This interview was conducted at Fei Dawei's home in Beijing on 18 March 2009. 


Biography:

Fei Dawei (b. 1954, Shanghai) is an independent art critic and curator, currently based in Paris and Beijing. 

During the Cultural Revolution, Fei worked at a jade factory in Shanghai. In 1981, he enrolled in the Art History Department at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. As a student, he extensively studied the philosophy of Henri Bergson, and after graduating in 1985, became an editor of the Academy’s journal Art Research. In October 1986, Fei participated in an eight-month exchange program in France organized by the French Ministry of Culture, at which time he visited art schools and museums and lectured on avant-garde art in China. The following year Fei returned to China and travelled with Jean-Hubert Martin, then-director of the Centre Pompidou, visiting artists in preparation for the exhibition ‘Magiciens de la Terre’. 

In 1989, Fei helped to organize the ‘China/Avant-Garde Exhibition’ at the National Art Museum of China, before returning to France for an international forum held in connection with ‘Magiciens de la Terre’. In 1990, Fei curated ‘Chine Demain pour Hier’ in Pourrières, France, which presented the work of Huang Yongping, Gu Wenda, Yan Peiming, Chen Zhen, Yang Jiechang and Cai Guoqiang. In 1991, he curated ‘Exceptional Passage’, an exhibition held in Fukuoka, Japan. 

In October 2002, Fei became the director of The Guy and Myriam Ullens Foundation. Between 2007 and 2008, Fei Dawei served as the director of the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing. He curated the Center’s first exhibition, ‘'85 New Wave’, a large-scale historical retrospective, and later presented ‘House of Oracles: A Huang Yongping Retrospective’, an exhibition originally shown at the Walker Art Center in Minnesota.


簡歷︰

費大為，1954年生於上海，文革期間於上海玉石雕刻工廠做工人。1981年入讀北京中央美術學院美術史系，早年主力研究亨利·柏格森的哲學。1985年畢業留校任《美術研究》雜誌編輯。

1986 年十月接受法國文化部的邀請到法國講學、工作八個月，期間大量介紹中國前衛藝術。1987年回中國，並協助龐比杜藝術中心館長馬爾丹到各地訪問中國藝術家，為後來的《大地魔术师》展覽準備。1989年，為在北京中國美術館舉行之《中國現代藝術展》的組織者之一。同年赴法參加《大地魔術師》展之國際研討會，後留居法國。1990年在法國南部策劃了《獻給昨天的中國明天》展覽，參加的藝術家有黃永砅、谷文達、嚴培明、陳箴、楊詰蒼及蔡國強；1991年在日本福岡策劃了《非常口》展覽，此後在國際上陸續策劃中國當代藝術展覽，並參與各種學術活動。

2002年10月，費大為出任尤倫斯基金會主任，負責建立中國當代藝術的收藏，大量贊助並參與中國當代藝術在海外的展覽活動。2007年，費大為在北京創辦尤倫斯當代藝術中心（UCCA）並擔任館長，策劃了該館的開幕展《八五新潮》，為歷來最大型的八五新潮回顧展。後又將美國Walker Art Center 舉辦的《占卜者之屋──黃永砅回顧展》巡迴至北京展出。2008年離任，繼續獨立策展及評論之工作，現居巴黎及北京。