Reflections on the Non-Mainstream Exhibition "From One Revolution to Another"

A scene from the "All These Solid and Enduring Things Will Become Bubbles" unit exhibition, 1760-2008. Paris is most precious to me for its endless exhibitions; contemporary art is one of my ways to understand current global trends. Returning to Paris, I was eager to visit the city's major shows, starting with the Palais de Tokyo's "From One Revolution to Another," a non-mainstream exhibition that clearly values today's pluralistic values more than ever before, making it rare.

Because mainstream art in the market has long been corrupted, auction prices inevitably turn galleries into battlefields where art becomes an investment object coveted by post-capitalism. Art speculation or investment are essentially the same meaning. In Taiwan, there is even a book titled "Making Big Money Buying Paintings," a truly bizarre book proving an extraordinary speculative phenomenon. It seems that under today's capitalism, or more precisely, wild capitalism, if you do not deceive, explode, squeeze, or cheat, no huge profits can be sought.

Art values are distorted, and art prices put art to death, a phenomenon proven at every auction house today. Under the pursuit of profit, art is hyped to death, and its value is twisted by sky-high prices. Clearly, today's market dominates artistic creation. I hope that during this surging global financial crisis and the coming ice age, the hot contemporary art auctions will be shocked into awareness, reversing the current art market to cool down or freeze speculation, reshuffle the market, and make creations dominated by the market disappear. During this settling period, let artistic value become even more prominent.