LEADER 00000nam 2200385 4500
001 AAI3306981
005 20100824153433.5
008 100824s2008 ||||||||||||||||| ||eng d
020 9780549538813
035 (UMI)AAI3306981
040 UMI|cUMI
100 1 Auyeung, Poyin
245 10 Art, urbanism, and public space: Critical spatial
responses to urban redevelopment in Beijing (1976--2000)
300 421 p
500 Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-
04, Section: A, page: 1190
500 Adviser: Rosemarie H. Bletter
502 Thesis (Ph.D.)--City University of New York, 2008
520 This dissertation focuses on a particular segment of
Chinese public art, works produced between 1976 and 2000
that can be seen as responding critically to the drastic
redevelopment of Beijing. "Post-Mao" (post-1976) China has
been marked by the rapid reshaping of its major cities,
typically involving tabula rasa demolition. The physical,
socio-economic, and psychological displacement that
accompanied this drastic alteration of the urban form and
the social fabric inspired varied critical artistic
responses. My study concentrates on artistic projects in
streets, parks, and squares, and at demolition sites,
including sculpture, graffiti, performance, and temporary
installation. In discussing city planners' critiques of
reckless demolition of historic buildings and ruthless
eviction of long-time residents, I examine alternative
housing schemes addressing architectural, social, and
political-economic considerations in historic
conservation. My treatment of the notions "public" and
"public space" is contextualized by three key markers of
recent Chinese history: the 1978 economic reforms
initiated by Deng Xiaoping; the 1989 Tiananmen Square
demonstrations; and the accelerated urbanization that
began in the early 1990s. Profoundly altering urban space
in major Chinese cities, these three turning points also
led to changing definitions of "public," along with
changes in artists' perception and use of public space. A
fundamental premise of this dissertation is that public
art and urban processes are characterized by social and
political conflict, as held by Harriet F. Senie and
Rosalyn Deutsche. A key concept is Henri Lefebvre's
"production of space," which identifies space as the
object of social struggle rather than as merely a neutral
container or backdrop---and hence as capable of generating
spatial conflicts and politics. Also fundamental to this
study is Raymond Williams's emphasis on the possibilities
for agency in cultural production. I present cultural
professionals involved in the spatial production of
Beijing---public artists, architects, and city planners---
as exercising critical agency as they contribute to
shaping or redefining urban public space
590 School code: 0046
650 4 Art History
650 4 Architecture
650 4 Urban and Regional Planning
690 0377
690 0729
690 0999
710 2 City University of New York.|bArt History
773 0 |tDissertation Abstracts International|g69-04A
856 40 |uhttp://pqdd.sinica.edu.tw/twdaoapp/servlet/
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