CCAA 艺术评论奖
我为什么要设立2007年CCAA（中国当代艺术奖）艺术评论奖呢？活跃的中国艺术界显然缺乏足够的独立艺术评论。过去，这种缺乏主要是由于一种未足够加以区分的艺术运作体制——在整个文化领域内没有独立的媒体，而这些媒体也没有任何独立性。这种状况对于维持一位真正独立的作家的事业而言，并没有提供足够的资源。在蓬勃的艺术市场当中，艺术媒体的出版物、艺术书籍和展览图录大大丰富起来。物质条件也大大改善了。然而大部分此类著作不得不迎合市场的需要。此外，中国国内的学术体系在为从事艺术评论事业而提供的特定课程方面，也一直进展缓慢。进入2010年，整体市场渐渐冷静下来，但就出版物而言，基本还是维持着原样。
另一个弱点还是在于对中国艺术届的参与。市场几乎唯独只去验证被认为是好的或坏的艺术。这种局面是由于没有足够的资源来平衡市场支配力造成的，例如实力雄厚的美术馆机构能够而且愿意用他们的策展实践来参与讨论，特别缺乏那种独立的分析和评论，后者旨在培养迅速增长的观众群体，这些观众要么只是粗略地一瞥，要么乐于视觉艺术投资。
艺术评论大奖希望从两方面来指出这些问题，发起对独立艺术评论的讨论；因为对于推进中国的艺术创作而言，这是最为根本的，同时也进一步培养这一活跃领域的参与者。它也鼓励能够深入研究中国当代艺术、但却得不到资金支持的独立写作。
王春辰作为2009年该奖项的得主，提交了一篇探讨艺术介入中国社会这一主题的论文。在论文引序中，作者通过北京大批艺术区被拆除这一事件，指出在这些艺术区中所进行的艺术活动从未真正达成与社会的广泛接触。可以看出，在城市规划面前，以及在不断扩张着、 变动着的中国城市和社会中，艺术从未被列入优先考虑的范畴。艺术家采取何种形式的、具有何种意义的介入手段，去拉近存在于艺术与社会之间的距离呢？
王春辰对这一非常现实而复杂的问题的研究分析充分印证了国际评委在2009年CCAA 评论奖评选中遴选他的计划提案时所给予的信任，该届国际评委由徐冰（中央美术学院副院长）、邱志杰（中国美术学院教授）、理查德•怀恩（Richard Vine，《美国艺术》资深编辑）以及乌利•希客（CCAA 创始人）组成。
乌利•希客
CCAA中国当代艺术奖-评论奖创始人
CCAA Art Critic Awards
Why did I in 2007 establish the CCAA (Chinese Contemporary Art Awards) Art Critic Awards?
The vibrant Chinese art scene clearly lacked sufficient independent art criticism. In the past, this lack was due to an art operating system that was not differentiated enough – there was no independent media within the cultural domain, and no independence within these media. This situation provided insufficient resources to sustain a career as a truly independent writer. Then, in a booming art market, art media publications, artist books and exhibition catalogs abounded. Material conditions had improved greatly. Yet most of this writing had to cater to the needs of the market. In addition, the academic system inside China had been very slow in providing a specific curriculum for those wishing to pursue a career in art criticism. As we write 2010,the hype has cooled down a bit. Yet the issues remain largely the same.
Another weakness still weighs in on the Chinese art scene. The market, almost exclusively, validates what is considered good or bad art. This stems from insufficient resources to balance market powers, such as strong museum institutions capable and willing to participate in the discourse with their curatorial practice, and a particular lack of independent analysis and critique aimed at educating a rapidly growing audience that casts an eye on or is willing to invest in visual arts.
The Art Critic Award wants to address these issues twofold, by raising the discussion on independent art criticism which is so essential to advance art creation in China and to further educate the participants of this vibrant scene. It also seeks to encourage independent writing by enabling an in depth research project in Chinese contemporary art that might not otherwise have found financial support.
Wang Chunchen, as the winner of the 2009 award, has submitted an essay which looks at art intervention in Chinese society. Starting out from the abolishment of numerous art districts in Beijing he states that the art works created in these districts have never managed to make full contact with the society at large. As a result, be it in view of city planning or ideology in the ever expanding and fluctuating Chinese city and society, art has never made it on a priority list for consideration. What interventions have artists undertaken - and what could their means be - to close the diagnosed gap between art and Chinese society?
His essay on this very real and complex issue fully justifies the trust that the international jury consisting of Xu Bing (Vice President of Central Academy of Fine Arts.),Qiu Zhijie (Professor of China Art Academy….),Richard Vine (Senior Editor of Art in America….) and Uli Sigg (Founder of CCAA) put in selecting Wang Chunchen’s project as the winner of 2009 CCAA Art Critic Award.
Uli Sigg
Founder of CCAA Art Critic Award