Zhang Qing

Conceptual artist Zhang Qinq is best known for his recent work exploring the darker sides of capitalism through photography, video, and installations. Don’t Go So Fast (2009) uncomfortably depicts designer-clad young professionals inhabiting poor rural environments in which they would likely never be caught dead, in order to highlight class disparities in China. Another well-known work CCTV (2011) is an installation consisting of, and commenting on the prevalence of, closed-circuit television, raising issues of privacy and the ‘Big Brother’-like presence of the Chinese state. Zhang believes that the challenges China faces are specific to its own cultural-historical context and therefore not readily understood by foreigners, hence the need for Chinese contemporary art.