Bo Zaaaang!: Something is rotten in the state of Denmark

This column serves not only as a tribute to a great man with a great name, but it captures all those moments in China that make you stop for a second and do a double take. We have transmogrified “Oh snap!” to bring you “Bo Zaaaang!”

Just four short months after The China Arts Page first reported the opening of the Ullens Art Center in Beijing, there has been a shake-up at the center with ramifications that could be worse than Paris Hilton’s new film, The Hottie and the Nottie. According to the The Art Newspaper, “Guy Ullens, the Belgian foodstuffs baron who has entirely funded UCCA, said that Jérôme Sans had been selected as the new director and that an announcement would be made as soon as the appropriate Chinese authorities had approved the appointment.”

As such, the center’s current director, Fei Dawei, will be relegated to a more operational and research based role. Rumor has it that “Mr Dawei’s disagreements with his colleagues are believed to be behind his change in role.” Officially, of course, everything is still copasetic, and the impetus for change is said to be part of the institution’s natural evolution as Fei Dawei “was only ever to be instrumental in setting up the centre as a museum.” Fei Dawei, originally from Shanghai, has been an apostle of contemporary Chinese art. In a career spanning over 20 years, Mr. Dawei has received numerous accolades for his role in underscoring the importance of Chinese contemporary art as well as fine art in general. Not only has he served as a jury member for UNESCO’s Art Awards, but the French Ministry of Culture also bestowed him with the Medal of Knighthood for Literature and Art in 1999.

Fei Dawei’s first and last act as creative director of the Ullens center was the ’85 New Wave exhibition which served as a springboard for the new institution as it, according to China Radio International, represented, “the liveliest part of the entire intellectual liberation movement of the 1980s” and “it marked the end of a realistic era that had dominated art in China since the early 20th century. After 1985, contemporary art became the driving force behind the art scene.” With Fei Dawei’s ousting,  the Ullens Art Center lacks senior Chinese members of staff; what do you guys think about this turn of events? Is this move detrimental to the Beijing art scene or will it be business as usual?

Image: A Book From the Sky by Xu Bing