Omission, 2009

Liu Ding’s work as an artist and curator investigates the various mechanisms and rules of the art system. One of the two works by Liu Ding presented in the exhibition, entitled Omission, questions the framing of history. It consists of a marble rock bearing the inscription “Omission is the beginning of history writing,” and supporting an invented art history book (A History of Chinese Contemporary Art: 19XX to 2050). The juxtaposition of the rock alluding to the long history of the scholar’s rock in China and the bulky fake book about the short history of Chinese contemporary art with an unreliable beginning and an already seemingly planned future shows us two different systems of history writing, which exist at the same time and are both based on exclusions. (CL)

Liu Ding’s Store, 2008 (ongoing)

Liu Ding’s work as an artist and curator investigates the various mechanisms and rules of the art system. Liu Ding’s Store was launched in 2008 as an ongoing project developing new lines of work. In addition to selling works online (www.liudingstore.com) it employs a functional economic model – a shop – to establish a platform for thought and discussion about the creation of value. Liu Ding’s Store frequently makes appearances and sales in a variety of contexts and situations, from social and cultural events to art exhibitions. Artifact, production, pricing, presentation, marketing, trade, circulation, and the human relationships resulting from such processes comprise the basic components of this shop. At the same time, each of these elements is the platform on which the artist projects his sense of value, along with his reflections on and discussion about this phenomenon. Liu Ding’s Store began by posing questions about the role of the artist and the production and circulation of artworks. He then went on to consider the relationship between artworks and various other types of objects, before further extending its scope to understanding the full range of production relationships in the art system, as well as cultivating a sense of value in spiritual and intellectual space. To date, Liu Ding’s Store has developed four product lines: Take Home and Make Real the Priceless in Your Heart, The Utopian Future of Art, Our Reality, Conversations, and Friendship. (CL)