Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition -- Beijing Fine Arts Museum -- 5-19 February 1989

中国现代艺术展 -- 北京美术馆 -- 1989 年2月5日-19日
Zhongguo xiandai yishu zhan -- Beijing Meishuguan -- 1989 nian 2 yue 5 ri -- 19 ri
Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition -- Beijing Fine Arts Museum -- 5-19 February 1989
1989, February
Shanxi Taiyuan baozhuang guanggao meishu fazhan gongsi (山西太原包装广告美术发展公司)
77x54 cm.
BG E18/57

The iconic "No U-Turn" poster of the China/Avant-Garde Exhibition that opened in the National Art Gallery (presently known as the National Art Museum of China, NAMOC) in Beijing on 5 Februari 1989. The exhibition included over 186 artists and approximately 300 artworks from all over China, offering a comprehensive view of the experimental works that emerged in mainland China after 1985; it was widely regarded as a pivotal moment in the history of contemporary Chinese art. The exhibition was shut down only two hours after it opened, when artist Xiao Lu (肖魯) shot her own work, Dialogue (对话), with a pellet gun. These shots were called "the first shots of Tiananmen" by the media at the time.

This original poster has been signed by the designer Yang Zhilin and a number of the members of the organizing committee (most of them curators): Gao Minglu (高名潞), Zhou Yan (周彦), Fei Dawei (费大为), Hou Hanru (侯瀚如), Fan Di’an (范迪安), and Kong Chang’an (孔長安).

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