《Beijing Today》2004.01.30

Unknown and Anonymous

The Long March project, brainchild of curator Lu Jie, launched on July 1, 2002. The project aims to retrace the steps of its historical predecessor, creating and exhibiting contemporary art from around the world at 20+ sites in China.

Lu first got the idea to create a moving exhibition around the theme of the Long March while studying at London’s Goldsmiths College, his time there allowing him to “re-examine revolutionary memory from an international context,” he says. With an image of himself as a traveler, Lu struck upon the Long March in his search for an organic structure which would allow him to include the many issues connected to contemporary Chinese art. “In every Chinese mind,” Lu says, “the Long March is the narration, the story of beginning from conflict, the rupture with tradition, the problem with modernity and then the search for utopia.”

Seeing the future of contemporary Chinese art as one of “continuing systematization and institutionalization, getting exhausted, increasingly commercial”, Lu is motivated rather than resigned. “We need to march on to make more people hear our voice. The Long March is not only a metaphor but also a critique, and a platform where more alternative and creative, constructive things will give birth,” he says.

Coming to a temporary rest after 12 stops, the 25000 Cultural Transmission Center (CTC) in the Dashanzi Art District opened to house the project. Attracting over 10,000 visitors since opening, CTC now opens Phase 4: Unknown and Anonymous. Involving both artists who were on the march as well as newcomers, Phase 4 seeks to empower authorship. “Instead of just bringing famous folk artists to exhibit, we seek to raise the perceived value of authorship whether we happen to know who the author is or not,” explains Lu.

Artists like Guo Fengyi and Wang Wenhai have been with the Long March Project since the beginning and have created new works for Phase 4. “The idea of seeing how artists evolved through their involvement with the project naturally lent itself to having several exhibition phases. Like with the march, we are just following the road,” notes Lu.

Wang’s Mao-themed work explored conventional public impressions of Mao in phase 1, his own understanding of Mao iconography in phase 2, relations to Buddhist imagery in phase 3 and brings folk art language to monumental heights in his phase 4 work – a 3.48 meter tall fiberglass sculpture of Mao. Guo’s new work explores both the impact of SARS as well as eastern reinterpretations of western pop icons.

Noted contemporary artist Wang Jingsong’s sound installation entitled Long March Slogans will show with two works Lu picked up at Beijing’s Panjiayuan flea market. As Lu notes in his press release, “Works by unknown and anonymous artists flood our visual culture and are constantly consumed by the market. Contemporary artists are also part of the market system, but at the same time, they carry the heavy burden of being responsible for reconstructing culture.”

As part of Phase 4, Lu has created a Long March Space in cave dwelling in Yanan, Shanxi province, near the bank of Yellow River. As Lu describes it, the caves are “an art space among the people in a remote village. Yan’an symbolized revolution and Mao’s revolutionary theory of art for the people. The cave space will create opportunities for local folk artists to exchange ideas with professional artists from all over China.”

Lu sees Phase 4 as addressing a key issue in Chinese contemporary art today, “Artists/ market systems/ exhibition systems, unknown/ anonymous/ collective: these two sets can be explored merely as contrasts, but the relationship contained within and between the sets have profound meaning in China’s visual culture. In this exhibition especially, we display works created under all different authorship circumstances in order to explore the relationship that lies between artists, the market, and exhibition systems. In China’s historical and revolutionary traditions, there are many masterpieces with collective, unknown, and anonymous creators, and they are a main element in public discourse.”

Lu’s clear-thinking provides a strong basis for the project, “The Long March faces multiple issues. First, are the pros and cons of directly exporting contemporary Chinese art “from inside-out” to international exhibitions and markets. Second, is the way in which Chinese contemporary art superficially adopts practices of the international art system without criticism. Western practices are adopted though they may not be suitable for contemporary Chinese art and may, in fact, be harmful. Third, are the continuous discussions of post-colonial theory without developing or adding anything new to the theoretical debate. The fifth issue involves the tension and gap between the idealism of the newly-formed Dashanzi Art Zone and the surrounding community.”

The project moves towards a positive resolution of these issues by creating dialogue space. As Lu notes, “The Long March Space exists as a ground to balance these issues. Its focus is to contextualize the lives of Chinese artists through their works. Personal space, individualism and social environment are an inseparable part of the lives of the four folk artists participating in the current exhibition. They challenge our conception of what defines an “artist.”

Lu’s aims in terms of the effects of the Long March Project are lofty, “We hope that the public’s adoption of contemporary artistic language and the representation of their life and art from a contemporary perspective can create a dialogue focusing on “what is art and what is contemporary.”

Look forward to Phase 5 starting in March, which will feature famed contemporary sculptor Liang Suo. “Although we started with mostly unknown folk artists, we seem to be finishing with more well-known contemporary artists,” Lu observes. “It isn’t intentional, it’s just how it’s happening. In a way, it confirms the original impetus for the project, creating a venue for topics and artists willing to engage in them,” concludes Lu.

Images, artist profiles and other information are available on the website www.longmarchfoundation.org

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