• Mobile version
  • Follow us on Wechat
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • App

12 exhibitions in Guangzhou around New Year’s Day

Editor’s note: As the end of 2017 is approaching, it’s time to plan for a day or two of relaxation or celebration. For those who love the great outdoors, the recent cool weather and brilliant blue skies make watching the sunrise on top of a mountain a great choice; but for the less outdoorsy, the following 12 exhibitions could be right up your street. From treasures and artworks from overseas to traditional local handicrafts and ink paintings, these exhibitions are a real cultural feast. Take your pick.

Guangdong Museum

Mucha and others: Treasures of Art Nouveau

Period: Nov. 25, 2017 - Mar. 25, 2018

Opening Hours: 9:00 - 17:00, closed on Mondays

Venue: Hall No. 3, 3rd Floor, Guangdong Museum (广东省博物馆)

Add.: No. 2 Zhujiang Dong Lu, Zhujiang New Town, Tianhe District, Guangzhou (广州市天河区珠江新城珠江东路2号)

Metro: Zhujiang New Town station, Line 3 or Line 5;

Bus: No.40, No.44, No.183, No.293, No.886, No.886A

Admission: One must purchase a ticket to visit this special exhibition, priced at RMB 30-50. Please refer to the ticket office for further details.

He is a Czech national treasure, the pioneer of Art Nouveau Movement, the mastermind behind the Czech Republic's stamp and currency designs, as well as graceful designs for countless items of clothing, jewelry, furniture and architecture; he is Alphonse Mucha.

Guangdong Museum is delighted to present a superb selection of works by Alphonse Mucha and other artists. These artworks were specially selected from the collections of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague. This is the first time Mucha’s works have been exhibited in China. These artworks testify to the ideals, dreams and visions of the early 20th Century that molded the art and culture of modern Europe.


Blue and White Porcelain: Science and Technology, Culture, Trade

Period: Dec. 8, 2017 - Apr. 07, 2018

Opening Hours: 9:00 - 17:00, closed on Mondays

Venue: Hall No. 2, 3rd Floor, Guangdong Museum (广东省博物馆)

Add.: No. 2 Zhujiang Dong Lu, Zhujiang New Town, Tianhe District, Guangzhou (广州市天河区珠江新城珠江东路2号)

Metro: Zhujiang New Town station, Line 3 or Line 5;

Bus: No.40, No.44, No.183, No.293, No.886, No.886A

Admission: Free admission tickets can be obtained from the Ticket Office of Guangdong Museum from 8: 50 a.m. to 4 p.m. Valid ID is required for one person to get one ticket. Tickets are valid on the day of issue only.

Blue-and-white porcelain first came into being in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Its manufacture technology started to mature in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). During the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1636-1911), the production of blue-and-white porcelain was perfected. As everyone knows, blue-and-white porcelain has been shipped and sold all around the world, synonymous with China and promoting the development of ceramic industries across the globe.

A total of about 160 blue-and-white porcelain works are on display in this exhibition, along with photos, videos, experimental data and multimedia devices, showcasing technical, cultural and commercial achievements of blue-and-white porcelain. You can also learn from this exhibition about Guangdong’s role in overseas trade and cultural exchange via the porcelain export industry.


1st China Animation & Comic Art Exhibition

Period: Dec.15, 2017 - Apr. 26, 2018

Venue: Calligraphy and Painting Hall, 3rd Floor, Guangdong Museum

Add.: No. 2 Zhujiang Dong Lu, Zhujiang New Town, Tianhe District, Guangzhou (广州市天河区珠江新城珠江东路2号)

Nearby metro station: Zhujiang New Town, Line 3 or Line 5;

Bus: No.40, No.44, No.183, No.293, No.886, No.886A

Admission: Free admission tickets can be obtained from the Ticket Office of Guangdong Museum from 8: 50 a.m. to 4 p.m. Valid ID is required for one person to get one ticket. Tickets are valid on the day of issue only.

Do you want to get a glimpse of original Chinese animation & comics from the past fifty years? Do you want to know which Chinese cartoons are the most popular with kids and youth right now? Come visit the 1st China Animation & Comic Art Exhibition at Guangdong Museum in Guangzhou.

At this exhibition, you can see most of the widely loved Chinese animations & comics, from classics like ‘Monkey King’, ‘Nezha Conquers the Dragon King’, ‘Lotus Lantern’, and ‘Old Master Q’, to currently hits such as ‘Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf’, ‘Grow Up With My Daughter’, ‘Mr. Box’, and ‘Life Smartphone’. At this exhibition, not only can you view design drafts, sketches, cartoon books, illustrations, sculptures and figurines, but also interact with the artworks and their creators via 3D, VR, interactive audiovisual and digital media devices.


Guangzhou Museum of Art

Second period of the Exquisite Works of Art Selected for Exhibition

Period: Dec. 1, 2017 - Jan. 7, 2018

Venue: Chinese Paintings from all Dynasties, Guangzhou Museum of Art (广州艺术博物院)

Opening Hours: Tuesday to Friday: 9:00 - 17:00; Saturday, Sunday and official holidays: 9:30 - 16:30; closed on Monday.

Add.: No.13 Luhu Road, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou (广州市麓湖路13号)

Bus: Take bus No. 63, 245, Tourist Bus No. 1 and get off at Luhu Park (Guangzhou Museum of Art) station; or take bus No. 10, 63, 297, 808, 883 and get off at Guangdong Second Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital station; or take bus No. 109, 110, 184 and get off at Hengzhigang station.

This exhibition contains paintings spanning a dozen dynasties and eras, from the 1000 year old Song, to modern and contemporary eras. Paintings by artists from the Lingnan area, among the most unique and prized in the museum, are also on display in this exhibition.

Featured artworks include ‘calligraphy and painting of ink bamboo’ by Wen Tong of the Song Dynasty, and ‘pigeons bathing in copper basin’ by an anonymous Yuan Dynasty artist.


Retrospective Exhibition of Liu Jirong’s Artworks

Period: Dec. 21, 2017 - Mar. 18, 2018

Venue: Guangzhou Museum of Art (广州艺术博物院)

Opening Hours: Tuesday to Friday: 9:00 - 17:00; Saturday, Sunday and official holidays: 9:30 - 16:30; closed on Monday.

Add.: No.13 Luhu Road, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou (广州市麓湖路13号)

Bus: Take bus No. 63, 245, Tourist Bus No. 1 and get off at Luhu Park (Guangzhou Museum of Art) station; or take bus No. 10, 63, 297, 808, 883 and get off at Guangdong Second Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital station; or take bus No. 109, 110, 184 and get off at Hengzhigang station.

Liu Jirong, a famous contemporary artist and art educator in Guangdong, passed away due to illness last year. According to his will, his family members donated some of his final works to Guangzhou Museum of Art.

This year, the museum is going to hold an exhibition of the donated pieces as a retrospective of artist Liu Jirong achievements.


Other venues

Guangzhou Image Triennial 2017

Period: Dec. 15, 2017 - Mar. 8, 2018

Opening Hours: 9:00 – 17:00 (closed on Monday)

Venue: Guangdong Museum of Art (广东美术馆)

Admission: Free

Add.: No. 38 Yanyu Lu (Rd.), Er-sha Island, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou (广州市越秀区二沙岛烟雨路38号)

Bus: You can take one of the following buses in Guangzhou to get there: Bus No. 89, 194, B21, 131A, 57, or 12.

A total of 58 artists will participate in the ‘Guangzhou Image Triennial 2017’ exhibition. They are mainly from China, Singapore, USA, Canada, UK, Japan, Spain, Morocco, France, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Switzerland, etc.

The exhibition consists of two parts: a ‘Themed Exhibition’ and a ‘Special Exhibition’. The Theme Exhibition will be jointly curated by both Chinese curator Bao Dong and Spanish curator Alejandro Castellote, selecting artworks from over 40 domestic and foreign artists. The Special Exhibition will focus on the work of just 15 artists, discussing the relations between photography and history, photography and society, photography and our generation.


Sino-German Contemporary Art Exhibition ‘Intuition’

Period: 2017.12.12-2018.2.28

Opening hours: 14:00-18:30, Tuesday - Sunday, closed on Monday

Venue: Art23 Contemporary Art Gallery (ART23当代艺术馆)

Add.: No. 23 Qiming Third Street, Qiming Community, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou (广州市越秀区启明小区启明三马路23号)

Admission: Ticket priced at RMB 20 during the exhibition period, but you can visit the exhibition for free on Wednesdays.

Eight contemporary artists from both Germany and China, including Frederik Foert, Susane Kutter, Olivia Seiling, Chen Danyang and Jiang Guoyuan, present visitors with an array of installation pieces, sculpture, painting, performance art and more. The works exhibited ask questions about time and space in exploration of their relations with the individual, blending dynamism and stillness, light and shade, the real and the virtual.


The Borderless Wall: Song Dong’s Solo Exhibition

Period: Dec. 2, 2017 - Mar. 5, 2018 (10:00 am – 7:00 pm, closed on Tuesdays)

Venue: Fei Arts (G Floor, Estate Plaza, No.5, Nong Lin Xia Road, Guangzhou)

Metro: Exit C, Dongshankou Station, Line 1 or 6

Contemporary artist Song Dong holds the belief that there is no border between art and life. In Song’s eyes, every one’s home can be regarded as a museum, and the neighborhood composed of millions of homes can be viewed as a ‘Borderless Museum’. Song decided to put the idea that has been haunting his mind for so many years – “redefining the wall” – into practice in Fei Arts, an art organization that has been established in Guangzhou for ten years.

Therefore, Fei Arts and Song Dong launched a special public art project this May. This December, as the first art piece of the project, the Borderless Wall has been completed. This special wall not only serves as the beginning of the art project, but also refines people’s common concept of what a wall should be.


Group Exhibition: Urban Dictionary II

Duration: 2017.12.02— 2018.02.13

Opening Hours: Mon.-Sat. 10:00— 18:00

Venue: 33 Contemporary Art Center, 33/F, Towe A, Victory Plaza, 103 Tiyu West Road, Guangzhou (33当代艺术中心,广州天河区体育西路103号维多利广场A塔33楼)

‘Urban Dictionary II’ explores at grass roots level the lives of those that earn a living in the streets and pertains specifically to today’s multitude of unlicensed street vendors. Such street vendors, the exhibition argues, bear a striking resemblance to Chinese artists in earlier years, particularly the avant-garde artists of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Peddlers or street vendors have become part of and enriched urban life by nourishing diverse and vibrant community cultures.


Group Exhibition: Detour in Time

Period: Dec. 16, 2017 - Feb. 4, 2018

Time: Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-18:00 (Closed on Mondays)

Venue: Guangdong Times Museum

Add.: Times Rose Garden III, Huangbian North Road, Baiyun North Avenue, Guangzhou

Nearby metro station: Exit D, Huangbian Station, Line 2

Entry: Adult ¥20, Discounted ¥10, free to members of Times Museum/ Staff and house owner of Times Property

The exhibitions use the museum itself as a case study; exploring all of its hidden essence, including its architectural form, practices in different perspectives, and its possibilities in the future. In this structure, artistic creation functions as a link to everyday life; architects are not only space planners, but also illustrators that ignite the viewers’ imagination as to the potentiality of the venue.

During the exhibition period, the museum will become a multi-purpose public space that launches an inquiry of its own being by opening up and releasing itself from people’s preconceived notions about the space.


Visions in Metaphor: SAINT-LOUIS Paperweights & artist Guo Weiguang

Duration: 2017. 12. 10 — 2018.2.10

Open Hours: 10:30 - 19:00

Venue: Fl. 1&2, East Podium Building, The Westin Pazhou, Guangzhou (广州琶洲广交会威斯汀酒店东裙楼1、2层)

Nearby metro station: Exit C, Pazhou Station, Line 8

SAINT-LOUIS paperweights is a brand who has done business for more than 400 years; Mr. Guo Weiguang’s solo exhibition, ‘Little Subjects, Big Works’ takes the little flowers, plants, animals, normally too small to draw any attention from us, and enlarged them to stunning effect.


Floating Latency: Li Mingchang Solo Exhibition

Duration: 2017.11.25 — 2018.01.07

Open Hours: 11:00 - 20:00

Venue: No.9, Xuguyuan Road, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou (广州市越秀区恤孤院路9号)

When talking about painting, artist Li Mingchang said, “When painting, I always feel lacking in strength. These external propositions are eating away at my imagination of the boundaries of painting and rhetoric, and it is difficult to describe in words. Most of the time, painting becomes something greater than itself.” Li Mingchang, born in 1980 in Guangxi Province, is now Teaching at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts.

(Author: Monica Liu; Editor: Simon Haywood)

Related News