A LIFE-SIZE FIGURE dressed in corduroy trousers and a leather jacket lies staring at the ground. In front of his face is a pool of what appears to be water - or perhaps it's blood or vomit. Behind him in the distance are the unmistakable buildings of the Forbidden City. This is Tiananmen Square. In the next photo, the same figure lies on the ground in a massive, empty space. In front of his face is an expanse of ice. These monumental, meditative works by 39-year-old Beijing artist Song Dong, called Breathing, are part of an extraordinary exhibition of Chinese art at London's Victoria and Albert Museum. Entitled Between Past and Future, it's Britain's first major presentation of Chinese photography and video from the past decade. It's a witty, engaging and varied show that features artists born between 1960 and 1972, with the exception of Xiong Wenyun, who at 52 is by far the oldest. The show includes traditional landscapes painted onto a model's skin, film of a rooster and chicken in a grain-eating competition and some unusual takes by photographer Wang Qingsong on Socialist Realist town square statues. Closer inspection of Wang's work reveals that the statues are tableaux vivants, with actors, covered in metallic paint, holdings objects such as pineapples, lanterns or bicycles. Beijing's East Village plays a prominent part in the exhibition, with works by several artists who lived there in the early 90s. One such piece is footage of Fen-ma Liuming, who walked naked along ruins of the Great Wall until his feet bled. He has long hair and is made up to look like a pretty young woman - despite his naked male body. Themes of masochism, cruelty, gender-crossing and destruction of cultural items are present in other works from the village as well. One photo shows performance artist Rong Rong wrapping himself in chains, with blood dripping on to a hot plate - which, we're told, filled the room with a strange stench. Rong's works also include 1,500 plaster casts of his face, spread on the ground, which visitors are invited to walk over and smash. This can be seen as a reference to Red Guards forcing monks and other Buddhists to step on and destroy their holy texts. However, like much in the exhibition, such images aren't explained to its non-Chinese audience. Many European visitors will have little idea of the Cultural Revolution in China. The Tiananmen crackdown of 16 years ago may merit a reminder in the accompanying notes, if only for teenagers attending the exhibition. In many ways it's a courageous show, but there's a feeling that the curators don't want to upset the authorities by explaining the motivation behind some of the pictures, even though it's vital to understanding what they mean. Despite a lack of Hong Kong representation, the exhibition deals with subjects close to the city's heart. Zhang Dali uses buildings tagged for demolition for his art, cutting out four-metre-high faces in the brickwork to create surreal vistas throughout each site. This work lasts only until the bulldozers and cranes arrive. One of the more disturbing exhibits is a video installation by Cui Xiuwen, who hid a camera in the ladies' toilets of a karaoke bar. The result is shots of prostitutes making calls, tucking money into their bras, changing their clothes and laughing about blackmailing clients. The exhibit has already featured in several shows around the world. The show is the first of many programmes in an unprecedented collaboration between two of Britain's most important museums - the Victoria and Albert and the British museums - and China's leading galleries, including the National Museum, the Shanghai Museum, and the Hong Kong Museum of Art. The Victoria and Albert is involved in several collaborations with China aimed at encouraging an exchange of ideas. A show called China Design Now is planned to coincide with the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and will culminate in a big exhibition at the Shanghai Expo 2010. On September 6, the British Museum signed an agreement with the National Museum of China guaranteeing a series of loans, including an exhibition of Egyptian art and mummies in 2008, in exchange for a number of Chinese loans to Britain. In the past 10 years, the British Museum has exhibited Chinese calligraphy, jade and paintings, and run an exhibition called Mysteries of Ancient China. 'The museum has always been interested in China,' a spokeswomen says. When it opened in 1753, it had already secured a small collection of Chinese objects, including Engelbert Kaempfer's popular prints from Suzhou, depicting flowers, fruit and birds. When Queen Elizabeth reopened the museum's gallery of oriental antiquities in November 1992, it had a Chinese name. It's now called the Hotung Gallery, after Hong Kong businessman and art-lover Joseph Hotung, who often visited the galleries on trips to London as a young man. He offered to renovate the entire gallery, so he could see his favourite objects more clearly, and so that others could appreciate them as well. One of the main - and, perhaps, the most important - purposes for all the co-operation and effort is to allow British and Chinese visitors to see their own national treasures and art projects more clearly. Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China, Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, London. Ends Jan 15
