Mi Fan or cooked rice is not only the staple food of the Chinese people, it's also the name of an ongoing art exhibition of Austrian artists and their works produced in China. What makes this exhibition so exceptional is that all these works of art have been created by artists during their stay here in China.

Jules Page visited the 'Anniart' gallery in Beijing's famous 798 art district to find out more.

Works entitled 'Chinese Whispers' form part of the 'Mi Fan' exhibition at Beijing's 798 art district. [photo: CRIBEYONDBEIJING.com / Jules Page]



Every year the Austrian government sends 15 Austrian artists to China to live and work for at least three months, sometimes longer. However, until now this program has not brought these Austrian artists and their works together in one exhibition. Karel Dudesek, the exhibition curator, explains.

"This is the first comprehensive show and biggest show of Austrian artists in China so far. There are more than a hundred works and 15 artists who have all lived here. This is a specialty of the exhibition; it is not something imported from a studio outside somewhere in Europe. "

We are living in an increasingly globalised society and the art world is definitely not immune from that influence. Karel Dudesek believes we should try to understand what a certain country has to offer, its rituals, its history and to take an interest in the place we are in. But the problem is where do you draw that inspiration from?

"Every nation is different, from the feeling, history and so on and you go into that nation or into that culture and you live there and you get inspired."

Walking around the exhibition space you'll soon notice the various and diverse types of art on offer. The curator elaborates:

"This is a very unique exhibition in diverse aesthetics, in diverse media. There are objects, paintings, drawings, videos, music clips, design, fashion and installation. So it's diverse in the form, in esthetic and its meaning."

One of the most obvious differences Westerners arriving in China first notice is the staple food. Rice is eaten with almost every meal here and this exhibition is called Mi fan (or cooked rice). Karel Dudesek explains why.

"It sparks curiosity because people ask why Mi fan? It's a food which is in all dishes around the world but it's a basic food here in China. Rice is from the country where we are in now. It's significant, it's not potato, it's not bread �C but it's this basic and significant food."

A decorative sanluche or tricycle used by Austrian artist Rainer Prohaska to ride around Beijing on display at the 'Mi Fan' art exhibition [photo: CRIBEYONDBEIJING.com]

The Mi fan exhibition is part of the 'Austro-Sino Arts Program' which was established last year to help promote Austrian artists and their work in China. Rainer Prohaska is one of these artists. He redecorated and rode his three wheel bicycle, known in Chinese as a sanluche, through the streets of Beijing. This now forms part of the exhibition.

"We are standing in front of a sculpture, which was constructed on the base of a sanluche, which are these Chinese three wheel bikes which everybody here was using years ago and they're still in use."

To illustrate the size of Beijing the artist set himself two months in which to ride around the whole of Beijing, but was still unable to see it all.

"I tried to get a feeling for the size of the city so I tried a little bit randomly but also to go through all districts but I still find out that it was not enough time".

The people the artist met during his travels around Beijing were able to write their thoughts on paper provided. On the wall behind the sculpture are a collage of photos, some of these comments, a video of the trip and a hand drawn map tracing his journey around Beijing. There is also a digital map of the artists' journey on the internet. So after traveling through Beijing in an attention grabbing tricycle what is the artists' strongest memory?

"A lot of things but the most important is the smile on the face of the people."

Another piece in the exhibition entitled 'China Whispers' explores a painting factory in Shenzen in a most interesting way. Dafen village is quite literally the art factory of the world. It's estimated that more than sixty percent of the world's inexpensive and imitation art is produced there.

Two Austrian artists took a photo and gave it to a painter in Dafen to paint. They then took a photo of the painter painting that picture and gave it to another artist to paint. This process of painting the painter painting continued until a series of images were created, each one adding more and more detail. For the viewer it's almost like looking into a series of mirrors as the original image becomes further and further away.

Anni Ma, the director of the 'Anniart' gallery, explains why this is one of her favourite works in the exhibition.

"It's very interesting because they show a difference because it's not just like the traditional paintings or the traditional art. They show lots of the ideas."

The exhibition continues until the 26th November at the 'Anniart' gallery in Beijing's 798 Art district. It's open daily from 11am until 6pm.

For China Now I'm Jules Page.