For almost seven years, Beijing artist Song Dong has been doing something a bit odd.

Every day, he writes his diary on a stone slab with water. It dries and disappears immediately, of course.

The 35-year-old calls this a work of performance art and, appropriately enough, names it "Writing Diaries With Water."

Through the work, Song claims, he attempts to probe into people's subtle feelings towards personal privacy and to examine the philosophical relations between existence and non-existence.

Starting Wednesday, Song will exhibit photographs documenting his performance at the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum in Berlin. The show closes November 18.

Song also wants others to perform like he does. He's placed 12 stone slabs at the entrance of the museum and encourages visitors to write whatever they want on the stones, again with water. It is, he asserts, a symbol of "substance without shape."

Through this new "work," which he calls "Visitor's Book," Song hopes his private experiments will be understood by more people.

Song is one of 29 artists from China who will show their work in "Living in Time," an exhibition of Chinese contemporary art sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Culture and organized by the China International Exhibition Agency (CIEA).

This event is the first major contemporary art show ever held by the Chinese Government abroad. It begins as part of the China Festival during the Berlin Asia-Pacific Weeks which kick off today.

Beijing art critic Fan Di'an, Paris-based Chinese curator Hou Hanru and German curator Gabriele Knapstein are co-curators of the exhibition.

"This exhibition tends to demonstrate some new developments on the Chinese art scene over the past 20 years since the nation implemented reform and opening-up policy," CIEA Vice-President Jia Jianxin said. "It, in a way, demonstrates the diversity of Chinese arts today and the freedom of artistic creation in contemporary China."

The artists, who range in age from their 20s to their 50s, offer more than 200 cutting-edge works in the show, including paintings, calligraphy, sculptures, performances, installations, videos and photography.

Among them are well established contemporary artists including Song Dong, Shi Hui, Gu Dexin, Qiu Zhenzhong, Wang Jianwei, Zhang Peili, Zhang Yonghe, Yu Hong and Yin Xiuzhen. The exhibition also displays works by some new young artists under age 30, including Zheng Guogu, Xu Zhen, Yang Yong and Cao Fei.

Experts applaud the exhibition as historic progress in the developments of Chinese contemporary art on both the national and international fronts.

Contemporary art, known for its highly experimental nature and social awareness, is just starting to gain acceptance in China. For almost two decades, modern art has attracted controversy and misunderstandings in the nation.

As a result, modern artists have fewer chances to display their work in China than traditional artists. And the general audiences seemed to neglect the dynamism and significance of the new art in contemporary China.

Abroad, modern art is far more accepted and celebrated. But there are some complaints about what modern art from China makes it into exhibits in other countries.

"Some Western curators, art museums and galleries organize exhibitions of Chinese contemporary art according to their prejudiced standards, which in a way leads to a misreading of Chinese contemporary art in the West," wrote Fan Di'an in a curatorial report.

The situation is improving, though.

The Berlin exhibition follows last year's Shanghai Biennale, which was hailed as a breakthrough by the Chinese art circle. They saw it as a sign of growing cultural openness in the country.

"The Berlin exhibition is certainly another major step forward," said Yin Xiuzhen, 38, a participating artist.

Yin has frequently exhibited her works abroad in recent years at the invitation of curators or foreign art museums.

"This is the first time I am invited and supported by my own government to exhibit my contemporary art abroad," Yin said before leaving for Berlin.

Yin will exhibit a photograph installation work entitled "Peking Opera," which depicts daily life scenes in Beijing. The work creates a contrast between traditional lifestyles and the engulfing modernization tide in Chinese cities. She urges concern and care for China's aged population.

The artist will cover the walls of the Berlin exhibition hall with large photographs featuring Beijing scenes such as old men singing Peking opera or playing cards on street corners. On the floor, the artist will put a number of small stools brought from Beijing for visitors to sit on as they take in the pictures.

Another artist, Qiu Zhenzhong, uses traditional calligraphy to produce abstract ink paintings. And oil painter Yu Hong's "Witness Growth" records her personal growth amid a rapidly transforming Chinese society.

"This exhibition hopes to reflect the feelings and expressions of Chinese artists towards the real world they are living in," Fan Di'an wrote. "It is also expected to help the Western society better understand Chinese art and the cultural environment in contemporary China."

(China Daily 09/17/2001)