The water town of Wuzhen will hold the first International Contemporary Art Exhibition from March 27. [Photo provided to China Daily]

As a well-known tourist site in East China's Zhejiang province, Wuzhen is often in the headlines - either for the World Internet Conference or for its theater festival.

But now, the water town is embracing contemporary art by holding its first International Contemporary Art Exhibition beginning March 27.

The exhibition will display works by 40 influential artists from 15 countries and regions, including famous names like "the grandmother of performance art" Marina Abramovic, Damien Hirst, the father of the Rubber Duck Florentijn Hofman, Bill Viola and Araki Nobuyoshi.

The works on show cover installations, sculptures, videos, performance art, photos, paintings and sound art.

It will run through June 26.

"The event will be either a biennial or triennial one. It's the first time for a small town in China to hold such a large-scale exhibition with so many star artists from across the globe," says curator Feng Boyi.

Usually, biennial or triennial events are held in big cities in China like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. However, this event in the water town of Wuzhen can be seen as an attempt by a small town in China to attract art resources, says Feng.

Feng says that as many of the artists are creating works specially for this show they can make them blend with the ancient architecture of the water town.

For instance, visual artist Ann Hamilton will create an installation to be placed on a traditional grand stage that is hundreds of years old. Florentijn Hofman, whose Rubber Duck has toured the world, will also create a work for Wuzhen.

Among the 40 artists, half of them are Chinese including Xu Bing, Sui Jianguo, Ai Weiwei and Liu Jianhua.