M+ Sigg Collection: City Lives

The fourth exhibition of the M+ Sigg Collection is a decades-spanning overview of Chinese contemporary art that draws inspiration from the two oldest groups of works in the collection: figurative, socialist realist paintings, and the landscapes and everyday urban scenes by the No Name Group, the first group of contemporary artists who worked in non-official, Impressionist-inspired styles. The exhibition explores two recurring subjects—people and space—that weave throughout the development of Chinese contemporary art. By examining the diverse ways artists represent these subjects, the exhibition traces the remarkable social and conceptual shifts in artmaking from the 1970s to the 2010s, moving from grand narratives, collectivism, and public life to individual expressions of private and intimate experiences.

The exhibition is structured around two main threads. The first, Figures, Bodies, Minds examines the long-term influence of socialist realism on Chinese contemporary art. It surveys how artists challenge or reveal the principles of this style as they shift their focus from the collective to the individual, in which the body becomes a vehicle for contemplating existence. Meanwhile, Public Cities, Private Lives focuses on the role of space in Chinese contemporary art since the late 1970s. As the economy expanded and the country urbanised, real estate developments and new landmark architecture transformed the environment, affecting how art was made and how artists navigated or resisted these changes.