering to tradition and following the West; it can embark on a path of
independent innovation. Technology can generate images, but works rooted in
civilization and rich in humanity have long-lasting vitality. Inheritance does not
equate to replication, and innovation cannot float without roots. The foundation will
also continue to collaborate with various art institutions in Asia to promote
cross-generational and cross-border artistic dialogue, helping Eastern aesthetics reach
the world stage.
Host/Hostess
Thank you, Chairman Xu Shouzhen, for your insightful comments from an
institutional perspective, which were grounded in the mutual appreciation of Asian
civilizations. Next, I would like to ask the representative of the Hong Kong curatorial
team present, based on the international art scene where East meets West in Hong
Kong, how you evaluate the local value and global significance of this exhibition?
Professor Shirley Yeung, representative of the Hong Kong curatorial team
For over a century, Hong Kong has consistently served as a pivotal hub for the
external exchange of Chinese art and the mutual appreciation of Eastern and Western
cultures. The staging of this exhibition in Hong Kong bears strong significance in the
current era. The art of Mr. Wu Guanzhong represents the pioneering and inheritance of modern
Chinese aesthetics; the trendy art of Teacher Song Yang represents the avant-garde
expression of digital aesthetics of Generation Z. The intergenerational dialogue
between the two, combined with Hong Kong’s international, youthful, and
cross-disciplinary art ecology, allows classic art to break through academic barriers
and endows trendy art with cultural depth. With the collaborative efforts of the curatorial teams from the mainland, Hong Kong, and South Korea, this exhibition not only maintains a profound academic context of
the East but also embodies a pioneering form of international dissemination. It
represents a highly exemplary cross-disciplinary art practice in the Hong Kong art
scene and will present a fresh perspective of contemporary Chinese art to a global
audience. host
Lastly, we would like to invite Teacher Li Tiejun to provide a summary and
sublimation of the mission of the times and the historical value of this exhibition.
Li Tiejun
Looking back at the century-long history of Chinese art development, from Lin
Fengmian and Wu Guanzhong pioneering the modern aesthetics of blending Chinese
and Western elements, to the new generation of artists standing firmly in their era and
embracing globalization, Chinese art has finally completed a complete cycle of
civilization: “learning from the West – integrating tradition – innovating independently
– leading the era”.The core value of this exhibition can be summarized as three new revelations from
contemporary art:
First，Classics are not rigid historical specimens, but living cultural threads that
continue to flourish. The greatness of Mr. Wu Guanzhong lies not in preserving the
ink painting paradigm, but in continuously breaking boundaries and opening up
possibilities for future artists to integrate Chinese and Western art.
Second，Trends are not fleeting popular symbols, but visual expressions that belong tothis era. For trend art to gain long-lasting vitality, it must seek to reclaim its cultural
roots and grow on the foundation of local culture. The reason why Song Yang can
inherit the tradition of the masters and lead this dialogue of the times is precisely
because his art is systematic, profound, and backed by two decades of academic
exploration and museum experience. He is a mature, complete, and representative
force in the field of young art, capable of carrying the height of the times.
Third，Hong Kong is not merely a venue for exhibitions, but a forum for
inter-civilizational dialogue. Thanks to the collaboration of our curatorial colleagues
in Hong Kong and the support of international cultural institutions represented by
Chairman Xu Shouzhen, we have built a bridge here, allowing Eastern aesthetics to be
accessible to viewers from diverse cultural backgrounds around the world.
Fourth，Rooted in classics, infused with the spirit of the times, empowered by trends,
and set against the backdrop of the world, this intergenerational art dialogue is both a
retrospective tribute to the path of modern Chinese art over the past century and an
exploratory beginning for the future of Chinese art in the AI era. Based in Hong Kong
and reaching out to the world, it aims to perpetuate the Eastern cultural heritage and
bring Chinese art to the global stage.
host
I would like to express my gratitude to Teacher Li Tiejun for his high-level and epic
academic summary, Teacher Fan Xueli for her authoritative interpretation and
powerful empowerment, Teacher Song Yang for his sincere sharing of two decades of
deep artistic cultivation, Chairman Xu Shouzhen for his institutional dimension
sharing, as well as the Hong Kong curatorial team, the Korean curatorial team, and
Cai Zhongji, the director of Gwangju Imnyeong Art Museum, for their strong
participation.
The interview session for the high-end academic salon of the “Song Yang x Wu
Guanzhong Official Art Collaboration Exhibition” at the ImYeon Art Museum in
Gwangju, South Korea, came to a successful conclusion.
