Contemporary Chinese artists of 1980’s and 1990’s were at the forefront of a new global artistic epoch. It was an era of confrontation, exchange, negotiation, and survival. As they entered their new norm of globalised Western hegemony, cross-cultural artists began to search for new expressions to decentralise and de-territorialise notions of identity and culture. Predicated on the ceaseless movement and exchange, Huang Yong Ping and Xu Bing brought about a new global modality that connects the hybrid expressions and aesthetics of their local identity to a transnational and global framework.

A critical re-examination of “Magiciens de la Terre” can offer us the necessary tools and alternatives to transcend homogenising cultural visions of the West. Rasheed Araeen’s evocation is a valuable reminder of the purpose in the confrontational process of reflection and re-examination, which allows for the capacity to re-contextualise and construct one’s interpretation and understanding of such a pivotal moment in exhibition making.

The aim of my review was to unveil the Western ethnocentric lens that is often subjected to Chinese contemporary art and Asian Art, particularly in the context of Australia and the broader West. I hope this review will encourage you to reconsider the way you consume and understand Contemporary Asian Art, and acknowledge how it is often positioned by hegemonic cultural institutions as cultural and exotic tokens.