Zhu Zhu now provides us with Grey Carneval:Art in China since 2000, a very substantial book resulting from the outline proposed to an international jury for the 2011 CCAA Art Critic Award which made him a clear winner of that award. He certainly has made more than good on his promise to offer a new and in depth analysis of this decade which carries so much weight in shaping new perceptions about Chinese contemporary art at home and abroad. This book comes very timely, at a moment when the heat is mounting in the debate about the canon of Chinese contemporary art—about who is in and who is out, about who shaped this art and when and how ...

This book illustrates particularly well why the CCAA Art Critic Award has been created: the vibrant Chinese art scene still lacks sufficient independent art criticism of this kind. In the early days, this lack was due to an art operating system that was not yet differentiated enough —there was no independent media within the cultural domain, and no independence within these media. This situation could not provide sufficient material gain to sustain a career as a truly independent writer. Yet in today's booming art market, art media publications, artist books and exhibition catalogs abound. Material conditions have improved greatly. But most of this writing now has to cater to the needs of the market: since the market, almost exclusively, validates what is considered good or bad art. This stems from a lack of resources that prove to be strong enough to balance market powers:resources such as strong museum institutions capable and willing to participate in the discourse with their curatorial practice, and in particular independent analysis and critique, all aimed at educating a rapidly growing audience that casts an eye on or is willing to invest in visual arts. In addition, the academic system inside China has been very slow in providing a specific curriculum for those wishing to pursue a career in art criticism.

The Art Critic Award wants to address these issues twofold:by raising the discussion on independent art criticism which is so essential to advance art creation in China, and in seeking to encourage independent writing —by enabling an indepth research project in Chinese contemporary art that might not otherwise have found financial support.

Finally my vivid thanks go to the CCAA jury members who have with a very rich debate and astute judgment helped to produce this most interesting outcome. The jury was composed of five members:Gong Yan（Editor-in-Chief of Art World Magazine, Director of O Art Center, Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts, Fu Dan University）, Lars Nittve（Executive Director of M+ Museum, Hong Kong）Philip Tinari（Former editor-in-Chief of LEAP Magazine, Director of UCCA）, Wang Huangsheng（Director of CAFA Art Museum）and Uli Sigg（Founder of CCAA）. I am also very grateful for the most important financial support provided by M+ Museum of Visual Arts, Hongkong to CCAA for our activities. And I am particularly indebted to Anna Liu Li, Director of CCAA, who prepared with her team so efficiently the jury meeting, managed with great charm the jury process, all media communication and the many steps that now led to this successful publication.

Uli Sigg

 

朱朱带给我们的《灰色的狂欢节——2000年以来的中国当代艺术》内容详实，该书基于他提交给中国当代艺术奖2011评论奖（CCAA）国际评审团的写作提案，他凭此成为当之无愧的获奖者。2000到2009年这十年是中国内外重新审视中国当代艺术的重要时期，朱朱对此作出新颖而深刻的分析，比提案所承诺的更加精彩。这本书的出版非常及时，正值关于中国当代艺术正典受到热议——谁受瞩目？谁正淡出？谁塑就了这种艺术？在何时以何种方式？……

这本书充分佐证了设立CCAA评论家奖的原因：中国艺术虽呈现一派富有生气的景象，但仍极度缺乏如此类型的独立艺术评论。在早年，这种匮乏是由于当时不够细化的艺术运作机制——文化领域里没有独立的媒体，这些媒体也没有独立性。这种情况下，真正的独立撰稿人无法获得足够的物质回报以维持一份职业。然而，现今的艺术市场飞速发展，有大量的艺术媒体出版物、艺术书籍和展览条目，物质条件已大为改善。不过大多数评论性写作必须迎合市场的需要——毕竟，市场几乎是唯一可以证实艺术好坏的方式。这是由于仍然缺乏能够与市场力量抗衡的强大资源——比如有影响力的博物馆机构，它们愿意并有能力在其运作中参与艺术讨论，特别是独立的分析与批评，其目的都在于指导关注视觉艺术并有意向投资的受众群，这一群体正飞速成长。除此之外，针对那些意欲从事艺术批评的学生，中国学术界迟迟没有设置专门的课程。

评论家奖希望从两方面应对这些问题：1．就独立艺术批评提出广泛的讨论，这一话题对推动中国艺术创作至关重要，同时也鼓励独立写作；2．资助关于中国当代艺术的深度研究项目，这种项目很可能无法从其他途径获得资金。

最后，我衷心感谢所有CCAA评审团的成员，他们热烈的讨论和敏锐的评判催生了这一极具关注度的结果。评审团由五位成员组成：龚彦（《艺术世界》主编，复旦大学上海零时艺术中心主任）；李立伟（Lars Nittve，香港九龙M+视觉文化博物馆馆长）；田霏宇（Philip Tinari, 《艺术界》总编，尤伦斯当代艺术中心馆长），王璜生（中央美术学院美术馆馆长），乌利·希客（CCAA中国当代艺术奖创办人）。同时要感谢香港九龙M+视觉文化博物馆对我们活动的资金赞助。我特别要感谢CCAA总监刘栗溧，她和她的团队高效而富于魅力地组织了评审团会议、评审流程及媒体沟通，所有这一切促成了这本书的成功出版。

乌利·希客

（韩丽枫 译）