China has a profound and self-contained traditional culture. It is profound because this culture system has been available and developed for thousands of years and has given birth to the wisdom of many of our predecessors; it is self-contained due to geographical characteristics and the psychological impact of national culture. As a result, the traditional culture has a capacity for self-adjustment and renewal, and can develop slowly while continuously correcting and enhancing itself. Since it has these two characteristics, when the traditional culture of China is forced to absorb the impact of another strong culture, the response is fast and efficient. This rapid response is particularly visible in the arts, the social and cultural vanguard, which bears the brunt of the collision.

      We are focusing on "Ctrl+N - Non-Linear Practice", the concept has three aspects. First, it is not created from a vacuum but rather according to a set of rules or structures. After the rules have served their purpose, they may be broken or new rules may be innovated as part of the act of creation. Second, this is not a process of slavish copying of the original form but, rather, of recreation with brand-new deduction and expression after absorbing and mixing in an expedited and efficient process. Finally, the rapid new creation evolves in a non-linear process with continuous superimposition and mutual influence in which all the component ideas may be transformed and completed respectively and independently.

      “Ctrl + N” is an artifact of the information age which makes it a particularly useful metaphor for explaining why the development of Chinese contemporary art should not face too many obstacles to audiences understanding it. The Biennale is held in Kwangju in Asia, but audience interest in the art event is worldwide and in many different languages. Happily the information era has enriched our vocabulary for presenting the idea, and with the help of this concept we hope to show the audience the current situation and problems of development in Chinese contemporary art. The centralized show of various "nonlinear" artistic practices of the artists--- various art creations which are intercepted from the cross section in one time point in the exhibition also can provide more possibilities and vertical and horizontal perspectives for the audience to comprehensively understand Chinese contemporary art.

Zheng Yan, Curator, Deputy Director of Today Art Museum