CURRENT | 不合时宜: Contemporary Art from Scotland represents an innovative two-year, four-phase art display and discussion programme. Curated by the Cooper Gallery, Dundee and brought to life in collaboration with Chinese art organisations, curators and the British Council, this initiative marks the first in China, emphasising the distinct attributes of modern Scottish art, its grassroots foundations, and its active discourse with the social and political facets of art and culture. CURRENT, mirroring its Chinese moniker 不合时宜 (Untimely), takes inspiration from Roland Barthes’s assertion, “The contemporary is the untimely”, and interrogates the narratives defining our current era and its cultural manifestation.

The notion of “contemporary” sidelines the diverse tapestry of history, focusing instead on a singular “now” amidst the ever-growing transnational movement of money, goods, and people. In promoting the importance of the present, “contemporary” establishes a narrative that becomes essential in appraising how culture is valued, traded and consumed. This narrative positions “contemporary” as the only context validating an array of theoretical perspectives and critical analyses. Following its impactful debut on the global stage, Chinese contemporary art transitioned from multiple diverse practices into a recognisable “aesthetic regime”, solidified by the label “contemporary”.

CURRENT underscores this constructed characteristic of contemporary art. By displaying works from artists of varied generations, CURRENT exemplifies the rich and complex practices thriving in Scotland. Defined by originality and a daring spirit, this complexity challenges, subverts, and transforms traditional perceptions, evaluations, and comprehension of art and culture on an international scale. In turn, it pushes back against the mainstream narrative, unveiling an “untimely” and displaced sense of time in line with Barthes’s terms, and revealing the inherent intricacy of the term “contemporary”.

Learn more: 

University of Dundee. “CURRENT | 不合时宜 : Contemporary Art from Scotland.” Accessed 17 July 2023, https://www.dundee.ac.uk/projects/current-contemporary-art-scotland.