A Sociological Exploration of Cultural Distinction in Chinese Contemporary Art Museums and Galleries: Contemporary art and its visitors

Based on fieldwork that has been conducted at three contemporary art museums and galleries (National Art Museum of China, Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art, and Shengzhi Space) in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), including both questionnaire surveys (2376 respondents) and interviews (11 interviewees), this thesis elucidates how contemporary art, an internationally sanctioned legitimate art form, configures into the PRC’s national hierarchy of cultural genres. Through the use of a cluster analysis, a multinomial logistic analysis, and a thematic analysis, this current research demonstrates that the flow of the ‘world culture’ between countries does not necessarily contribute to the prevalence of a hegemonic and internationally universal pattern of cultural consumption in diverse cultural contexts. The most obvious finding to emerge from the analyses is that a negotiation has been taking place between cultural forces that represent different cultural and aesthetic ideologies at the borders of the PRC’s social and cultural context. One consequence of this negotiation is that the public art museum and galleries visitors have a lower probability of encountering artworks that overtly challenge the established Chinese aesthetic, ethical, and political norms. By making compromises with the political interests of the Communist Party of China (CPC) mentioned above, the avant-garde characteristics of the public museum-based contemporary artworks have become increasingly blurred (for instance, by taking a less aggressive stance towards the established traditional aesthetic principles). One of the drawbacks of this compromise lies in its negative influence on the development of the public museum-based contemporary Chinese art. The evidence is sufficient to demonstrate that the public museum-based contemporary Chinese artworks were less attractive for both art professionals and the ‘lay’ visitors. Thus, the PRC’s cultural policies, which aim to preserve the national characteristics of contemporary Chinese art, ended up running counter to its stated goal.