The Tate's head of exhibitions, Simon Groom, explains to Lew Baxter why he believes China has come of age artistically in the 21st century
by Lew Baxter, Liverpool Daily Post
WHEN the hugely controversial Shanghai-based artist Xu Zhen assembled a small band of pals to climb Everest, few in the global art community could have guessed at the repercussions that would reverberate from an audacious wheeze that sent shock waves around the planet.
Regarded by many as one of the most exciting young creative individuals in the world - some even consider him dangerous - Xu gathered his comrades on the summit of the fabled mountain and hacked off the tip of the icy peak.
They then slid the 1.86 metre lump - his height, incidentally - down the mountain, refrigerated it and announced to a stunned world that he had indeed conquered Everest - and here was the proof.
There were howls of outrage from the foreign correspondents in China when in true cavalier fashion he unveiled the block and showed a film of his team's endeavours. After mountaineering experts confirmed that Everest was indeed shorter, he was accused of incarnating the supposed arrogance and indifference that China displays towards other nations. He ignored his critics.
This was just one reason why Tate Liverpool's head of exhibitions, Simon Groom, was desperate to work with Xu Zhen, who has helped curate what Groom declares is the most dynamic and energetic exhibition of contem-porary Chinese art ever staged in Britain, putting even last year's massive Battersea Power Station show in the shade.
Groom chuckles that Xu is a wonderful maverick and admits that whatever he does is a click or two more than just controversial. "But his works are extremely witty and really make people think," added Groom, who is gearing up to unleash The Real Thing - Contemporary Art From China at the Tate's northern Albert Dock HQ.
As well as Xu Zhen's slice of Everest, it features 18 Chinese artists of varying reputations and styles. Groom explains that he has identified work that dates from early 2000 by young creatives who are doing new and fascinating things, or from older artists who still have absolute influence.
"It is a really good mix across the spectrum of art, taking in film, sculpture, painting and other mediums," he says, then enthusiastically reveals that he has clinched a £50,000 sponsor-ship deal to stage what his colleagues reckon will be the "mother" of all firework displays to launch the exhibition, arguably the most expensive ever in the UK.
The cash was eagerly donated by Manchester-based private art collector Frank Cohen which, comments Groom, demonstrates just how "fired up" Western collectors are about Chinese art.
"What is amazing about the Chinese art scene is that it is just ‘Now’," exclaims Groom.
