Tianli Zu

The Tao Tianli Zu

The Tao starts the conversation. Whether we are listening or speaking, we converse almost unconsciously on a daily basis. The Tao: Conversations on Chinese Art in Australia consists of a series of dialogues with important figures who contributed to the cross-border artistic encounters between China and Australia. In The Tao, Dr Tianli Zu, a Chinese-born Australian multimedia artist, explores 45 years of change in the relations between China and Australia since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1972. Zu reveals an array of hidden controversies, risky decisions, diplomatic strategies and conflicts through the language of Chinese art. The most complex, but also the most intriguing, aspect of dialoguing through this language is that ambiguity is rife. Zu employs Taoist ideas to observe the cultural meeting of minds between China and Australia. The Tao includes interviews with: Ah Xian, Edmund Capon, Jocelyn Chey, Guan Wei, Nicholas Jose, Lin Chunyan, Liu Xiaoxian, Mae Anna Pang, Geoff Raby, Claire Roberts, Aaron Seeto, Shen Shaomin, Gene Sherman, Brian Wallace, Wang Zhiyuan, Xiao Lu and John Yu. A novel exploration of Chinese art in Australia told through the stories of real people, The Tao is passionately argued, clearly articulated and thoroughly researched, and provokes conversations about the power of art to influence society.