The world's most famous art event, the 110-year-old Venice Biennale, opens on June 12. And all eyes will be on China, which is making its official national pavilion debut. Curated by the celebrated artist Cai Guo-Qiang—best known to New Yorkers for his neck-craning pyrotechnic displays over the East River and Central Park in, respectively, 2002 and 2003—the first-ever Chinese pavilion will feature work by five artists in the Biennale's Arsenale, as well as an adjacent outdoor bamboo canopy designed by the architect Yung Ho Chang. However, unlike the permanent and sometimes grandiose structures that house other big-country pavilions, China's will only be temporary—and that's just the way Cai likes it. Recently, we met up with the New York-based artist-curator in his East Village studio and got the scoop on China's grand Biennale ambitions.

What are you planning for the Chinese pavilion?
Acting as the curator, rather than an artist, I am helping to shape the concept of the pavilion. The idea that [Commissioner] Fan Di'An has set is that it should be about the idea of relocation and, in following, we have three objectives. One is to examine the Chinese contemporary art scene, where it is, where it's coming from and where it's going. The second is to encourage a new way of looking at contemporary Chinese art, and maybe change some stereotypes about it. The third is to help the Biennale redirect its own direction as well.

Redirect the Biennale? How so?
We are asking what it means to build a national pavilion.

Many people think that the national pavilion is an outdated concept, a relic of nationalism and the nineteenth-century international exposition.
Yes, that's right. The national pavilion has been the Biennale's established model for one hundred years, but what does it represent today? How should it be seen? Instead of an imposing structure with all the associations that come with it, we are erecting what will be a temporary platform for discussing contemporary art, architecture and the Biennale itself.

How are the artists you've chosen going to respond to this with their work?
Wang Qiheng, for example, is making an assessment of the entire Biennale using feng shui.

Using ancient Chinese geomancy to critique a Western model in Venice. Is this a kind of reverse cultural imperialism?
America has filled that role for the whole world, so there really is no room for anyone else. This is more like a fun experiment, like being an ornery kid.

What are some of the stereotypes about contemporary Chinese art that you just referred to?
One is probably the idea of the Chinese artist as a political and social revolutionary, the soldier fighting for free speech against an oppressive government. Another assumes this bright-eyed rush to assimilate the West, like a hungry protégé. Another is that Chinese art should be Chinese in subject matter, style and aesthetic.

Doesn't applying feng shui to the Biennale play into the last stereotype?
Certainly, it might match some expectations. However, the point isn't to make a special attempt to avoid being Chinese. All Western artists are Western in style. When you're Chinese, you also use what is familiar to you and what matters to you. It's more about how you use that perspective and develop it in depth. One does not need to be self-conscious and care so much about East versus West. The work should have enough creativity, innovation and power that it goes beyond the starting point of culture to show deeper humanistic concerns.

Will a temporary Chinese pavilion be built every two years?
It's not completely determined yet. But I like the idea of building a new pavilion for each Venice Architecture Biennale [which alternates with the art Biennale every two years], so that artists can then react to it when it's their turn.