The China Moment. Contextualizing Individualism in Chinese Contemporary Art

The documenta Institut invites you to its first research exhibition at the Kasseler Kunstverein.

Opening: Friday, January 23, 2026
Exhibition dates: January 24—March 22, 2026
Venue: Kasseler Kunstverein, Friedrichsplatz 18, 34117 Kassel

With The China Moment, the documenta Institut focuses on a decisive phase in contemporary Chinese art. Spanning the period from the 1980s to the present day, the exhibition examines how art in China reflected society during a time of profound transformation against the backdrop of a shift from globalization to the multipolar present.

The 1980s marked the beginning of a period of profound political and economic change. Under the influence of Deng Xiaoping's reforms, a new artistic language emerged that combined individuality, social participation and humanistic perspectives. At the same time, China's opening up and increasing international networking offered new spaces for artistic experimentation and exchange with global discourses on individualism and social transformation. The exhibition shows how art not only reflected social developments, but often anticipated them. It reveals how the relationships between the individual, the state and society shifted and highlights what social energies, collective experiments and individual self-concepts emerged during this period.

Acting as both research project and exhibition The China Moment combines historical and narrative elements. Using archival materials, paintings, photographs, videos, installations, sounds and performances, the show presents works of art alongside the social contexts in which they were created — from spontaneous gatherings and illegal exhibitions in apartments to experimental club and performance scenes.

Participating artists
CAO Fei & OU Ning, CHEN Shaoxiong, Datong Dazhang, HAN Lei, HONG Hao & YAN Lei, JIANG Jie, KAN Xuan, LIN Yilin, Living Dance Studio (Wen Hui), MA Liuming, New Measurement Group (Gu Dexin, Wang Luyan, Chen Shaoping), NI Haifeng, SUI Jianguo, WANG Molin, TONG Sze Hong, ZHAO Chuan, WANG Bing, WANG Guangyi, WANG Tuo, WANG Youshen, WU Wenguang, XIAO Lu, ZHAO Yinou, ZHENG Guogu, ZHOU Tiehai, ZHUANG Hui

The accompanying exhibition catalogue includes new contributions by Mi You, Su Wei, and Anna-Lisa Scherfose, as well as republished historical texts by Wang Hui, Zhao Dingxin, Qin Hui, Zhang Xudong, Yang Guoqiang, Hong Zicheng and Wang Wei, some of which appear in English for the first time.

Curated by Su Wei, Mi You and Anna-Lisa Scherfose.