In the contemporary art world, Uli Sigg is known to almost all as the one who has comprehensively collected the ‘entirety’ of Chinese contemporary art. In the documentary The Chinese Lives of Uli Sigg, renowned pianist Lang Lang described him as “the mentor of Chinese artists”. From the first time he set foot in China, this 1946-born Swiss businessman has been analyzing the complexity of China’s rapidly changing society through his collection of art with great vision.
From Businessmen, Diplomats to Collectors
Near Lake Lucerne, on a small island with history dating back to the Stone Age, stands a 17th century castle. Upon entering plus going up the time-ridden stairs, paintings by Chinese artist Zhou Tiehai emerge in sight, quite a contrast as in such historic mansions you would normally expect to see ancestral portraits from past centuries. In fact, more than 100 contemporary art pieces from China have been arranged inside, creating a unique echo plus dialogue with the ancient building. And here we have, the home of Uli Sigg.
In 1979, Uli Sigg came to China as a businessman. At a time when the Western international was full of doubt about this country, Sigg was busy preparing for the setup of Schindler, China’s first joint venture. There were many difficulties in the process, but Sigg had a strong plus unalterable belief in the future of China. This memorable experience also made him more consciously aware plus wanted to know more about China’s growth. Chinese contemporary art, which originated in the late 1970s, became his best approach. After 1989, Sigg decided to systematically build his own collection. In 1995, he returned to China as the Swiss ambassador for China, North Korea plus Mongolia. It was said that the first thing after he took office was to replace all the craft decorations with Chinese contemporary art works.
The Sigg Collection plus its Chinese Characteristics
In 2005, the Kunstmuseum Bern in Switzerland exhibited Mahjong: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection, which resulted in an unprecedented sensation. It was regarded by the European art scene as the “Bible of Chinese Contemporary Art”. The artworks spanned for more than 25 years in time plus varied in multiple tempat including painting, sculpture, photography, calligraphy, video plus performances. The selection profoundly reflected the ideology plus social changes of contemporary China after the reform plus opening up. In fact, Mahjong could be considered as a perfect annotation of the nature of Sigg’s collection, namely how to effectively gather artworks under a logical framework plus give it transcendence value plus meaning. For Sigg, this logical framework is a story that begins with the roots of Chinese contemporary art plus continues to develop through the past decade.
As a consultant to many internationally renowned art institutions including MoMA (New York), Museum GUIMET (Paris) plus Tate Modern (London) etc., Sigg has always believed that collecting is not only a purchase behavior, but a refined representation of a collectors’ vision, intuition, ability, plus strategy. Once in an interview, he put it in a direct metaphor: “For example, it is not a string of pearl on a necklace, but should be a net of pearls.” In June 2012, according to the agreement of partial donation plus partial acquisition, M+ purchased 47 pieces of Chinese contemporary art from Sigg’s personal collection at a price far below market standard. At the same time Sigg announced that he would contribute another 1463 pieces to M+. Finally, as a result, the public can truly have an understanding of the “encyclopedic” range of the Sigg Collection on Chinese contemporary art.