“Canceled”: Exhibiting Experimental Art in China
November 19, 2000 – January 7, 2001
"Canceled" was an unconventional exhibition. Its subject was not an artist or a group of art works, but another exhibition that was never realized: It's Me (Beijing, 1998), a group show curated by Leng Lin that was canceled by Chinese officials the day before its scheduled opening.
Through a striking installation developed by exhibition curator Wu Hung in close collaboration with visual artists Song Dong, documentary filmmaker Wu Wenguang, and the Smart Museum,"Canceled" guided the viewer into the milieu of contemporary Chinese artists, fostering the (re)discovery of this aborted show and calling attention to the implication of its cancellation. The project raised questions about artistic freedom, censorship, and the relationship between experimental art and society at large.