The Fifth Shanghai Biennale, which will take place this fall at the Shanghai Museum of Art, will welcome artists from around the world.

With the theme "Techniques with the Visible," the show, the most prestigious contemporary art event in the country, is to explore the impact of image-making technologies on human life this year.

Images, as defined by the curators of the event, include rich artistic resources from traditional Chinese paper-cuts and shadow puppets to today's photography and films.

"Artists are expected to explore the possibilities of various media and technologies in contemporary visual art and to revive the various art forms from the past using contemporary methods of artistic expression," said the curators.

The event's team of curators includes Xu Jiang, president of the China Academy of Art, Hangzhou; Zheng Shengtian, a Canada-based independent Chinese curator; Sebastian Lopez, director of the Gate Foundation in Amsterdam; Zhang Qing, curator of the Shanghai Museum of Art; and Gao Shiming, curator of the China Academy of Art.

Xu Jiang is the chief curator for the show and Gao Shiming will act as assistant to the curators. Xu, Zheng and Zhang have been involved in previous Shanghai biennales.

(China Daily February 26, 2004)