Cantocore: Free On Board was the second installment of a collaborative project, exploring the globalized conditions of contemporary culture, through an exchange specifically between artists from the San Francisco Bay Area and Guangzhou, China.

Cantocore took its name and inspiration from the rapid economic, social, and cultural changes taking place, at the turn of the Millennium, in Canton province. Hip Hop was thriving, heavy metal music was blasting, and the art market was booming. During the preceding 20 years, cities such as Guangzhou, the capital of Canton, changed from having a uniquely Chinese culture into global cities influenced and informed by diverse forms of representation. During the same period, Chinese artists also exerted a growing influence on culture across the globe—and perhaps nowhere more than here on the Pacific rim of California, where Chinese Americans have played a central role since its inception. Art and culture are no longer defined by merely national boundaries—if it ever was—and yet cultural differences persist, providing productive tensions, rich with critical and creative possibilities.

Artists involved in this project included, among others, Americans with roots in China, Chinese who came to study and work in San Francisco, and Americans who emigrated to China. What common concerns inform these artists work? How does their art nevertheless read differently across the globe? How do the histories and environments of each city inform the aesthetics of the work produced and presented there; and how does the work transcend its geographic origins, drawing aesthetic and conceptual influence from elsewhere?

*The first installment of the project, titled Cantocore: Import / Export, took place in September 2008 at the Ping Pong Space in Guangzhou.