(Excerpt from Preface and Acknowledgement) Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World presents a history of contemporary art from China and the rise of global art discourse spanning the watershed years 1989 and 2008. No nation in modern history underwent such a total transformation as did China during these two decades, and few shifts have had global impacts of this magnitude. The artist in this exhibition see themselves as both agents and skeptics of this accelerated change, and the views they offer should expand our understanding of the world we live in. Seeking tot frame a global narrative around China, Theatre of the World articulates a vision of art and the contemporary in which China is an interdependent player. With a focus on artists working on modes of conceptual art, our project sees their astute provocations in light of wider conversations about transnational modernity, postmodernism, difference and identity politics, globalization, and art and politics. Taken together, the Guggenheim exhibition, catalogue, documentary film series, online content, and educational programs look at a bold contemporary art movement that reveals as much about globalized China at the turn of the millennium as it does about the critical role Chinese artists have played in the rise of the global art phenomenon.