"Stars 79-80" : Discussion & Book Signing

Friday 18th October at 5.15-6pm

At the end of the 1970s in China, when the Cultural Revolution came to an end, a group of young artists, mostly self-taught, committed to creating works of art that moved away from the artistic and ideological norms imposed by the regime which put into question the principle of individual expression. Under the direction of Huang Rui and Ma Desheng, the avant-garde group the Stars, composed of more than thirty artists, dared to demand the freedom of expression by organising a series of exhibitions that have remained in the collective memory as being at the origin of contemporary art in China. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the first exhibition of the Stars, held on the outside gates of the National Museum of Fine Arts in Beijing, a publication presents for the first time the complete history of the group of Stars in English language. Led by the Stars Art Foundation and published by the Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, the book brings together translated primary sources, photographs, historical texts and new research on the Stars group by art historians specialising in Chinese contemporary art.

The conversation between Holly Roussell (museologist and art historian) and Huang Rui (co-founder of the Stars group) will be followed by a book signing session of Stars 79-80 美展.

Les Etoiles 1979 – 2009 – Pionniers de l’art contemporain en Chine (The Stars 1979 - 2009 - Pioneers of contemporary art in China), an exhibition featuring the work of three key members of the Stars - Huang Rui, Ma Desheng and Wang Keping - and photographs by three privileged witnesses of that time - Chi Xiaoning, Li Xiaobin and Wang Rui - will be on display until February 1, 2020 at the Maison de la Chine (76 rue Bonaparte, 75006 Paris).

>> 5.15-6pm Friday 18th October “Revealing The Stars : Discussion & Book Signing"

>> Exhibition at the Maison de la Chine (until 1 February 2020)