Artists turned on to the theme of sex

Sex is a key element in contemporary Chinese art and for proof of this assertion you need look no farther than a 798 Space exhibition that gathers diverse genres to examine the subject.

And, to make it sound a little bit artsy, poet, critic and curator Zhu Zhu has given the show the tongue-twisting title, Love and Lust of the Young and Liberated.

"The artists present their individual experiences and views about love and lust in an increasingly open and liberal China. I believe viewers can easily relate to these works," Zhu says.

Divided into six parts, the exhibition features works depicting older artists' childhood memories of love and lust in the 1960s-70s; works that explore the changing attitudes toward sex among ordinary people since reform and opening-up; cute and thought-provoking works by younger artists exposed to imported comics and animations loaded with porn in the 1990s; and some video works (rarely seen in large movie theaters, and perhaps disturbing to some viewers) giving special attention to the changing situation of China's gay communities.

10 am-5 pm, until March 22. The 798 Space, Ceramic 3 Street, 798 Lu, 798 Art Zone, 4 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-5978-9181, 5978-9180.