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| By Lynn Zhang |
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  li Sigg is the former Swiss ambassador to China, North Korea and Mongolia. He is also believed to have the world’s largest collection of Chinese contemporary art, over 1,500 pieces from 200 artists. Since 1985, Mr. Sigg has been collecting paintings, installations, videos and sculpture works, amassing a wide range of works from some of China’s best-known artists, like Wang Guangyi, Fang Lijun, Ai Weiwei, Zhang Xiaogang, Zhou Tiehai and Zhang Huan. In 1998, he also established the Chinese Contemporary Art Awards, which brings together a group of world class curators and artists to vote of some of the most compelling art works from avant-garde artists. In the first year of the awards, Zhou Tiehai earned one of the honors, helping catapult him to international fame. Now, Mr. Sigg, a Swiss native, travels frequently to China, showing up at exhibitions and visiting the studios of artists, continuing to build on his huge collection. Last September, during the Shanghai Biennale, he sat down for a Q&A session with ArtzineChina’s founder, Lynn Zhang:
Q: Can you tell us a little about your impressions of the Shanghai Biennale? Did any of the work really surprise you?
A: I must admit I saw very little of the Biennale, even though I spent three hours there. I was drawn into so many discussions. I could not take a thorough look. But the presentation was much more professional than the last Shanghai Biennale.
Q: Everyone knows you as a collector. Why are you now taking a more active role in the arts, acting as a curator and also a judge of contemporary arts awards?
A: I have always seen myself as a collector, but also as a researcher. And to expand the scope of my activities, like setting up the CAA [Contemporary Art Awards], is as much to help develop the Chinese art system. My role doesn’t have to be limited to that of a collector.
Q: Victoria Lu, the curator of the MoCA, says the MoCA show "Entry Gate: Chinese Aesthetics of Heterogeneity," grew partly out of a discussion – or debate – with you. Can you tell us about that?
 A: Actually, she got in touch with me after she saw my book “Mahjong." She had expressed the opinion that the works in my collection were over-represented by political works or a western paradigm. She felt they were political works, or a western paradigm of the avant-garde, confronting tradition or attacking it. She felt the Chinese paradigm is to build on tradition; it’s not so much confrontation. She thinks much of this is overlooked. And this may be true. For me, it’s a question. In “Mahjong” there’s a long discussion with me on this. Is there a Chinese-ness? That’s why she invited me. She thought this should be explored. This is interesting; it needs much more thought.
Q: How big is your collection right now? And are you continuing to collect new items?
A: I’ve collected 1,500 works by 200 artists. And I’m continuing to do this.
Q: Can you tell us about the Contemporary Art Awards? What convinced you that Cao Fei and some of the other artists were doing really good work?
 A: Why did I set up these art awards? I felt not enough attention was being paid to Chinese artists. So I invited famous international curators to help just show good artists. That was my thinking. And it worked very well. At the Venice Biennale, 19 artists were there because Harold Szeeman had been on this jury. This is the first time we’ve exhibited our show [September 2006 at the Zendai Museum in Pudong]. I couldn’t imagine this happening ten years ago. It’s not about me. It’s about the jury. First we invited five Chinese curators. Each finds 25 artists. Then we selected 35 artists. We are looking at a two-year period that they’ve done significant works. Then we choose the overall winner. And we choose the best young artist under 30. Then we choose a contributing artist who has been influential. We had Ruth Norck, who is the next curator at Documenta, which is the one of the best shows. We had Fan Dian, director of the National Gallery. And we had Ai Weiwei and myself. We also had Pi Li as director. Cao Fei is very young but already accomplished with installations videos, and film production. She deals with a lot of phenomena of society in southern China – Guangdong.
Q: Do you believe the prices of contemporary art will continue to rise in China? Do you think anything will change over the next two years?
 A: I’m rethinking things very strongly, given that prices are so high and given so many people are starting to collect Chinese contemporary art. My concept was to create this document that mirrors all Chinese contemporary art over a period, because no one did this. So now I can change my approach. In the past, no one collected Chinese contemporary art, and this was very strange. I turned into the biggest collector in the world. But now people are starting to do this. This is the work that public institution should do. So I can now change my strategy. I don’t see anything at the moment that would stop a rise in prices. I see more and more people flocking to this market. As long as the economy is strong, I think prices will continue to rise. As soon as we see a downturn [in the economy], maybe things will change. It’s not like the international market.
Q: Are there any real art critics in China? We hear so much that China lacks on open art market. Pricing information is difficult to come by; and also that there are no real critics. Do you believe that?
A: I think it’s true there is very little pricing transparency. Everyone knows auction prices. But can we really trust auction results? Maybe they don’t reflect the market. Maybe gallery prices are more stable. Critics — I think there are good critics in China. But they lead a difficult life. So they may have to accept a painting from an artist after they give an exhibition. I see a weakness in critics with Chinese art but also with international art. I am planning for the CCAA to establish a prize for the best critic. This deserves more attention. It’s an important pillar of the art system. It needs to be strengthened.
 Q: You are believed the have the world’s largest collection of Chinese contemporary art. What do you see happening to your large collection? Will it stay in Europe? Will it come back to China? Will you build a museum?
A: I still intend to stay around for more years [he laughs]. So I haven’t attached any urgency to this question. In the end, it would make sense for the Chinese people to see their own art. But some conditions would have to be met.
Q: If you had any advice to curators and artists in China, what would it be?
A: Make good art. I think for the artists, we see a lot of work just representing some reality. I would like artist to go one or two steps further, to analyze rather than just represent. I see a lot of work about the demolition of the urban space. Is it worth showing more work like that? I’d like them to go one step beyond that.
Q: Have you ever sold any pieces?
A: I’m a collector not a seller. But I have exchanged works with artists. Maybe I need to have one of their earlier works.
Q: What’s the difference between what is being produced by artists in the West and what’s being produced in China?
 A: The differences used to be substantial when Chinese contemporary art started 25 years ago. Here you have this global art and then here you have Chinese art. But now we see them closer. They are going to merge in the future. More Chinese art will be extinct or will change. The global art we can’t predict. But some of it has converged. It’s very hard to assess. Is Chinese art like an endangered species? I’m not sure. Now the artists sit here [at the upscale restaurant M on the Bund]. They are in Starbucks. They are on the internet. They travel. So they may come up with similar ideas. I think the best artist will benefit but the second and third tier artists will be very confused by this.
Q: What are some of the criteria you use in trying to determine what is a great piece of art? Do you care for the beauty of an object or the message behind the object? What is most important in your mind in making that decision? And how do you go about collecting?
A: I think beauty is the least important thing, but it’s nice to have. It’s not so much about beauty. For me, most important is the way things make me think. My early focus was to mirror art production; it wasn’t my personal standards. It was what concerned Chinese artists at the time. So whether or not I liked it, I collected it. It also has to do with my knowledge of China. It’s about art but not exclusively about art. But you cannot exclude subjective criteria. So the art should have energy, and it should have a good forum. And ideally, a work should surprise me.
title image:Fluttering Flags by Pu Jie
image1:Untitled by Fang Lijun
image2:Untitled by Qi Zhilong
image3:Bloodline Series by Zhang Xiaogang
image4:Chairman Mao in Discussion with the Peasants of Shaoshan by Yu Youhan
image5:The Second Situation by Geng Jianyi
image6:Untitled by Zhan Wang
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