Contemporary Chinese Art. The art of China is a world cultural heritage

On the world stage, modern chinese art appeared relatively recently. The so-called "Chinese boom" occurred in 2005, when, for a small number of objective reasons, the prices for paintings by contemporary Chinese artists increased more than tenfold. On the world stage, contemporary Chinese art has appeared relatively recently. The so-called "Chinese boom" occurred in 2005, when, for a small number of objective reasons, the prices for paintings by contemporary Chinese artists increased more than tenfold. There is an opinion that an information war is actually being waged on the international art market. Conducting multi-million dollar deals to buy Chinese art is not always supported by facts. Often there are cases of delay in payment of the lot due to the appearance of doubts about the authenticity of the monument. So, for example, the most expensive picture, auctioned at Christie's in 2011, Qi Baishi's Long Life, Peaceful Land has been in storage for two years. With the help of such instances as the Chinese government, the media, dealers, the cost of works of art is artificially inflated. Thus, experts say that “the Chinese government is pursuing a policy of falsifying the prosperous, stable and prosperous background of the PRC in order to attract foreign investors' money to the country.” Thanks to the announcement of record sales, Chinese auction houses and representative offices of the world in China have become the international leaders in the art market, which has allowed to raise prices for works from China. Same on currently it is rather difficult to assess Chinese art objects, since there are no appropriate criteria, which also contributes to a free interpretation of the value of a work. Thus, according to Abigail R. Esman, the “soap bubble” of art objects is beneficial to the PRC government. In turn, Chinese contemporary art dealers unnaturally raise prices for the works of the artists they patronize. According to Dr. Claire McAndrew, “The boom in the Chinese market has been driven by rising wealth, strong domestic supply and buyer investment. The fact that China has taken a leading position in the global art market does not mean that it will retain its position in the coming years. The Chinese market will face the challenge of realizing more stable and longer-term growth.”

Nevertheless, at the moment, Chinese artists are known and popular all over the world, they make up to 39% of the revenue in the contemporary art market. This fact has both objective explanations, and based on the personal, subjective taste of the buyer, and so on, which should be further understood.

“Asian art is rapidly becoming international, and there has been a significant increase in purchases from both the rest of Asia and the West,” said Kim Chuan Mok, head of the South Asian Painting Department. At the moment, the most expensive artists in China are Zeng Fanzhi, Cui Ruzhou, Fan Zeng, Zhou Chunya and Zhang Xiaogang. At the same time, the work of Zeng Fanzhi "The Last Supper" in 2013 was sold at Sotheby's for $ 23.3 million, which is a record amount not only for the Asian market, but also for the Western one, putting it in fourth place in the list of the most expensive works contemporary artists.

In three years, China has bypassed the United States and Great Britain in terms of sales in the art market, which initially occupied a leading position in the world. Among Christie's departments, the Asian art market is in second place in terms of importance and profitability. According to Artprice, China accounts for 33% of the contemporary art market, while American - 30%, British - 19%, and French - 5%.

Why is contemporary Chinese art so popular?

Today, Chinese art is extremely relevant and important, partly because China itself has become one. Art centered around an economically strong centre. But there are quite specific explanations for the rise in prices.

In 2001 China joined the WTO, which influenced the increase in the presence of auction houses in the region, which in turn began to adapt to the personal preferences of new buyers. Thus, in the first decade of the 21st century, about a hundred auction houses were opened in China. Both local, such as Poly International, China Guardian, and international: since 2005, Forever International Auction Company Limited has been operating in Beijing under a license obtained from Christie's, in 2013-2014, world leaders Christie's and Sotheby's opened their direct representative offices in Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong. As a result, if in 2006 China's share of the world art market was 5%, then already in 2011 it was about 40%.

In 2005 there was a so-called "Chinese boom", in which prices for works of Chinese masters rose sharply from several tens of thousands to a million dollars. So, if one of the Mask Series paintings by Zeng Fanzhi in 2004 was sold for 384,000 HKD, then already in 2006, a work from the same series went for 960,000 HKD. Uta Grosenick, a German art historian, believes that this is due to the venue Olympic Games Beijing. "Attention to modern China transferred to contemporary Chinese art, which turned out to be understandable to the Western audience.

During periods of economic instability, the art market grows. 2007-2008 years are characterized by specialists as a period sharp increase sales of painting as a whole by 70%, also increasing demand for contemporary Chinese art. This can be seen in Zeng Fanzhi's sales at Sotheby's and Christies auctions. In 2008, the crisis year, he broke a price record. Painting "Mask series No. 6" was sold at Christies for 9.66 million dollars, which exceeds the most expensive sale for 2007 and 2006 by almost 9 times. During the economic crisis, art is the second most popular alternative asset after luxury goods. "The presence of hoarding objects in the company's portfolio allows not only to diversify risks, but also to provide additional profitability, which is ahead of some stock market indicators."

For Chinese entrepreneurs, who are the main buyers, investing in art seems to be the most rational and promising, since the Chinese Communist Party has limited real estate speculation, which has led to the need to find new ways to solve the problem. Art objects are ideal for preserving investor anonymity."Most known ways large investments in the art of representatives developing countries, in particular China, are meetings of hedge funds and private equity organizations, where the actual purchase of a piece in a portfolio of several items of art objects, but not the purchase of ownership. The ban on the export of capital in excess of $ 50,000 per year, Chinese investors have learned to bypass. An underestimated cost of work is declared, the difference is transferred to foreign accounts. Thus, it is almost impossible to calculate the outflow of capital to another country. “Pictures for such investors are an instrument of an investment mechanism, ideal in terms of secrecy.” For these purposes, during the first decade of the 20th century, institutions were formed in China that made it possible to invest in hoarding facilities. So, at the moment in China there are more than 25 funds of artistic values ​​and art exchanges, special editions are issued to help make the right and profitable investments.

The popularity of investment in contemporary art began to increase with growing number of young entrepreneurs and increase living wage representative of the middle class of the BRIC countries. So in China at the moment there are 15 billionaires, 300,000 millionaires, and the average wage is 2000$. "Contemporary art of the second half of the twentieth century is just right for young businessmen who may not have time to go to museums and galleries or read books and leaf through catalogs." These people often do not have the proper level of education, but have enough money for the right investment, which leads to a large number Chinese investors in art and small art collectors thereof. But they know that the product will increase in price, and therefore later it will be possible to resell it profitably.

In Asia, Russia and the Middle East, the purchase of art objects has a large economic, cultural and "status" connotations. Thus, the object of art is also a positivist investment that determines the status of the owner and raises his prestige and position in society. “When Chinese investors want to diversify their investment portfolio, they most often turn to luxury goods, analysts at the Artprice website say, so for them to buy a painting contemporary artist it's like buying something in a Louis Vuitton boutique."

For businessmen and officials in China, the purchase of works of art, in particular by local masters, is of interest, since there is a layer of so-called "cultivated functionaries" who accept bribes in this form. The appraiser before the start of the auction underestimates the market value of the picture so that it can no longer be a bribe. This process was called "Yahui" and as a result became "a powerful driving force of China's art market."

One of the reasons for the popularity of Chinese contemporary art is painting style, understandable and interesting not only to the Chinese themselves, but also to Western buyers. Artists from China were able to accurately reflect the "cultural and political phenomena of the modern Asian world", especially since the issues of the collision of East and West do not cease to be relevant today. On the territory of China, media propaganda of active participation in the development of the country's art market is carried out. More than 20 television programs, 5 magazines are offered to the attention of recipients, covering such topics as “participation in art auctions”, “identification of art relics”, etc. According to the official website auction house Poly International: “Poly– Auction visual arts, the main goal of which is to return art to the people of China”, from which follows the following reason for the increased demand for Chinese art.

"A Chinese man will not buy a work of art from a non-Chinese." From the point of view of ethics, subjects national art bought by investors or collectors from a given country. Thus, they raise prices for the work of their compatriots and carry out the ideological setting - they return art to their homeland. Many collectors are residents of the region, and this rise in South Asian art is in line with the influx of art from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines,” said Kim Chuan Mok, head of the South Asia Painting Department.

Art objects, including contemporary paintings, are purchased for formation of collections of new museums in China. At the moment, there is a phenomenon of "museum boom" in China, so in 2011, 390 museums were opened in China, respectively, there is a need for their worthy filling. In China, the most in a simple way is the acquisition of works at the auction of auction houses, and not directly from the artist or through the gallery, this explains the fact of increased both supply and demand for Chinese contemporary art.

At the moment, China is the leader in the contemporary art market. Despite the fact that the works of local artists are mainly bought directly in China, and less often abroad, the Chinese themselves, the popularity of Chinese modern painting and its importance in the context of the global art market cannot be denied. The "Chinese boom" that began about ten years ago does not leave the world and its masters never cease to amaze both with their works and their prices.

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Globalization

The 1990s saw a period of transformation in China in many areas of life, including art. Big cities completely changed their appearance: the country was flooded with foreign goods and their Chinese copies, a wave of job seekers and better life. If in the 80s Chinese modernism was primarily associated with the socio-political situation in the country, then since the 90s the border between Chinese and international contemporary art began to actively blur. As in the economic and artistic life of China, the process of globalization has begun.

In contrast to the heroic and idealistic moods " new wave”, in the 90s, art in China acquired a cynical coloration. The ban after 1989 on any public activity without the permission of the authorities caused many artists to turn to sarcasm. Another an important factor that influenced the art world at that time was the rapid commercialization of Chinese society, which also affected the artist's relationship with the public.

As a result, a group of young artists, mostly graduates of the Central Academy of Arts, deliberately refused to invest deep meaning in their work, having made the so-called transition from "depth" to "surface". Named after the 1991 exhibition of the same name, the New Generation group in their works reflected sarcasm in relation to various problems of society. And the most extreme example of this trend was cynical realism ( Liu Xiaodong, Fang Lijun and others).

Born in the 60s, the artists of this generation did not have the spiritual wounds left by the events of the Cultural Revolution. They contrasted everyday life with the great ideas and goals of the New Wave: abandoning any overt political statements and theoretical systems, they simply focused on creative practice.

Another important artistic movement in the early 90s was pop art, which later developed into two independent directions. Political pop art (eg. Wang Guangyi) showed a rethinking of the past political visual culture: the images of the revolution were revised and combined with the images of the Western market culture. Cultural pop art focused more on the present, drawing images and styles from various areas of popular visual culture, especially advertising.

Cynical realism and political pop art are the most well-known trends in contemporary Chinese art in the West. But in the 90s, another direction was developed - conceptual art, originally presented by the New Analyst group ( Zhang Peili And Qiu Zhijie).

Since the mid-1990s, performances have also spread, which were mainly concentrated in the so-called East Village in the suburbs of Beijing. This is the period of masochistic "65 kg" Zhang Huang,

rethinking the calligraphy tradition of Qiu Zhijie, family series Zhang Xiaogang.

By the mid-1990s, most artists had freed themselves from the burden of the Cultural Revolution. Their work began to reflect the problems of modern Chinese society more. The result was a new movement called Gaudy Art, which, by combining the visual elements of cynical realism and cultural pop art, both ridiculed and exploited the vulgarity of commercial culture. Works of artists ( The Luo Brothers, Xu Yihui (Xu Yihui)) in this direction have become very popular with both galleries and foreign collectors. On the one hand, the "colorful" works were directed against the consumer society, on the other hand, they themselves were the objects of this consumption.

At the same time, a group of performance and installation artists gave impetus to the development of non-commercial projects that represented active interaction with society. But instead of simply reflecting the changes in society, as the New Generation artists did, they sought to express their own attitude towards these social transformations (Zhang Huan, Wang Jinsong, Zhu Fadong).

During the 80s, avant-garde artists and critics used the term "modernism" to refer to contemporary art, while in the 90s, especially after 1994, the terms "actual" or "experimental" art began to be used more and more often. That is, Chinese contemporary art has gradually become part of the world. And when a significant number of artists left for the USA, Japan and European countries (many of whom returned to China in the 2000s), those who remained in their homeland also got the opportunity to travel around the world. From that moment on, contemporary Chinese art ceases to be an exclusively local phenomenon and merges into the world.

The publication

1992 proved to be an important year for China, not only in terms of economic reforms, but also in the art world. The first to pay attention to the Chinese avant-garde were (of course, after the authorities) foreign collectors and critics, for whom the main criterion for artistic evaluation of the works and the artist himself was "informality". And, first of all, avant-garde artists, instead of waiting for recognition from the state, turned their eyes to the international market.

Suppose you find yourself in a decent society, and we are talking about contemporary art. As befits a normal person, you do not understand it. We offer an express guide to the main Chinese contemporary art artists, with which you can keep a smart face throughout the conversation, and perhaps even say something relevant.

What is "Chinese contemporary art" and where did it come from?

Until the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, a “cultural revolution” lasted in China, during which art was equated with subversive anti-revolutionary activities and eradicated with a red-hot iron. After the death of the dictator, the ban was lifted and dozens of avant-garde artists came out of hiding. In 1989 they organized the first big exhibition in Beijing National Gallery, won the hearts of Western curators, who immediately recognized in the canvases the tragedy of the communist dictatorship and the indifference of the system to the individual, and the fun ended there. The authorities dispersed the exhibition, shot students on Tiananmen Square and shut down the liberal shop.

That would have ended, but the Western art market fell so firmly and uncontrollably in love with Chinese artists who managed to declare themselves that the Communist Party was seduced by the alluring international prestige and returned everything as it was.

The mainstream of the Chinese avant-garde is called " cynical realism”: through the formal methods of socialist realism, the terrible realities of the psychological breakdown of Chinese society are shown.

The most famous artists

Yue Minjun

What it depicts: Characters with identical faces giggling during execution, shooting, etc. All dressed as Chinese workers or Mao Zedong.

What is interesting: the faces of the workers repeat the laughter of Maitreya Buddha, who advises to smile, looking into the future. At the same time, this is a reference to the artificially happy faces of Chinese workers on propaganda posters. The grotesqueness of smiles shows that helplessness and frozen horror are hidden behind the mask of laughter.

Zeng Fanzhi

What it depicts: Chinese men with white masks glued to their faces, scenes from hospital life, the Last Supper with Chinese pioneers

What is interesting: in early works- expressive pessimism and psychologism, in the later ones - witty symbolism. Tense figures hide behind masks and are forced to play imposed roles. The Last Supper is depicted within the walls of a Chinese school, students in red ties are sitting at the table. Judas is European business style clothes (shirt and yellow tie). This is an allegory of the movement of Chinese society towards capitalism and the Western world.

Zhang Xiaogang

What it depicts: monochrome family portraits in the style of the decade of the “cultural revolution”

What is interesting: it captures the subtle psychological state of the nation during the years of the cultural revolution. The portraits depict figures posing in artificially correct poses. Frozen facial expressions make faces the same, but expectation and fear are read in every expression. Each family member is closed in himself, individuality is knocked out by barely noticeable details.

Zhang Huang

What it depicts: The artist gained fame through his performances. For example, he undresses, smears himself with honey and sits near a public restroom in Beijing until the flies cover him from head to toe.

What is interesting: conceptualist and masochist, explores the depth of physical suffering and patience.

Cai Guoqiang

What he portrays: another master of performances. After the execution of students on Tiananmen Square, the artist sent a message to aliens - he built a model of the square and blew it up. A powerful explosion was visible from space. Since then, a lot of things blow up for aliens.

What is interesting: he went from a conceptualist to a court pyrotechnician of the Communist Party. The spectacular visual component of his later works brought him the fame of a virtuoso. In 2008, the Chinese government invited Cai Guoqiang to direct a pyrotechnic show at the Olympics.

Sales of Chinese contemporary art beat all records at auctions, Sotheby's triples auctions of Asian contemporary art, exhibitions of Modern and Contemporary Chinese Art are shown in museums around the world. St. Petersburg was no exception, where in September an exhibition of Chinese artists was held in the Loft Project "Etazhi". 365 magazine was interested in where such interest in contemporary Chinese art came from, and we decided to recall 7 key figures, without whom it would be completely different.

"Contemporary art" is opposed traditional art. According to the famous critic, Wu Hong, the term "modern art" has a deep avant-garde meaning, usually denoting that various complex experiments take place in the traditional or orthodox system of painting. Indeed, contemporary Chinese art is now developing incredibly rapidly, competing with European art both culturally and economically.

Where did the whole phenomenon of modern Chinese art come from? In the early years of Mao Zedong's reign (since 1949), there was a rise in the arts, people hoped for a brighter future, but in reality there was total control. The most difficult times began with the onset of the “cultural revolution” (since 1966): art houses began to close. educational establishments and the artists themselves were persecuted. Rehabilitation began only after Mao's death. Artists joined in secret circles where they discussed alternative forms of art. The most vehement opponent of Maoism was the Zvezda group. It included Wang Keping, Ma Desheng, Huang Rui, Ai Weiwei and others. "Every artist is a small star," said one of the founders of the group, Ma Desheng, "and even the great artists in the universe are just small stars."

Of the artists of this group, Ai Weiwei is the most famous. In 2011, he even took first place in the list of the most influential people in the art industry. For some time the artist lived in the USA, but in 1993 he returned to China. There, in addition to creative work, he engaged in sharp criticism of the Chinese government. Ai Weiwei's art includes sculptural installations, video and photographic works. In his works, the artist uses traditional Chinese art in literally: he breaks ancient vases (Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn, 1995-2004), draws the Coca Cola logo on a vase (Han Dynasty Urn with Coca-Cola Logo, 1994). In addition to all this, Ai Weiwei has some very unusual projects. For 1001 readers of his blog, he paid for the trip to Kassel and documented this trip. Also bought 1001 Qing Dynasty chairs. The entire project, called Fairytale (“Fairy Tale”), could be seen in 2007 at the Documenta exhibition.

Ai Weiwei also has architectural projects: in 2006, the artist, in collaboration with architects, designed a mansion in upstate New York for collector Christopher Tsai.

The work of Zhang Xiaogang, a symbolist and surrealist artist, is interesting. The paintings in his series Bloodline (“Pedigree”) are predominantly monochromatic with splashes of bright color spots. These are stylized portraits of the Chinese, usually with big eyes(how not to remember Margaret Keane). The manner of these portraits is also reminiscent of family portraits of the 1950s and 1960s. This project is connected with memories of childhood, the artist was inspired by photographic portraits of his mother. The images in the paintings are mystical, they combine the ghosts of the past and the present. Zhang Xiaogang is not a politicized artist - he is primarily interested in the individuality of a person, psychological problems.

Jiang Fengqi is another successful artist. His work is very expressive. He dedicated the series "Hospital" to the relationship between patients and authorities. Other series of the artist also show his rather pessimistic view of the world.

The name of the exhibition in "Etazhy" is "Liberation of the present from the past". Artists rethink national traditions, use traditional, but also introduce new techniques. At the beginning of the exhibition, Jiang Jin's work Narcissus and Echo - Shall the water and wind do not remember. The work was made in the form of a triptych in 2014. The author uses the technique of ink on paper - sumi-e. The sumi-e technique originated in China during the Song Dynasty. This is a monochrome painting, similar to watercolor. Jiang Jin embodies the traditional plot: flowers, butterflies, mountains, figures of people by the river - everything is very harmonious.

Presented at the exhibition and video art. This is a work by Beijing-based video artist Wang Rui titled "Do you love me, do you love him?" (2013). The video lasts 15 minutes, on which hands stroke hands made of ice, it can be seen that their fingers are gradually melting. Perhaps the artist wanted to talk about the transience and fickleness of love? Or that love can melt an icy heart?

The work of Stephen Wong Lo “Flying over the Earth”, made in the technique of appliqué, is reminiscent of color scheme images from the films of Wong Kar-Wai.

Definitely, the stars of the exhibition are two sculptures by Mu Boyan. His sculptures are grotesque, they depict very fat people. Problem excess weight interested the artist in 2005, after which he was inspired to create these sculptures. They are reminiscent of both enlightened Buddhist monks and modern people with the problem of being overweight. Sculptures "Tough" (2015) and "Come on!" (2015) are made in the technique of colored resin. In these works, the sculptor depicts rather than even adults, but babies.

Whether modern Chinese artists were able to free themselves from the past is up to the viewer to decide, but the connection between generations can be clearly seen in their works, and it becomes clear that it is not so easy to get away from the past. This confirms the use of the sumi-e technique, as well as installations that involve ancient artifacts. Until now, contemporary Chinese artists have not freed themselves from the influence of Maoism, the protest and memory of which is still present in their work. Artists stylize their works under the times of Maoism; memories of the past can, as, for example, on the canvases of Zhang Xiaogang, be key in the artist's work. The restless Ai Weiwei invents more and more performances, but he also turns to traditional culture. Chinese art has always been, is and will have something to surprise the viewer - its legacy is endless, and new representatives will continue to find inspiration in Chinese traditions.

Text: Anna Kozheurova

Chinese Contemporary Art: Hao Boyi, Ai Weiwei, Zhao Zhao

Creativity of the artist Hao Boyi (haoboyi) reminded the world what a classical Chinese print is. He is currently the head of the China Artists Association. Reminding the viewer that oriental art characterized by minimalism and elegance, Boi carefully and restrainedly depicts nature. Most often, the artist prefers to work on wood, but sometimes he also uses metal. On his engravings there is no hint of a person. Birds, trees, bushes, sun, swamps are depicted in their original beauty.

One of the most famous contemporary Chinese artists - Ai Weiwei- became famous not only thanks to creative projects. In every material about him, his oppositional attitude is mentioned. Weiwei lived in the USA for some time, so there are clear trends in his work Western art last century, combined with traditional eastern directions. In 2011, he topped the list of "The 100 most influential people in the art world" according to Art Review magazine. His installations are not just art objects designed to point to social problems but also a lot of work. So, for one of the projects, the artist collected 6000 stools in the villages of Northern China. All of them are placed on the floor of the exhibition hall, completely covering the surface. At the heart of another project - "IOU" - is a story from the artist's life. The name is an abbreviation of the phrase "I Owe You", which translates from English as "I owe you". The fact is that the artists were charged with tax evasion. In 15 days, Weiwei had to find 1.7 million euros and pay off the state. This amount was collected thanks to those who are not indifferent to the work and life of the oppositionist artist. Thus, an installation was born from a huge number of receipts for the transfer of funds. Weiwei held solo exhibitions in New York, San Francisco, Paris, London, Bern, Seoul, Tokyo and other cities.

With the name of a conceptual artist Zhu Yu the concept of "cannibal" is inextricably linked. In 2000, at one of the exhibitions, he presented a provocative photo project, followed by scandalous articles and public investigations. The author presented to the public a series of pictures in which he eats a human fetus. After that, information appeared in a number of media about the strange food preferences of the Chinese elite - supposedly in some restaurants lovers of delicacies are served embryos. The provocation, of course, was a success. After that, Yu's work began to be popular, and he himself was able to start making money on his strange projects. Speaking about eating embryos, he noted: “Artists did nothing but use corpses in performances, without creating anything new, blindly copying each other. This situation annoyed me, I wanted to put an end to these competitions, put an end to them. My work was not intended for the audience, it had to solve an internal technical issue. I didn't expect such a reaction." By the way, the exhibition at which Yu showed "Eating People" was called Fuck Off, and Ai Weiwei, mentioned above, acted as its curator. The artist also has more humane projects, for example, the installation “Pocket Theology”. IN exhibition hall a hand hangs from the ceiling, holding a long rope that covers the entire floor. At the moment, Yu has moved into another creative stage, devoid of past outrageousness. He became interested in hyperrealism.

Zeng Fanzhi- today one of the most expensive Chinese artists. In 2001, he presented to the public his version of " The Last Supper". The composition is borrowed from Leonardo Da Vinci, but everything else is a figment of the imagination of our contemporary. So, there were 13 people at the table dressed as pioneers and with masks on their faces. Judas stands out against their background, wearing a Western-style shirt and tie, which hints to the viewer that even China, a traditional country, is influenced by capitalism. In 2013, this work went under the hammer for $23 million.

Below are works Zhao Zhao. Art historians call this artist one of the most promising contemporary Chinese authors. In addition to the fact that collectors from all over the world willingly acquire his creations, the authorities also pay attention to them - in 2012, Zhao's works "went" to an exhibition in New York, but the Chinese customs deployed the party. His works are associative, metaphorical and often associated with events in the life of the artist himself. For example, once a car accident became a source of inspiration for Zhao, during which the artist drew attention to how interesting cracks crawled along the windshield ...

Zhang Xiaogang- the author of a well-known series of works under the general name "Blood Footprints". She is a portrait of people. different ages made in the style of photographs, but with artistic touches. "China is one family, one big family. Everyone should rely on each other and confront each other. This was the question that I wanted to draw attention to and which gradually, less and less connected with the Cultural Revolution, and more with the representation of the people's state in the mind," says the artist about "Blood Footprints". The series was created over 10 years, its total cost exceeds 10 million dollars.