Conclusion

Abstract

In the foregoing chapters, an array of varied approaches to establishing a relatively ‘independent’ position in the contemporary media ecology have been discussed. What distinguishes the situation in China is the relative absence of the aesthetic ‘carte blanche’ that tends to be associated with ‘independent’ art in either the English-speaking world, Japan or Europe. The obligation to have a strategy to survive within a broader matrix of socio-cultural hegemony which forms a fundamental aspect of the ecology leads to several disparate responses. Whilst not assuming that the foregoing instances are exhaustive, the relative strategies of Pi San, Lei Lei and Liu Jian exemplify versions of gambits that have enabled those artists to develop a profile nationally and, in some cases, internationally. Given the current climate of international relations and recent developments in the political sphere, it is likely that these responses are likely to retain the same characteristics—it will nonetheless be of deep interest to see in time how each of these approaches fares.