{"id":3400,"date":"2016-05-14T18:03:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-14T18:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.randian.art\/?p=3400"},"modified":"2022-12-13T08:50:27","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T08:50:27","slug":"a-temporary-coalition-of-small-producers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.randian.art\/zh-hant\/a-temporary-coalition-of-small-producers\/","title":{"rendered":"A Temporary Coalition of Small Producers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cSilk Road International\u201d<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nanjing Arts Institute Art Museum<\/strong><\/a> (No. 15 North Huju Road  Gulou District, Nanjing, China), Mar 4\u201331, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The short duration of the \u201cSilk Road International\u201d exhibition was in itself a direct reflection of the corporatization [1]<\/a> of Nanjing Arts Institute Art Museum, which played right into the exhibition\u2019s hands and accomplished what it set out to achieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"thumbnail-\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t recall seeing an exhibition like \u201cSilk Road International\u201d, for which the curatorial approach almost resembled a carefree excursion, and ultimately used what can only be called \u201cappropriate chaos\u201d to cater to its theme. The classic daily routine maintained by its curator Wang Yamin (i.e., going to bed at 9 pm each night, and waking up at 4 am) was a forceful jolt to the existing protocols of art practice, and enabled some possibilities for the planned chaos of the show. Notwithstanding the enthusiasm of a curatorial team comprised of youthful art students, they cannot be relied onfor such corporate activity as \u201cexhibition implementation\u201d, which most nearly presages their desolate prospects when they face the cold reality of China\u2019s future. In the end, spatial rivalries among participating artists (groups, companies, projects, plans, and platforms) failed to be deterred by the curator. The result was a big, clamorous marketplace.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"thumbnail\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the preface, Wang Yamin had already pronounced that this exhibition would amount to self-organization along the line of taking things as they come, and would succumb to a state of disorder. Many art groups, projects, individuals, and platforms representing the mechanisms of corporatization accumulated in Number Three exhibition hall of the Nanjing Arts Institute Art Museum much like vendors and peddlers; the opening ceremony was a scene of bustle and excitement, but there was little, or little desire for, contact between the \u201ccorporations\u201d. Isn\u2019t this the fundamental trait of small producers? Even those groups, projects, platforms, or plans that sought independence and autonomy wound up being engulfed by the very force they were dead against\u2014how strange! These strategic groups had followed their own paths from the outset to resist existing practices, yet one found them mumbling quietly in their own self-created construct, engaging in self-regulation but relinquishing participation\u2014no matter what might have gathered them together. The audience (customers) wandered aimlessly into the exhibit, unable to find any valuable merchandise beyond seeing each corporation\u2019s performance; they thus met with serious setbacks in terms of whatever \u201cvalue\u201d they might have been seeking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"thumbnail5\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That the exhibition took place inside an \u201cacademic construct\u201d like the Nanjing Arts Institute almost lent a sense of internal collapse; this was all but destined considering Wang Yamin\u2019s strategic pivot through several earlier \u201cZero Scheme\u201d Plans (the participatory curatorial project based on \u201cZero Exhibition Hall\u201d initiated at this museum in 2013). Since the end of 2014, this \u201cinternational project\u201d has been carried out twice; the precursor of \u201cSilk Road International\u201d was an exhibition about outsourcing domestic sales, which in hindsight was doubtless an early variation of \u201cSilk Road\u2026\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"thumbnail7\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But \u201cSilk Road International\u201d was neither \u201cSilk Road\u201d, nor \u201cinternational\u201d [2]<\/a>; perhaps more than anything else, it was a temporary coalition of small urban producers. The curator no longer controlled the layout of works in the exhibition halls to create a \u201cliterary ambience\u201d that echoed the theme, as in the previous exhibition. That ambience originated from artistic practices and curatorial techniques, not the current economic reality. In \u201cSilk Road International\u201d, however, a muted curatorial approach turned the exhibition halls into a flat space which discarded one-on-one contact and instead created a \u201cvalue-neutral\u201d atmosphere. There were hardly any clues, nor any divisions between different areas. Makeshift walls, black rooms, shacks, and bulletin boards were everywhere; whereas the main exhibition hall was treated like a square in which several smallish installations and sculptures were sparsely positioned, works of painting and other media were lined up against the wall, various kinds of literature were bluntly pinned up as if on a graduation display board, and an anxious audience was left sauntering and roaming, getting lost and frustrated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is this not the dreamlike reality of contemporary China?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/a> \u201cCorporatization\u201d is the central thesis Wang Yamin expounds in the \u201cSilk Road International\u201d exhibition. Here, \u201ccorporatization\u201d does not only refer to the existing art practices in a capital(ist)-oriented culture; it concerns more the trend of \u201cindividual corporatization\u201d that individuals\u2014be it individual artists, independent art groups, independent projects, or independent space\u2014undergo from the inside out. It is exactly this internalized \u201ccorporatization\u201d that makes it particularly difficult for us to get away from \u201ccorporations\u201d in the art world. The word \u201ccorporatization\u201d cannot be substituted by \u201cinstitutionalization\u201d; the latter conveys no more than its literal meaning, simple and direct\u2014the establishment of goals, realization of benefits, self-regulation, internal democracy (and autocracy at the same time). \u201cCorporatization\u201d is the specification of \u201cinstitutionalization\u201d, an economic model and behavioral model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2]<\/a> Practical factors also contributed to the incongruence of this exhibition. For the exhibition\u2019s thematic change from \u201cemotional education\u201d to \u201cSilk Road International\u201d, please refer to Wang Yamin\u2019s article \u201cThe Stowaway Exhibition\u201d. Why call it \u201cSilk Road International\u201d? On the one hand, it compares that volatile community with narrow interests, historically, to today\u2019s contemporary art world; on the other hand, it derives completely from the author\u2019s speculation\u2014given its connection with President Xi\u2019s \u201cOne Belt and One Road\u201d, will it more easily stay in the arts institute\u2019s (or related agencies\u2019) good graces?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cSilk Road International\u201d Nanjing Arts I … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":3401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[20],"tags":[1402,949,149,415,1403,67,95,102,416,775,1404,1405,374,393,1406,778,646,783,1407,458,419,210,460,230,421],"yoast_head":"\nA Temporary Coalition of Small Producers - \u71c3\u70b9 Ran Dian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.randian.art\/a-temporary-coalition-of-small-producers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"zh_TW\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Temporary Coalition of Small Producers - \u71c3\u70b9 Ran Dian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cSilk Road International\u201d Nanjing Arts I … Continue reading →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.randian.art\/a-temporary-coalition-of-small-producers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u71c3\u70b9 Ran Dian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-05-14T18:03:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-13T08:50:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/randian-art.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com\/2022\/12\/the-silk-road-1024x629.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"629\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Duyen Le\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Duyen Le\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"\u9810\u4f30\u95b1\u8b80\u6642\u9593\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 \u5206\u9418\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.randian.art\/a-temporary-coalition-of-small-producers\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.randian.art\/a-temporary-coalition-of-small-producers\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Duyen Le\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.randian.art\/#\/schema\/person\/4d95ceea857b4c4fde91b6437bfaee13\"},\"headline\":\"A Temporary Coalition of Small Producers\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-14T18:03:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-13T08:50:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.randian.art\/a-temporary-coalition-of-small-producers\/\"},\"wordCount\":912,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.randian.art\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\""Silk Road International"\",\"2016\",\"art\",\"art gallery\",\"Art Museum\",\"artist\",\"China\",\"exhibition\",\"magazine\",\"Nanjing\",\"Nanjing Arts Institute\",\"Nanjing Arts Institute Art Museum\",\"randian\",\"randian online\",\"Silk Road\",\"Wang Yamin\",\"\u4e2d\u56fd\",\"\u5218\u6797\",\"\u5357\u4eac\u827a\u672f\u5b66\u9662\u7f8e\u672f\u9986\",\"\u5fb7\u8428\u5317\u4eac\",\"\u6b63\u5728\u5e03\u5c55\",\"\u71c3\u70b9\",\"\u827a\u672f+\",\"\u827a\u672f\u5bb6\",\"\u827a\u672f\u753b\u5eca\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Reviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"zh-TW\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.randian.art\/a-temporary-coalition-of-small-producers\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.randian.art\/a-temporary-coalition-of-small-producers\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.randian.art\/a-temporary-coalition-of-small-producers\/\",\"name\":\"A Temporary Coalition of Small Producers - 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