This article examines the actuality installation of the 1980s–1990s as a new form of contemporary creativity in the field of conceptualism for the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The author proceeds from the previously established fact: the first author’s installation was created in 1965 by a group of Sichuan masters. The development of contemporary art in the PRC during the end of the 20th century is due to the expansion of creative freedoms, the emergence of a depoliticized space for artistic activity as a result of the adoption by the State (1982) of Deng Xiaoping’s (1904–1997) economic reforms. In the actuality installations created after the end of the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) an attempt to synthesize Western modernism and postmodernism with the national tradition is noticeable. Masters such as Gu Wenda, Xu Bing, Cai Guoqiang use the method of playful transformation of ideas or free improvisation based on them, and this example was followed by other Chinese artists of the 1980s–1990s. It allows us to see in the installation of the late 20th century a special version of contemporary conceptualism.
Chinese installation of the late 20th century; contemporary art; conceptualism; Gu Wenda; Xu Bing; Ai Weiwei; Cai Guoqiang.