Site 3, July 17-18, on the road, traveling from The Red Army Mansion in Longshen County and The Bridge of Wind and Rain in Sanjiang Dong Minority Autonomous County, to Guilin City, Guangxi Province

Liu Chunhua,
Various Studies for
"Mao Goes to Anyuan," 1968

Liu Chunhua's article on "Mao Goes to Anyuan." It discusses the whole process concerning the making of this work.

Liu Dahong, "Untitled No.3,"
Oil on Canvas, 1993

Erro,
"After All Where is China Going VI,"
1989

Erro," After All Where China is Going IV," 1989

David Hockney and Philip Haas,
"A Day on the Grand Canal with the Emperor of China, " 1991

Cai Qing, "Looking for My Uncle,"
from the Exhibtion, Home?,
Shanghai, 2000

Wang Guanyi,
"Great Castigation Series; Coca-Cola 1," 1993

A. Kosolapov. "Ford," 1990

A. Kosolapov. "It's the Real Thing," 1982

Lin Yilin, "The Wall Itself," Installation,1993

Lin Yilin, "Safety Crossing Linhe Road," Performance, 1995

Lin Yilin, "Searching for Liu Sanjie," Performance, 2000

Song Dong, "The Imperial Temple"

Song Dong,
" Here You'll Find Contemporary Art for Sale," 1999, Shanghai

Chen Shaoxiong, Video Installation

Chen Shaoxiong, Video

Mr. X, a "public" artist, his sculpture and carving on the cliffs, Quanzhou Mountain, the Long March road in Guangxi. All his subjects are revolutionary slogans and images of Communists leaders of the
Long March.

Carving revolutionary slogans.

Mr. X, with his carved reliefs of
Communist leaders.

Du Yan,
Poposal, "Door Step," Installation

Feng Qianyu, Proposal,
"Crossing the Chi River Four Times," Installation using used films

Yang Fudong,Video

Yang Fudong, "City Night," Video, 1999

Yang Fudong, "Robber Sound," Video, 2002

History

Liu Chunhua, "Mao Goes to Anyuan," 1968

Mao said that the 'base area' is the ass of Red Army. What does he mean by this metaphor? The Communists were forced to forfeit their base area in order to begin their retreat, carefully named the 'Strategic Transition.' After a Red Army military conference in Ruijin, they decided to withdraw. Near Yudu River, in Jiangxi, the final order was given. The Long March began on October 16, 1934. By the time they reached their final destination in Yanan, one year later, the Red Army had marched across 6,000 miles, about twice the width of the American continent. The journey took them through some of the world's most difficult terrain, often unfit for wheeled vehicles, across the high snow mountains and great rivers of Asia. The Army began in the province of Jiangxi, travelling through Guangdong, Fujian, Guangxi and Hunan. By the time they arrived in Guizhou, after completing only the beginning of their journey, one third of the soldiers had already lost their lives.

The Red Army marches

Exhibition - Journey

Wuyiang Bridge, Yudu Rver, Ruijiang --where the historical Long March began

This event will take place on the roads of Jiangxi, Hunan and Guangxi provinces, which were the first roads of the Long March. Along the way, on the bus1, in the markets and elsewhere, we will talk with local people about the passage, pilgrimage and the construction of the icons of the Long March. The history of visual art, its theory, and the construction of 'gaze' will all be explored in their relationship to this journey. Guilin, Guangxi, is the most popular tourist destination in China. Each year millions of tourists, representatives of the new bourgeoisie Chinese class emerging from the economic reforms of the last decade, come here to visit the picturesque Li River and mountains. What do these tourists of the 90s and early 00s China think about the passage of the Red Guard through this area during the Cultural Revolution in the 60s, and how are they linked with the heroic Long March in the 30s? Most of this area is regarded as holy, filled with sacrosanct places visited by the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1978). The Red

Hong Hao, "Rivers and Mountains without End,"
Photography, 2000

Guards, organized by Mao to defend his left wing radical ideology against so called Counter Revolutionists and Revisionists, traveled all over China, privy to free bus and train rides nation-wide. They camped in the farms, factories and army camps along the road of the Long March, making special pilgrimages to those holy revolutionary lands in search of the old revolution's spiritual inspiration. Mao's home province of Hunan and the Jiangxi soviet were the most visited places.

Cai Guoqiang,
" Bringing to Venice What Marco Polo Forgot," 1995

Discuss

Liu Chunhua's Chairman Mao goes to Anyuan (slide/flyer/poster of oil painting). This original painting of a Christ-like figure aglow with intelligence and feeling depicts Mao on his journey to 'sow the seeds of revolution to the people.' This oil painting is the original of what was to become 'the most printed and distributed poster in the world,' which helped elevate Mao to iconic status. The original painting was sold for one million dollars at auction in Beijing in 1995. 'A copy by an Indian artist of such a portrait hung in one of the offices of the Vatican for some time in the late 1960s before its true derivation was realized - after which it was hurriedly removed.'2

We will compare Liu Chunhua's painting with contemporary Shanghai artist Liu Da Hong's re-interpretation of Chairman Mao goes to Anyuan. Icelandic artist Erro's work of Mao in Saint Marcos in Venice will also be included in the discussion.

Hong Hao, "Beijing Tour Guide - The Great Wall,"
Photography, 1999

The analyses of the above artists' works will be related to the historic pilgrimages of Francis of Assisi, Moses' flight from Egypt and the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. A comparison study of Marco Polo's exploration and journey from West to East to Chinese contemporary artist Cai Guoqiang's journey from East to West will be made. Cai's Bringing to Venice What Marco Polo Forgot, the Fujianese's recent endeavor to voyage the sea to the other shore, and the contemporary star artist's global exhibition tour will all be related to these issues.

It is through such epic journeys that not only the quest for an understanding of oneself is explored, but also one's place within the greater sphere. It can also be a time when one's role as a leader versus a follower is determined. The Long March and the selection of its leaders were not planned but emerged organically over the course of the journey. Those who participated in the Long March were confronted with not only themselves but also their relationship to the others who were part of this greater whole. Mao emerged victorious and his legend and myth only serve to reinforce the adage that the difficulty of the journey adds more glory to the journeyman.

Show

D. Hockney and S. Spender, "China Daily," 1982

Continue showing the 'tourist' vision of China in the 70s by Antonioni. Also show another 'tourists' journey of China, David Hockney in collaboration with Stephen Spender's, passage of Orient in the 80s - China Diary. The diary was comprised of text by Spender and a visual record by Hockney, of their journey to China, in which they claimed they wanted to maintain a tourist's distance and remain 'neutral.' However, they did not stay neutral at all, as revealed in the Epilogue of the book3.

Other exhibits will include the Chinese Political Pop works and their counter parts from the former Soviet Union, such as A. Kosolapov's It's the Real Thing (slide and flyer, poster reproduction of oil painting). The discussion will include the deconstruction of political and consumer icons in connection with the contemporary Chinese "Long March" which takes as its mantra, "To be rich is to be glorious." We will also show the videotape of David Hockney's (Travel with Chinese Emporer for One Day on the Grand Canal,1989) along with Hong Hao's Rivers and Moutains Without End (2000), a photo-collage based on another Chinese classical scroll. Eastern and Western technical perspective are compared and contrasted in Hockney's documentary. We will move beyond this comparison into discussions of "perspective" as not only an art technique but as a point of departure for social, political and geographical understandings. Emperor, river, art and history will be seen through these lenses of differing perspective. But will they appear as nothing more than flies, when looked at from afar?

The core team (curator, camera crew and artists) will also embark on a project, a collaboration with artist Cai Qing - Looking for Wang Yani, the most popular child prodigy artist in 70s. Wang was part of a phenomenon after the Cultural Revolution of children artists who were celebrated by society. Wang was embraced as the most gifted and her water and ink brush painting of the picturesque Li River in the region were elevated to symbols of a happy and creative childhood during that time. Her interview and the performance of her ink and water paintings for the public will bring the viewers and the team back to the past through the examination of her present life, career and the industry of cultural tourism and the mythology of time and geography.

Notes

1 The tri-state geographic area is where minority ethnic origin Chinese live. Their traditions, customs, languages, religions, and especially their political and economical lives varied from the majority Han Chinese. It is a very interesting location to examine the cross-border cultural migration, the links with Communist Utopia and the social reform now taking place. The long distance buses which cross different provinces and cultures for days and weeks normally have a VHS and monitor to show soap operas, mostly Kung Fu or love stories, to its passengers, and will be the ideal place to show our art documentaries, video works and slides.

2 Dick Wilson, The Long March 1935 - The Epic of Chinese Communism''Survival, Penguin Books, 1977, p.53.

3 Hockney wrote, 'A permanent problem in a socialist country is that after the heroic revolution, through which socialism has been established, everything is built on the memory of that event: you read about the Long March, Mao Tse-Tung and whoever was there; it dominated their lives, coloured everything, more than their own childhood. When it happened, it must have been an adventure to all people in China. But for today's generation who did not experience it directly themselves, they only know because they're being told it was heroic. The swindle is that if you have to be told something that happened was heroic, it is not heroic in real terms, certainly not for you, in the way you feel.' Spender responded, 'This probably explains Mao's idea of having a continuous revolution and why he wanted to start the Cultural Revolution.' Hockney continued, 'It is certainly not like Mao on his march when you don't know what the result is going to be. And how do you convince people that it is a great, bold adventure worth having? ...But in the end, it is watered down, in countries like that, where a strong ideology, the orthodoxy, takes over and the swindle comes in then, trying to pass on this heroic adventure as a permanent state that just is not true... How do you convince the third or fourth generations that it's still a heroic struggle? In our part of the world we don't have to do that because many things are open to you...And to talk of the good of China...is such an abstracted adventure; you have to be like Lenin to grasp that strange abstraction. And ordinary person just wanting vigour can't grasp that. And to say this is counter-revolution is good. But it's no good dismissing the idea of adventure as though it were a sin. The whole history of the world is made up of people who set out on adventures and did things.' And Spender concluded that 'in countries like China, the adventurous alternative to their now reactionary society is the very form of society from which they originally "saved" their nations by making the revolution - Capitalism. Which do you prefer? The P.R.China or Hong Kong?'

Stephen Spender and David Hockney, China Diary, Thames and Hudson, London, 1982, p.198-200

Joris Ivens ,stills from "A Tale of the Wind" 1988