GECCA mapped is a pilot project that visualizes and provides geo-referential metadata of sixty exhibition entries collected in the larger GECCA data base (more than 700 entries). The exhibition sample is limited to Western, i.e. Western European and Northern American group exhibitions, and excludes bi-/ triennials. With the support of the HRA (Heidelberg Research Architecture), GECCA mapped allows the user to trace the exhibition sample implemented in Google Earth. The GECCA mapped logo indicates the place where a particular exhibition was staged and is scaled according to the number of participating artists. A click on the logo opens a pop-up window presenting more information on the exhibition. The Google Earth timeline enables the user to follow the exhibition development in any chosen geographical area in the period from 1982 (earliest exhibition entry) to 2009 (latest exhibition entry).
Group Exhibitions of Contemporary Chinese Art (GECCA): The medium of (group and panoramic) exhibitions has played a fundamental role in creating a global context for Chinese art within and outside of the People's Republic after the end of the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution" (1966-1976) and since the political reforms initiated by Deng Xiaoping in 1978/79. In economic, discursive, aesthetic and institutional terms, the Western reception of these shows was very influential for the establishment of a certain international canon of artworks, artists and curators. This particular canon in fact came to be considered representative of the whole of Chinese artistic production, although it actually tends to exclude large parts of the overall artistic activity such as "national ink painting" (guohua), conventional or conservative academic oil painting, as well as those works involving political or consumption oriented subject matter, including mass-produced decorative and popular artworks.
With 60 exhibitions entries, the data that GECCA mapped visualizes is a comparatively small sample of the database GECCA - which contains more than 700 exhibition entries. The data was individually researched and includes information on the location, institution, dates, exhibition topic, participating artists and curators. The sources for the data stem from exhibition catalogues, museum websites, archival documentation of public art libraries and other archives.
A typical use of the kmz-file that visualizes GECCA mapped is Google Earth.
