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This forms part of a greater critical stance of the museum with its focus on \u201cZaidi xiangmu\u201d (\u5728\u5730\u9879\u76ee)\u2014site-specific projects which shine a light on various aspects of local life\u2014a thoughtful reflection on the forces of capital and property which are driving the gentrification and even extinction of local communities, providing an alternative to both capitalist and official discourses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Exhibition and Academic Department director and curator Li Jie, spoke with us about the the research artists Chen Jianjun and Cao Minghao have done into Chengdu\u2019s water systems:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe gave the artists the task of understanding the water systems of the whole geographic area of Chengdu . . . Historically we learned that Chengdu used to be an inland Venice where the canals and the land routes were very important means of transportation. The residents back then could open up the the door of their house and step into a boat, but now the situation is very frightening; the withering of the agricultural sector, the impact of industry. Now water is like a golden crown; everyone is running after it, but no one is able to get it. Lots of rivers have become sand pits providing materials for the construction industry and production of concrete.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The brand of social practice Li Jie and his artists are engaging in is not so much in the kind of \u201cfeel-good\u201d spectacles which employ the public as pawns to stage some kind of innocuous social message (\u201cYou too can make a difference! Cue applause and mutual back patting!\u201d), but rather they seek more to investigate the complex social, political and economic relationships which form the engine of Chengdu\u2019s rapid transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The site-specific projects are long-term, non-goal oriented (i.e. an exhibition may not be the end result) and often involve collaboration with NGOs who understand local issues. As Li Jie notes, \u201cThe artists become social workers living in the city and they talk with the residents and the volunteers about their thoughts on life.\u201d In Cao Minghao and Chen Jianun\u2019s project \u201cRooftop and the Wall\u201d, the artists did an exchange of skills teaching an elderly resident, Ms. Gong, teaching her some basic painting skills which she used to create a contemporary Chengdu version of the scroll painting of \u201cAlong the River at Qingming Festival\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat scroll was interesting because it rewrote Chengdu\u2019s history . . . like an official map of Chengdu\u2019s water ways, because she could remember which homes were by which rivers, the first one was a noodle shop, the second was a tofu stand, the third was a temple and so on, it was very very clear. And she would glean a lot of [information] from other elderly people, so the artists followed this old lady and through chatting, discussing and communicating with her, and worked on it a long time.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This scroll as a product of \u201cGong Ayi\u2019s\u201d oral history acted not as a work in itself but part of a larger installation, but before it was brought to the museum, it was first exhibited in Ms. Gong\u2019s neighborhood as part of a workshop. Finally NGOs, scholars and residents were invited to the museum for discussions with art organizations involved in social practice, such as Shanghai\u2019s Dinghaiqiao Mutual Aid Society and Yunnan\u2019s Artist in Transit Project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to creating bonds with local communities thus taking the museum outside of the museum, Li Jie, a former artist himself, is keen to help support the local art ecosystem, providing artists professional guidance through their careers in the form of long terms collaborations and dialogue. One might say \u201csupport\u201d, but he dislikes the use of the word \u201csupport\u201d because of the implied power dynamics. Their young artists project \u201cArtist Case Studies\u201d, which as been running for six years, rather than being focused on the end product is more about nurturing the artist\u2019s practice than about generating works and exhibitions. Li states that \u201cIt was more about the kinds of difficulties or transitions you were encountering in your work and what you were thinking about at the time. So during this year we were always circling around and breaking through [i.e. overcoming certain barriers in their practice]. And when you wanted to have a breakthrough with your practice you would often . . . make mistakes. And you need to accept these failures. In order for new things to come out, there need to be mistakes and so actually we are encouraging the artists to try new things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Without taking an overly optimistic view, it seems that Li Jie is really intent on growing the scene, bringing new artists into the fold and providing some meaningful contributions rather than just padding his own reputation. \u201cAt the beginning there were not many artists doing experimental art,\u201d says Li Jie, but through these collaborations they managed to introduce new artists, or perhaps re-classify artists who had previously considered themselves as working in more traditional or non-contemporary modalities:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe were like an incubator at the beginning and we encouraged the artists to experiment to make them to <\/em>[do] some site-specific projects and enter into this research phase, then a year or two later after the research is done we have them participate in experimental projects. After this we follow their practice and we hope to recommend them to participate in some residency projects to open their eyes which becomes an important stage of their lives.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Artists working in the Artist Case Studies Project often got the chance to collaborate internationally with Yokohama Creative City Center and Kyoto Art Center in Japan\u2014which offer residencies to Chinese artists, relationships that serve to strengthen pan-Asian ties. . . all this at a time when such things are politically popular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bringing Japanese artists from their collaborating institutions to Chengdu, A4 also aims to create a dialogue with Chengdu-specific issues, as Junko Maruyama\u2019s Wild Flower Field which employed a by-product of the local food economy as a medium: \u201cThe artist after being here for two months ate a lot of hotpot and he had this question which we had no idea how to answer. He asked \u2018where does all this oil go?\u2019 And we said \u2018they chuck it out\u2019 and he said what a waste, because he was very environmentally conscious. He said that he studied a soap making process in Taiwan and he could collect all of this oil and make soap out of it. He found a way of getting the spiciness out of the oil but he couldn\u2019t get rid of the red color.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through this work of nurturing cross-national ties, local communities and the Chengdu art ecosystem do a great deal for the scene, frankly the general public\u2014the bread and butter of most museum audiences\u2014doesn\u2019t really care about an artist\u2019s process or personal growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The museum, however, seems acutely aware of the need to serve different demographics in order to reach sustainability. Besides having different kinds of spaces for different attention levels (for instance the Luxelakes Eco Art Center which features animations, sculptures and installations about water and nature conservation, lighter fare for the casual museum goer with tots in tow) they also produced three different guidebooks to their exhibition \u201cCreating Spaces\u201d, aimed at children, teens and adults, to accompany a rich program of tours, workshops and more academic discussions. Li Jie himself last year conducted over several hundred curatorial tours, along with those given by volunteers. These tours also serve a dual function providing opportunities for market research as each of the tour conductors feed back visitor reactions into a centralized system which the staff can use to create better visitor experiences in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A4 seems to grasp the concept of a museum in a holistic way. They see the museum not as merely an exhibition hall, a landing strip for some exhibition created elsewhere, shipped in like a travelling circus. They understand that museums can contribute to the both the art scene and local communities, that they can simultaneously produce knowledge and<\/em> respond to the needs of their local audience. In a sense, what they are doing is far more three-dimensional than the Luxelakes mock-up which sits in their lobby, and certainly a great deal more than many of the token museums which garnish real estate projects from Chengdu to Shanghai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A long ride out into through the peri-ur … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/randian-art.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com\/2022\/12\/zh-hant\/image-600.png\")
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