Class schedule from 05.29- 06.12

Your blog entries should be descriptive of the works and shows you have been seeing. Select photos should be uploaded onto the Class Blog directly.

SCHEDULE:

Visit on your own time and write about it.
May 28- June 20

Turn to Abstract: Retrospective of Shanghai Experimental Art from 1976 to 1985
Presented by: Shanghai Zendai Museum of Modern Art
(No. 28, Lane 199 Fangdian Road, Shanghai, China)
Dates: 28 May – 20 June 2008
Artists: Cha Guojun, Chen Juyuan, Dai Hengyang, Fang Fang, Gao Jin, Guo Runlin, Huang Azhong, Jiang Depu, Leng Hong, Li Shan, Qian Peichen, Qiu Deshu, Shen Chen, Shen Tianwan, Wang Bangxiong, Wang Chunjie, Wang Jieyin, Xu Siji, Yu Xiaofu, Yu Youhan, Zhang Jianjun, Zhang Lansheng, Zhou Changjiang, Zhou Jiahua

Turn to Abstract: Retrospective of Shanghai Experimental Art from 1976 to 1985 will be held at Shanghai Zendai Museum of Modern Art on 28, May. 1976-1985 is a special period in the history of fine arts in Shanghai. Though it had been quite a while after Cultural Revolution, the overall cultural atmosphere was still very tense. Nevertheless, experimental art of Shanghai artists had never completely discontinued during the Cultural Revolution. A lot of artists had shown their extraordinary talents and creativity during this particular decade. Despite the fact that art works created within this period were widely considered as imitation of Western contemporary art schools, it did bring fresh blood to the stagnant art scene in Shanghai in terms of innovation of artistic language.

May 29

Quiz in class.

June 5
Present outline for your finals and a plan how you will upload them or submit them to the instructor.

June 7

Opening of Exhibition on Sex/Sexuality at 140 sqm gallery

June 10, 1:30-3
Lecture by Qiu Anxiong (Confirmed- Attendance required)

June 12, 11.30- 3 pm

Final presentations.

Mourning

Night on Earth

So surprised and disappointed that Shanghai Art Museum should close early than 4:30 pm, I instead went to the MOCA nearby.
The show was called Night on Earth: Spatial Constructions and Time based Collisions. In my eyes, the show has something in common with the one on Bund 3 last week. Both of them have tried to seek the relations between one thing and another whether it is globalization vs. environmental protection or cultural events.
Yet, MOCA again proves itself as a successful non-profit yet money-making museum, as we could see in pictures, which made me recall the show on Bund 18 – which I would rather call an “IKEA” exhibition.


“How could people doing contemporary art support themselves?”
I went to the NYU exhibition with one of my friend who is also a business student. It was when we went through the front gate without any tickets paid that she raised this question which has also be my one for a long time.
The show itself, however, was exciting. First, exciting to see so many familiar names and faces on art works :) I particularly enjoy the video work, which “precisely” reflects my life realities (so it is with my generation) – idling all day in front of TV or computer, losing everything but gaining weight and the like.

Shanghai Art Museum: Power-Thonik's Design

I was pleasantly surprised with the exhibition at the Shanghai Art Museum. It had work that was well done and displayed well and there was definitely thought put behind it. I can't say that it entirely felt coherent throughout the whole piece and that I came away with a message after it, but I was definitely impressed by what I saw and individually the works were well done - they all did share the common theme of appearing modern though. I did like the short video about the advertisement that had been created against a health care issue in the Netherlands and how that effectively reversed the policy. I also liked the portraits that were created using the other faces of individuals, I tried to notice a pattern there and it seemed that most of the faces used to create a portrait were from the photo directly to the left or right of the one it was creating but that only held true for most of the faces, not all of them on the picture (I hope that makes sense :P)



The carpets were neat, and like I said I was generally impressed by the works - but I didn't seem to get a overarching theme or really a lot of the purpose behind creating the works themselves - but then again maybe that's my own fault for not thinking about them long enough.


For this little area there was an iPod Touch look-a-like that would play a short video that composed mostly of sounds that were universal so it was easy to understand. But I didn't really get the point, maybe that's the running theme =P (Maybe I'm getting too used to looking for one certain type of influence in a work).

More pictures can be found at: http://picasaweb.google.com/mnolin/NYUInShanghaiShanghaiArtMuseum

pictures

Please see http://flickr.com/photos/abodywithout/sets/72157605298427002/

for
Sheng Qi at Andrew James
Thonik at Shanghai Museum of Art

Some videos from our group show is available at http://abodywithoutorgans.com/

-H

Power Thonik’s Design

This time went to the Shanghai Art Museum, it was more interesting since there were 3 worth seeing exhibitions.

Thonik’s Design really attracted our eyes. I found three pieces especially attractive. One is the portraits of the leaders all over the world both past and now. Seeing from the distance it looks like sketch, but closer, you can find the hiding secret. Each of the giant person is composed of the big figure from other countries. I do not know if there is any special range among those pictures with regard to the political reason or just put them automatically. It made me think of a similar piece in the 2006 Biennale. It is a series of the logos of big brands in the world. Surprisingly , for each company, their original logo design was recreated and made by that of their rival company. Such as Adidas vs Nike, Mcdonald’s with KFC, Coca cola vs Pepsi etc. Many people appreciated these creations at that time. From my point of view , it represents the fact that the integration of various cultures , values and competition are inevitable. It is common for us to find similar element . And ,for these series of the portraits, it arose a question also, that is , if we can totally be independent in facing with other countries since we always hear different voices. To be harmonious or to be opposite, this is a question both to individual and to the country no matter if it concerns about political issues or not .

Second is a piece “untitled”, which is made by chocolate and put on the wall. The moment I got close, I found the atmosphere there is amazing, which arose my appetite. And the scene it depicted was two people enjoying the eating ,so it just put more imagination to the work itself. Lots of designers are always looking for some more expressive ways to arouse the audiences’ excitement or other physical resonance. It is not bad to use chocolate to awake our sense of taste. Though we can also find similar creation relevant to the chocolate in other design field, such like dress design and cuisine design etc, the wall picture is still a good idea since it brings us more imagination.

Third piece is an installation like the suspension bridge with balloons to support it on both sides. The artist developed the idea of freedom since the suspension bridge no longer relies on the physical condition and exists independently. Meanwhile , the function of the balloons and the bridge changes also, which lead us to think more about the concept “passing through”and “moving”.

Finally , I just mention a little about the carpet in the exhibition hall. I like them but I am a bit lost in the comment of the curator. Personally, I just think more about the alphabet design in these works. I though most of the works were done because of the various changeable form of the alphabet or the combination form of the words. I just wonder how we Chinese can do to make our characters also multivariant and easily understood.

Youth Chronicles/Power Thonik's design

Youth Chronicles----the oil painting exhibition attracted people who were once the intellectuals sent to the rural areas to undergo life from 1968 to 1978. so it was no wonder that the majority of the visitors were aged about 50 years old. Two ladies even asked me to take pictures for them, taking one of the oil paintings as the background. I was sure that the special experiences would gave them life-long impressions. The artists of the oil paintings themselves were all among the young intellectuals at that time, they use these paintings to reflect the real life they experienced, such as reading letters from their families, working diligently in the open field, they devoted their youth to the construction of new China. Some of the paintings show the models who even devoted their life when struggle with the natural disasters such as floods. The oil painting exhibition brought back the memories of the unforgettable periods. At that time, oil paintings served as the propaganda tool to advocate the spirit of devoting, being obedient to Mao’s guide, but nowadays, they helped people to look back into the history, to recall the enthusiasm when they were young.

To be honest, I feel it a bit difficult to understand Thonik ‘s design. According to the introduction by the curater, Gong Yan, the work of Thonik leads us experience a mobile process of aesthetics which is coming from negotiation, comprehension and translation. The negotiation existed not only between brand and culture authority in the new house style design of the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum, but also between the elites and the grassroots in the design of three campaigns for the Dutch Socialist Party, between the duplicates and the artworks in the carpets project made for Shanghai Art Museum. There has been always a negotiation between the habitual aesthetic experiences and the social reality.

We are living in a image-made world, every city desires for and also makes the image represent itself. The image is not the whitewash fro decoration, but is also another collective mood and spirit. It represents the temperament, the bosom, the spirit and the future of a collective. It seems that Thonik has been trying to answer such a question silently that what do we want to transmit finally by means of design after our meticulous efforts.

Thonik’s design aimed to build a bridge between culture and society, connecting artistic design to social responsibility so as to form a power which evoked the passion of the audience to communication and exchange. Thonik encountered the Chinese avant-garde in architecture, art, graphic design and fashion. The theme of the exhibition was Power, because his graphic work manifests itself powerfully both in the cultural domain and in the political arena.

Night on Earth

Yesterday I went to see Night on Earth at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Surprisingly, on a Monday afternoon, there were quite a number of people visiting this exhibition and a lot more Chinese people than the time I went to see the Ferragamo display. In the description it says that this exhibition is based on a series of “intertwined events that is based on the current chance and challenge” of Shanghai, Berlin, and Helsinki. However, I really didn’t understand what that meant so I decided to look at each piece of art by itself and interpret it the way I saw it. In my opinion, oftentimes it’s better to just see an artwork without the influence by any background information and just ask yourself the emotions and thoughts that you have when you are observing the work.

There were two pieces at the exhibition that caught my attention the most. The first one was titled “Room with a View.” It was a picture of a traditional messy Chinese house but through the window, you could see some sort of modern Greek statue in a beautiful forest kind of setting on the outside. I feel like this really reflects the mentality of Chinese society in that they don’t really care about the material things that they buy for private use. Lower class people would rather live in a small messy dump and still be able to buy brand name cell phones and cars and sit in Haagen-Dazs eating ice-cream letting other people see that they are living the high life. I remember there was a business class I took a while ago where the professor told us that was also the reason why Victoria’s Secret was unsuccessful in setting up a market here in China because people were not willing to invest in personal items that the world could not see.

The second display that caught my attention was bunch of pillows shaped as police cars stacked up on each other that looked as if they were just involved in a car accident. Public safety and security have become one of the main concerns of the modern Chinese society in recent years. When the general stand of living increase drastically within cities such as Shanghai and Beijing, the public expects more than mere emergency response from the police force. An excessive demand for order and maintaining order suddenly increased the number of police presence within all the major cities. However the art seems to mock at the overflowing amount of police and their little effect on society. Such problem of police inefficiency not only appears in Shanghai and Beijing but other major cities around the world as well. One of the clearest examples is the United States and its recent police scandals. Boosting with the largest police force and equipped with the best technology, the United States police force spends a large portion of the U.S. budget yearly along with other defense expenditures. Yet the crime rate within the United States has been steady for the past several years, new methods and advantage technology seems to made little effect within the society. Like the artwork suggested, some of these problems involving lack of police efficiency resulted from the problems within the police force. The increasing amount of forces not only failed to assist each other, but instead they block each other’s way when conducting investigation and other work. I felt this piece of art is very typical liberalist in a sense where it is overly critical of all governmental institutions, yet failed to remark its improvement over the years. But then again, perhaps the real purpose of the artist was completely different from my interpretation; after all, modern art is a play on the imagination and a twist in interpretation.

Power Thonik Design

Yesterday, I went to visit the Power Thonik display at the Shanghai Art Museum. Upon entering the exhibition, 25 posters of the Dutch Queen first jumped at me. After reading the brief description of the design, I was still quite baffled by the purpose of this particular work. I understand the Dutch, unlike the Brits, place the royal family as a rather insignificant portion of society. However the thonik Design clearly celebrates the past 25 years under the reign of the Queen with excessive glamour and acclaim. Each poster portrays the Queen at the annual first parliament session, giving the speech as to announce the official opening of this year’s parliament. Such ceremonial power could also be traced in other constitutional monarchies across Europe. One could almost say, the opening of parliament is perhaps the most important ceremonial power of the monarch for many of these ex-monarchies. To celebrate the power of the Queen, even at its maximum strength, is still a mere reflection of historical customs. Thonik Design captured the insignificance of the Queen at her prime role within the Dutch society. In this sense, I could almost understand the ironic element within this design and its impact within the Dutch society.

Moving on from the room with the posters of the Queen and 16 hand made carpets, I came across an empty small screening room. The film was short, yet unexpected moving in many aspects. According to the introductory portion, in the year 2007, the Dutch government passed a new law, stripping away many of the elderly benefits from the home care system. The Socialist Party of the Dutch parliament was unable to amend this new law due to lack of seats and power. Under such case, the SP contacted thonik and aired an extremely provocative commercial demanding a more “humane house care system.” As the film suddenly blacked out, an elderly woman slowly edged on to the screen. She began telling the audience how the new system took away her trusted social worker because “she was too expensive” and now random strangers bathe her daily. While narrating her terribly misfortunate experiences, the elderly woman began taking off her clothes one by one. At the time I really couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I couldn’t believe how such provocative material is allowed to air on public network. Finally, the elderly woman took off all her clothes; I sat there in awe of what I’ve just witness. Rather clueless at the beginning, I stayed behind and watched the film another three times for a clearly understanding of the message behind such over the top public advertisement. At the end, I forced myself out of the room. The message of the film was too strong for me. Starring into those ancient yet unbelievably strong eyes, the elder woman is determined and ready. Towards the end of the film, she looked deeply into the lenses of the camera. Through her gaze, I could almost imagine my own grandparents, aged full of grace, dignity yet powerless and unable to help themselves in many ways. We prospered through the wrinkled hands of the past generations. If we can’t even guarantee the most basic house care for those who raised us, then where is humanity? How can we declare ourselves as human?

I’m glad a year later; the provocative ad received its deserving place within the Dutch society. The Minister of Public Health finally announced the amendment of the new law after pressures from all fractions of society. At the end of the film, the director stated: “the commercial made a policy change.” It is true, a change in policy has been made, however the change is paid at the expense of the public’s conscious. In a way, such change occurred because the majorities within Holland still have a vague idea of humanity and conscious within their mind. But one day, when all humanity lost their connection to their inner self, and refuse to acknowledge the humanity within us all, then what would happen to people like that elderly woman appeared in the ad? Within matter of minutes, I seemed to forget all about the old woman and her terribly defiance glare.

Sample

Bund Galleries

So I decided to go along and check out the shows at 3 on the Bund (Shanghai Gallery of Art) and the Bund18. I hadn't been to these places yet so I figured it might be neat. The places themselves are pretty cool buildings and I think that they have some cool possibilities.



But the first show I saw at the Bund18 Creative Center appeared to me to be more or less a design show, with the products become mass produced soon after the show. (I mean the stuff was neat but it just seemed like a design show to me - whether that fits under what should be shown in a gallery or not? I'm not sure)



The other one at 3 on the Bund was definitely different - with the big ball that would inflate and deflate over time and this big supposedly figure 8 structure composed of LCD screens with people crawling from screen to screen. If you clapped they would go backwards. I failed to see the amazingness or see any big messages click with me as I went to either show.

(More pictures are available at http://picasaweb.google.com/mnolin/NYUInShanghaiBundArtGalleries)

CLOSED VS. OPEN

14:00 May 20, 2008
Second day of the national mourning for quake victims

- “Excuse me, does the museum closed today?” in front of the Duolun Museum of Modern Art, I asked.
- “Of course! What day is today? The whole nation is mourning for the victims in the earthquake. It would open on Thursday.” answered an official.

Walking along the Duolun Road, I started to think that I might be turned away by every museum today. Yet, to my big big surprise, Osage Gallery was quietly open at the corner of road, though without many visitors. Old people were sitting and talking in the nearby garden; some others were walking the dog. Apparently, the nation sorrow hadn’t fallen on the neighborhood.

According to the government, during the three days of national mourning, all kinds of “entertainment” should be closed. Does modern art serve as an entertainer? As the question lingered, I stepped into the Osage.

GOOD NIGHT – It took me quite a long time to figure out every naked body in each photo. As for me, I appreciated very much the artist’s idea of examining people’s existence. In some photo, you could easily pick out where the person was. In some others, however, the discarded body was so skillfully hidden that you could hardly be aware of its existence.

MY BEAUTY - Horror is un-horrible, but weird. Artist here is trying to construct an atmosphere of contrast in way of the combination of a faceless girl and beautiful backgrounds. Yet, the way of photography adopted was so dull that led to little visual impact for audience, at least for me. Also, two elements of the combination seemed to be fragmented in photos.

Post traditional

It was an amazing experience to visit Art+Shanghai art space because the exhibitions presented there were really impressive. I found almost each piece of them was full of story and needs profound thinking .

Especially, I want to make some comment these following pictures. First is those created by Yao Lu, who is trying to show the contemporary era through Chinese traditional culture. At first sight of his photographs from distance, I totally think it is just Chinese traditional “Shangshui” paintings. But when I took a closer look , I were shocked. The main material was the construction sites, which are common seen in big cities. Really creative! He wisely use the traditional technique in Chinese Painting ,combining the idea of nature and the urban landscape. Personally , I like his photographic technique ,a relatively modern method to present us with a scene picturesque , and the sharp turn between my first and second sight is really unbelievable. This also reminds me with the reality that when the government reconstruct some relics, the project looks good but in fact some unpleasant things are under the surface.

Also, a picture created by Song Gang named Paradise also left me with deep impression. His paintings depict the capricious and uncertain mood of adolescence. His blue interior scenes create a melancholic and poetic air. No doubt that the whole blue really caught my eye, and the texture he employs in the paintings creates more oppression and constraint. I talked with someone there and got know that what Song wants to critic is those chinese girls living in the modern society, who are always looking for big brands or other superficial things , meanwhile , getting lost in their original cultures. They try to dress themselves like 30s while they are only 20 etc. And I heard the “junk girls” for the first time, maybe that is it! I like the figuring girl in his paintings, a bit innocent and naïve, at least they look like dreaming about something, not so sophistical.

I found almost each of the artworks deserves more words. For example, the painting created by Hao Liang, using the crane images to critic the severe pollutions today; the paintings created by He Jian, depicting the wedding ,the celebration ,and the get-together scenes, present us with faces in old time by contrast to situation we are familiar with in today’s world. So it is difficult to read the exact activity in their deep heart and we can hardly guess how they feel through their facial expressions. Since no matter in what kind of situation, all the facial expressions look like the same ,no smile and a bit serious. It is not only a contrast between the old times and the new world. I find some gaps between people’s mental thoughts and their behavior, some part is always ahead of the others.

Most of the works I saw that day is critical and full of story and idea. Not too abstract but still worth deeply looking into. I especially asked why they choose that location to set the art space, the answer is hoping the visitor there just come for art. And small group is especially welcome. When I heard that some of the works are already sold, I felt strongly that they were really not bad choices for collectors. Indeed, it was an amazing experience!

Art+Shanghai

After walking to the end of the long “nongtang”(lane) on Fuxing zhong Road, I finally found a small label which indicated the location of Art+Shanghai. Actually, this place made me recall the visit to the Propaganda Poster Center, both of them changed the small living apartments into the exhibition halls.

Yvon and I got there in the morning since we did not know that the gallery opens from 1pm to 6pm, still we were welcomed by a friendly Spanish lady when she knew that we came here to visit for the love of art.

The on-going exhibition was called “PostTraditional”. The Cultural Revolution advocated revolutionary realism, using propaganda poster as a tool to romanticize socialism. Meanwhile, it brought a rejection of thousands of years of traditional Chinese painting, considered to be a counter-revolutionary form of art. As China opened up to the rest of the world, a generation of artists born in the 70's had grown up in an internationalized environment far from the Cultural Revolution. This radical social evolution brought new references as well as new problems in the country's artistic production. Rapid westernization created a feeling of alienation for a lot of Chinese, and the development of a new model that did not take root in the country's history called for a search for identity for many artists. The intention of bridging the gap between the traditional Chinese brush painting and contemporary art gave birth to this exhibition.

I was impressed by Yao Lu’s photographs series. The first glance of the photos made me think that they had no difference from the traditional paintings of mountains and waters. When I came near to look more closely for details, the pictures turned to be an urban landscape of construction sites.

He Jian’s works showed us the contemporary urban life. However, the figures in his pictures looked a bit like the pictures of Buddha which can usually be seen in temples. The materials and colors he used also tried to show that they were very old. His works were the combination of the past and the present, the western-style and traditional Chinese style. Imagine how interesting is when people who have Buddha-like faces wear western-style wedding dress.

Art+Shanghai was first situated in Moganshan Road, and then it moved to this place, occupying a small room in a quiet and intimate atmosphere. Galleries in Moganshan Road were transformed from old factories while Art-Shanghai was transformed from a living apartment. For this reason, Art-Shanghai seems a room next to your door.

When we were about to leave, the grace lady even gave us the pamphlets and leaflets free of charge which were originally for sale. We were impressed by her generosity, as well as this small intimate artistic world.

ART IN TRANSLATION / 艺术的转换

ART IN TRANSLATION / 艺术的转换
happy fun time

Sunday, May 25, 2008
3:00pm - 8:00pm

Location:
The Bund Art Center / 外滩艺术馆

Street:
193 HanKou Road (b/w JiangXi Road and HeNan Road)
汉口路 193号 (江西路和河南路之间)

you like it.

chicken feet cupcakes, moneys, clouds, 9 xiao bai's, 1000 plastic bags, lots and lots of peanuts.

peanuts and pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds (and C2H5OH) will be served.

JON DeSIMONE
WHITNEY HELLESEN
DARCY O'DONNELL
AMANDA PICKENS
HELENA ZHANG

Photos by:
Darcy O'Donnell
Yael Herskovits
Carla Fernandez
Heidi Jen
Chris Balin
Whitney Hellesen
Yi Zhang

Lecture Performance on the Path of Money (POM) project

三术沙龙（第二期）- "城市 舞台 界面"
3S ReUnion (second edition)
City/Stage/Interface

时间2008年5月22日下午七点 到 九点
1９:00-21：00, May 22, 2008
上海证大现代艺术馆三楼艺术教室
Art Classroom, 3d floor, Shanghai Zendai Museum of Modern Art.

一、刘妍：简要介绍本期讨论话题。（10分钟）
Welcome and brief introduction (10 min) - Liu Yan

二、刘妍&阿角：公共空间艺术与电子媒体（20分钟）
Media and Public Space (20 min)- Liu Yan & Aaajiao
艺术从1970年代末开始就由传统意义上的创作转为将
城市作为创新实验的新平台。所有的艺术学科，
（如：视觉艺术，音乐，戏剧，舞蹈，现场艺术，设
计，建筑）纷纷从那时开始发展新的公众实践：如：
公共艺术，具体站点作品，都市干涉，近15多年来，
一些学院派的学科，如：地理学，人类学，文化研
究，历史学，艺术和建筑理论等许多毋庸赘述的学科
都参与了关于"城市"的争论中来了。
新技术的发展促进了这场革新，同时也为艺术家和研
究者提供了机会去和城市环境进行互动：如：无线技
术，定位系统，地理信息定位装置，视觉技术，全球
通讯装置等很多其他的互动系统。
这些技术促使了新的艺术实践的产生。艺术项目将取
决于项目背景，考虑到空间，作用，流动性和通讯等
因素，既与环境进行互动又对公民的参与进行探索。
"城市"被视为我们所在社会上的所有问题的会聚
点，尤其是在中国的新的城市中心越发明显：空间资
本化的问题，对可持续发展的需要，社会-经济的关
系的转化，排他问题，住房问题以及普通休闲和消费
规则等。

End of the 1970s, art started to think beyond traditional sites of
intervention and turned to the city as a new stage to experiment. All
artistic disciplines (visual arts, music, theatre; dance; live art,
design, architecture) have since then developed a public practice:
public art, site-specific work, urban intervention, while the last 15
years or so, a number of academic disciplines – geography,
anthropology, cultural studies, history, art and architectural
theory, to name but a few – were also drawn into debates on "the
city".

The development of new technologies have further enhanced this
evolution and now offer artists and researchers new opportunities to
interact with the urban environment: wireless technologies,
positioning systems, geographic information locators, visual
technologies, global communication devices and other interactive
systems.

All of this makes for new artistic practice to emerge. Projects are
determined by a contextual approach, take notions of space, function,
mobility and communication into account, while interacting with the
environment as well as seeking citizen's participation.

More than ever, and especially in China's new urban centres, the
"city" is seen as the place where all the problems of our
societies converge: the capitalization of space, the need for
sustainable development, the transformation of socio-economic
relationships, problems of exclusion, housing and the rule of generic
leisure and consumption.

三、小艾（北京动舞台工作室）：以城市为背景的公
共表演艺术（20分钟）
The City as a Site for Performance – Performance as a Tool to Test
the City
Theatre in Motion research project in 08/09
Els Silvrants / Theatre in Motion

城市为表演艺术提供场所-表演艺术作为一种检验城
市的工具
动舞台08/09年艺术研究项目
小艾Els Silvrants/动舞台Theatre in Motion

当艺术被放置到美术馆或者剧场之外的场所，用来定
义艺术的界限遭到质疑，种种新的关于艺术与其直接
的环境间关系的思考的可能性被打开。现在艺术也不
得不承受原来只有建筑才受到的束缚和控制。

在许多公共项目中，艺术被要求承担一系列的"功
能"，比如：缓和社会问题，遵守不同的要求，或者
是接近广泛的观众或"用户"。然而，有些时候艺术
可以通过把自身放置在一个可能质疑项目本身实施的
方式中，而采纳一种批判性的功能。这就是一种拥有
批判性、参与性的公共艺术实践；它与主流观念相合
作的同时对其挑战。

被提出自身传统环境的艺术的这种双重功能例证了艺
术理论家Malcolm Miles在《艺术，空间和城市》（Art,
Space and the City）一书中所描述到的公共艺术有两种主
要的常见的问题：一，公共艺术经常像墙纸一样用来
覆盖社会问题，二，公共艺术像一座纪念碑以提升主
流观念的愿望。

然而，伴随着对于城市的新的跨领域兴趣的趋势，以
城市为一种能够连接所有的社会、文化、政治和经济
变迁的网络的理念也出现，从而需要大量个案例对它
们进行学习和研究；一些艺术家已经找到新的理由去
面向城市：去收集故事或者戏剧化的信息，去理解和
描绘出他们共处的环境。从他们的观点来看，某种公
共艺术项目的重要性不在于它们在社会中能起到的作
用；它的重要性在于某种介入行为，互动和研究城市
网络自身的过程。

城市不是所谓"黑盒子"式剧场的替代物 –公共广
场，空荡的建筑和街道不仅仅是为艺术家们提供更多
促进想像所需要的背景—动舞台的该研究项目则开放
了关于如何利用表演艺术作为互动的工具而去搜集不
同的塑造城市动态信息的讨论。

我们把城市学和建筑学的实践，即"城市行动主
义",用来比较和联系艺术与公共和特定场地并进行
新的定义和阐释。

通过项目研究和行为介入的形式，在"偶发艺
术"（巧合而发生的）和在不同城市环境下的"事
件"（置于场景中）的两种活动之间的对比关系的潜
在展演性体现出一种对中国城市的新的理解。

When art is placed outside the gallery or the theatre, the parameters
that define it are called into question and all sorts of new
possibilities for thinking about the relationship between art and its
direct environment are opened up. Art has to engage with the kinds of
restraints and controls to which only architecture is usually subject.

In many public projects, art is expected to take a set of
"functions", for example, to alleviate social problems, to comply
with different requirements, or to be accessible to a wide group of
audience or "users". However, in some cases, art can adopt a
critical function by being positioned in ways that make it possible
to question the terms of engagement of the projects themselves. This
kind of public art practice is critically engaged; it works in
relation to dominant ideologies yet at the same time challenges them.

This two-fold function of art that is brought out of its traditional
context exemplifies two of the main pitfalls of public art as
described by cultural theorist Malcolm Miles in Art, Space and the
City: its use as wallpaper to cover over social tensions and as a
monument to promote the aspirations of dominant ideologies.

However, within the wake of new cross-disciplinary interest in the
"city" as the maze linking up all social, cultural, political and
economical transformation and thus the ultimate case study to
research them; some artists have found a new reason to turn to the
city: to collect narratives or dramaturgical information, to
understand and map out the context they are equally part of. From
their point of view, it is not so much the function of an object or
intervention in the public space and the role it fulfils that matters
as the process of intervening, interacting and researching the urban
network itself.

In stead of using the city as an exotic replacement of the black box
of the theatre – in which public squares, empty buildings and
streets are reduced to a canvas for the imagination of the artist –
this Theatre in Motion research opens discussion on how to use
performance as an interactive tool to collect information about the
different dynamics shaping the city.

Practices in urbanism and architecture - "urban activism" - are
compared with and linked to new definitions and appropriations of
public and site-specific art.

In the form of research projects and interventions, the performative
potential of and the tension between happenings (taking place by
coincidence) and events (put in scene) in different urban contexts
represents as an alternative reading of the (Chinese) city.

四、丹尼尔•阿希旺登和彼得•施达姆： "一张纸
币的旅程(POM)" 项目介绍: (50 分钟)
Lecture Performance by Daniel Aschwanden and Peter Stamer on the Path
of Money (POM) project

来自奥地利的表演艺术家丹尼尔•阿希旺登（Daniel
Aschwanden）和彼得•施达姆（Peter Stamer）将跟随一张
人民币在中国的旅程，其追踪的全行程将在全球卫星
定位系统的帮助下通过表演者自身的身体实现。

在2009年的4周时间里，他们将跟踪一张纸币的临时主
人们，这张纸币将被安装上电子装置。艺术家们会尽
可能保持与纸币的近距离，或是在纸币主人的抽屉
下，在他们的房子里，在大街上等等。这张纸币从一
个人的手中传递到另一个人的手中，它燃烧着拥有者
对财富的梦想，这张纸币经过了不同人们的身体，言
谈，社会身份，个体情感，经济命运，存在的个体的
故事。通过这些过程，跟踪纸币的过程成为遇见不同
的人和个体故事的方式；它将承载展现不同的价值观
的问题：在哪里，更重要的是用过这些钱的人是谁？

2008年5月21日POM试验项目参与上海证大现代艺术
馆"介入：艺术生活366天"计划在上海实施.

POM项目是丹尼尔•阿希旺登（Daniel Aschwanden）和彼得
•施达姆（Peter Stamer）与动舞台的合作项目，参与合
作与支持的机构有三术沙龙/三术媒体中心，Arthub
Shanghai，北京奥地利文化论坛，艾德里安•布莱克威
尔/多伦多大学，城市中国和上海证大现代艺术馆/介
入：艺术生活366天。

Daniel Aschwanden & Peter Stamer, two Austrian performers, will chase
a RMB bill through China, tracking it down with the help of a GPS
device and – by their own bodies.

For four weeks in 2009, they will accompany the temporary owners of
an electronically marked bill, staying as close to it as possible,
under the owners' drawers, in their houses, in the streets. Since
the bill goes from one hand to another, fuelling the owners' dreams
of prosperity, the bill crosses bodies and their discourses, social
identities, individual emotions, economic fates, tales of beings. By
this, chasing the money becomes a means to meet people and their
individual stories; it takes on a different kind of (face) value:
where and, more importantly, who are the people using it?

On May 21, 2008 , the first POM experiment is realized in Shanghai as
a part of Intrude: Art & Life 366 project of Shanghai Zendai MOMA.

Path of Money is a project of Daniel Aschwanden and Peter Stamer with
Theatre in Motion, in collaboration with and supported by 3S Media
Center Shanghai, Arthub Shanghai, Austrian Cultural Forum Beijing,
Adrian Blackwell/University of Toronto, Urban China and Shanghai
Zendai MOMA/ Intrude366 Art&life project Shanghai.

五、讨论和提问（20分钟）
Discussion and Q&A.

六、招待酒会(一小时)。地点：月亮河餐厅（证大艺
术馆旁边）
Reception(one hour). Location: Moon River Dinner(next to Zendai MOMA).

[组织人]
三术媒体中心:刘妍，阿角

[合作方]
北京动舞台工作室
上海证大现代艺术馆"介入"项目组

[赞助方]
上海证大现代艺术馆，Arthub Shanghai，北京奥地利文化
论坛, 瑞士上海领事馆文化处，上海月亮河餐厅

Organized by Liu Yan and Aaajiao of 3S Media Center
in collaboration with Theatre in Motion, Beijing and Intrude366
Art&life project of Shanghai Zendai MOMA.
supported by Shanghai Zendai MOMA, Arthub Shanghai，Austrian Cultural
Forum Beijing，Swiss Consulate Shanghai and Moon River Diner Shanghai.

三术媒体中心:
三术媒体中心是一家跨艺术、设计、学术以及新媒体
技术领域的非营利型独立研究开发机构。三术关注的
是在城市发展中，当前新媒体技术的研发与实验与艺
术，教育，社会，文化，经济和政治发展的有机结合
与应用。由荷兰大同创意产业平台（www.datong.nl)和新
媒体艺术网站WNMNA 合作建立运营。
About 3S Media Center:
3S Media Center is an interdisciplinary center for art, media
technology and academic research based in Shanghai。An independent
not-for-profit organization for experimentation, research and
development in art, social and cultural, economical and political
embedding of new media in the urban context. Established by Da-Tong
China Desk Creative Industry and new media art portal: www.we-need-

money-not-art.com http://www.we-need-money-not-art.com/

动舞台:
动舞台是一个融合了三个相互独立的活动项目的名
称，旨在为中国的当代表演艺术构建良好环境：TIM/
LAB主持在京的艺术研究项目，TIM/TXT对能够纪录并宣
传该研究成果的产品加以投资以及支持，TIM/HUB与荷
兰和比利时弗兰德的戏剧研究院合作，以帮助荷兰和
比利时弗兰德的艺术家与在中国表演艺术领域的同行
相互联系。
About Theatre in Motion (TIM):
Theatre in Motion (TIM) is the brand name uniting three inter-
independent projects building a base for the international
contemporary performing arts in China. TIM/LAB hosts artistic
research projects in residence and has a specific interest in
research that proposes cross-disciplinary strategies to collect
dramaturgical information, read or produce performing arts.
TIM/TXT documents and disseminates that research while TIM/HUB
collaborates with the Dutch and Flemish Theatre Institutes to connect
the Chinese performing arts scene with their Dutch and Flemish peers,
and the other way round.

上海证大现代艺术馆
位于中国上海浦东芳甸路199弄大拇指广场28号的证大
现代艺术馆，成立于2005年，建筑面积3000平米，展览
空间1500多平米。通过两年多专注于中国当代艺术事
业的推动，上海证大现代艺术馆已成为中国最前沿的
当代艺术平台。两年多来，上海证大现代艺术馆策划
主办过50多次展览和活动，与40余位国内外知名策展
人合作，邀请超过300位国内外优秀艺术家创作、展出
他们的优秀作品，出版30逾本画册及文献。2005年，威
尼斯国际艺术双年展中国国家馆的支持者，2006年，
再次支持威尼斯建筑双年展中国馆，积极推动中国当
代艺术走向国际舞台，2008年，主持大型文化艺术项
目《介入：艺术生活366天》，将当代艺术带入大众生
活，2009年，将建成亚洲规模最大最顶尖的艺术中心
——喜玛拉雅中心•证大当代艺术馆，展览面积超过
两万平方米，必将成为全社会热烈关注的文化地标。

About Shanghai Zendai Museum of Modern Art
Founded in 2005 and located at No. 28, Lane 199, Fangdian Road, Thumb
Plaza in Pudong, Shanghai, the Zendai Museum of Modern Art occupies
3000 square meters with an exhibition space of about 1500 square
meters. After two years of great efforts in promoting contemporary
art in China, the museum has become one of the leading platforms in
this field. In two years, the Zendai MoMa has curated and hosted more
than fifty exhibitions, collaborating with about forty renowned
Chinese and international curators and more than 300 outstanding
artists. It has also published thirty catalouges dand books. It
supported the China section of the Venice Biennale in 2005, and the
China section of the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2006. In 2008,
Zendai MoMa organises the grand art project Intrude: Art & Life 366,
bringing art to the life of the general public. In 2009, a new
cultural landmark in Shanghai, the Himalaya Art Center of Zendai
Museum of Contemporary Art, will raise its curtain. Then the Zendai
MoMA will be the largest and best-equipped museum of contemporary art
in Asia.

关于"介入"
《介入：艺术生活366天》是由上海证大现代艺术馆馆
长沈其斌先生发起并担任总策划的跨学科、跨领域、
跨媒介的大型文化艺术项目。自2008年1月1日开始实
施，至2008年12月31日结束，全年366天，"介入"将为
您每天呈现一个发生在上海的文化艺术项目。
About Intrude: Art & Life 366
Intrude: Art & Life 366 is an ambitious cultural art project
organized by the Shanghai Zendai Museum of Modern Art. From January
1st to December 31st 2008, every day one cultural event will take
place somewhere in the city of Shanghai. One cultural event a day,
366 events in a year!By intervening in the daily life of Shanghai
City with extraordinary cultural happenings in public places,
Intrude: Art & Life 366 wants to bring art closer to the people.
That's how Intrude: Art & Life 366 shows global perspectives of art
and culture!

[联络]
Contact: liuyan.datong@gmail.com, aaajiao@gmail.com

ART IN TRANSLATION艺术的转换

ART IN TRANSLATION艺术的转换

开幕时间: 2008年5月25日 下午3点
Opening: May 25, 2008 at 3 pm

展览:2008年5月25日 至 2008年6月4日
Exhibition: May 25 - June 4, 2008

外滩艺术馆
汉The Bund Art Center
口路 193号
(江西路和河南路之间)
193 HanKou Road
(b/w JiangXi Road and HeNan Road)
上海 200002
Shanghai, 200002

(021) 63241628

THE END HAS NO END

The End Has No End is a big space (above an Armani store!!) with 3 pieces sparsely placed: a large tunnel in the shape of a figure-8, some videos displaying a big red balloon placed by the street, and an actual grey balloon in the space being blown up. The tunnel has a line of LCD screens showing people crawling through. This piece reminds me of Hu Jie Min's interactive piece with a series of screens of one person crawling, and when the viewer claps, the person moves backward. The End Has No End is definitely experiential but what kind of experience is it? I would have rather seen the balloon under a bridge, in public. The figure 8 tunnel may call to mind the number 8, which is a special number in Chinese culture, but what is the point of the piece, what significance does the piece have? It also seems very cliche that the people crawling are from all different cultures.

The End Has No End

Although initially frustrated with the balloon's refusal to burst and its continual deflation, I now feel the artists' decision to do so works better with the concept of "The End Has No End," the video piece which showed various people repeatedly crawling both forwards and backwards. Each definitely touches on the idea of monotony and the endless "synchronicity which dictates ourlives." However, only after reading the show's pamphlet did I realize that the tower of LCD monitors was built in the shape of an eight or infinity symbol. Maybe I overlooked reading into the configuration as a whole due to my interest in each screen individually; I hope I am in the minority since the overall form is definitely important to the piece's concept. I hate when I miss large, initial concepts and have to read the artist's statement before understanding the piece further. At the same time though, I don't think artwork a whole necessarily must be understood by outside viewers -especially upon first glance.

I, too, enjoyed the video pieces. This is probably due to the satisfying nature of the balloons' bursts. Unlike the gallery's installation where the ball kept deflating, each red balloon popped. Comparing the two pieces now, however, I am confused why the artists decided to let the red ones break. The two works seem to be in opposition.

---pictures to come!!!

SEVEN NINE EIGHT oh so great...

This past  weekend Helena and I visited Beijing and its art galleries. Quite a difference between Shanghai and Beijing, 798 gave me a new perspective on the current art scene in China. I thoroughly enjoyed visiting the galleries, and will post a new blog soon on specific shows that I visited while there. For now, I wanted to get some of the images up for everyone to see.