Wang Chunchen, a member of the curatorial research department of the Museum of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, has been awarded this year’s Contemporary Chinese Art Awards prize for art criticism. A grant of €10,000 will support his realization of the proposal “Art Intervenes in Society — A New Artistic Relationship,” to be published by CCAA as a book in 2010. The volume will examine work by numerous artists who insert their work into everyday social situations in order to question existing political and artistic norms.

Wang’s proposal was chosen from among 27 entries. The other finalists were “Cultural Identity and Innovation: Contemporary Chinese Art and Cultural Traditions” by Liu Congyun, a columnist for the South China Morning Post, and “Jianghu and Empire: Cultural Geographies in Chinese Contemporary Art” by Lau Sau Yee, chairman of the Society for Experimental Cultural Production at Hong Kong City University. A four-person jury, comprised of artist and CAFA vice president Xu Bing; artist, writer, and China Art Academy professor Qiu Zhijie; Art in America senior editor Richard Vine; and CCAA founder Uli Sigg, commended Wang’s proposal for its relevance to current critical discourse and its clarity of organization and language.

Founded in 1997 by Uli Sigg, former Swiss Ambassador to China and a leading collector of Chinese contemporary art, the Contemporary Chinese Art Awards are given biannually to Chinese artists and art critics who show particular talent in artistic creation and its critique. The award is designed to encourage awardees’ development and to enhance awareness and appreciation for what Chinese contemporary art contributes to contemporary culture.