New UCCA Director Philip Tinari discusses the exciting changes ahead for 798’s flagship art venue
Interview by Marilyn Mai, photo by Judy Zhou

First, can you catch us up on how the UCCA is doing? In the four years since it opened UCCA went from an art center in 798 to what many people consider the leading independent art museum in China. In the first three quarters of this year we’ve had over half a million visitors. And when you compare that to numbers around the world it’s really quite impressive. To give you an idea, [New York’s] MOMA is at 3.5 million a year. So, to say that you’re a seventh of that based on a rotating program is really quite a lot. Of course, Beijing is a big city.

How did rumors arise about the UCCA facing an uncertain future in Beijing? Major collectors of contemporary Chinese art have been thinking in recent years about how they might get their collections back to China. But unlike say, in countries with different kinds of governmental models, where donating artworks to a state museum or a public museum is a rather easy thing to do, here, there’s a question of exactly how that would play out. The Ullens family decided to do this by putting up a number of its works for auction, which happened at Sotheby’s Hong Kong back in May. This did not directly affect the UCCA as our exhibition program is not based on the holdings of the Ullens collection. And yet this decision came at the end of a long and ultimately unsuccessful process in 2010 of thinking about ways to “hand over” the UCCA to Chinese collaborators, and at the moment the auction was announced in January, the UCCA’s future was indeed in flux.

What changed from there? What happened in the flurry of press about the uncertainty was that support for the UCCA came out of the woodwork. Basically, the Center realized that it really did enjoy both the love of a public in Beijing, but also support at various levels of policy and government elite. From the management of the factory, to the district of Chaoyang up to the MInistry of Culture, there’s a basic agreement that if 798 is going to be a district that stands for the vibrancy and creativity of contemporary China, it shouldn’t be given over entirely to cafes, gift shops and commercial galleries – some of which are very good, but others of which are not. So, you can’t have a hollow core, you need something in the center of this whole place. So I think that kind of hardened the Ullens family’s resolve to find a long-term solution.

Is this where you come in? Well there’s been a certain “localization” – a transition to create an international team that consists of people who speak the language, know the context and are based here. So I’m part of that transition. I’m tasked with creating exhibition programs – taking the center to the next level in terms of its integration into and visibility on the international stage, while maintaining extreme relevance for a local population.

“An institution from here that’s actually able to produce content – why shouldn’t we be doing that?”

So what shows will we have to look forward to? My first show as director will be a retrospective of an artist called Gu Dexin, one of the great heroes of the Chinese avantgarde who actually “quit” art back in 2009. Imagine a giant field of apples that are just left to rot over the course of the exhibition. There’s also a signature piece of him kneading raw pork while taking a picture every day. His paintings and works on paper from the 1980s are quite amazing, and dozens of them are part of the Ullens collection. It’s quite raw, quite nihilistic.

Does this mark an aesthetic shift from the more spectacular exhibits that previous director Jerome Sans seemed to favor? I don’t think it’s about negating or overturning; there are different ways to subtly signal new directions. … One thing that I’m really passionate about doing is turning the center into a place that can actually generate important shows that will then travel to museums internationally. Kind of like a “made in China” to “designed in China” transition. An institution from here that’s actually able to produce content – why shouldn’t we be doing that? For example, the last show of next year will be this idea of “Born Into Reform,” which will be a rather comprehensive survey of the generation now in its twenties and early thirties, looking to pinpoint not just this group’s artistic practices, but its sensibility.

Sounds interesting. What about some of the non-Chinese shows? This summer we’ll feature a giant survey of Indian contemporary art which is called “Indian Highway.” It debuted at the Serpentine in 2008, and has been on a fairly serious international tour. After a lot of research, we feel it’s the most impressive and timely Indian exhibition survey.

How do you think people will receive shifts? I hope people will think we’ve put a certain amount of thought into what we want to present and how we want to present it, the order in which we do so. It’s a global question, not just a Chinese question – about how we deal with information in the moment that we inhabit. People want a sustained focus for attention. I want to do the sorts of shows that stand up to repeated viewings and that generate extended conversations.

Any other exciting things in store for the center? We’ll be embarking on a series of architectural tweaks aimed at improving circulation and visitor flow in the space, in time for our fifth anniversary next year. These include moving our main door to be out on the street as opposed to through a dark tunnel, and making use of the outdoor space in front of the building – which should hopefully solve our fengshui problems. We’re extending the store too, so the current store in the lobby will focus on exhibition-related books and merchandise, while the second location, where the restaurant is now, will house the fashion and design products. That space – if we do our job right – will also contain a very small café that people are happy to hang out at.