China
Presentation for the 2005 Yokohama Triennale
(2005.09.28 - 12.18)
Jiang Jie, Swimming Dragon, installation, 2005
The work "Swimming Dragon" is an installation piece
in the form of a traditional Chinese building that will be installed
within the exhibition space, it will appear as if it is a moving
dragon. The display of the work is as a process of slowly being
dissolved by the audience. The audience can take apart and take
home with them the glass roof tiles, until the entire installation
is destroyed¡
The artist attempts to discover an event within
this process of construction/destruction/re-construction. That
is subjective and passive a link. However, the entire narrative
of the story of the work is not important. A dragon is a discreet
visual symbol of a nationality, but in this instance has only
been borrowed by the artist. Beneath this surface layer lies a
discursive flow that is even more open signifier of cultural politics
of the world. Even more important is that in the construction
of such a work, the artist does not strive for any preliminary
judgments regarding good or bad. Perhaps, it does not matter what
the physical substance is. The process of taking apart is actually
the same as a new putting together, and constructing is also juxtaposes
the end of a certain thing.
The artist engages with audiences in a game like
manner to consider the existent cultural history of humankind.
The work uses destruction and construction, and the synchronic
presence of here and elsewhere to break the narrow interpretations
of nationalism, juxtaposing it with the greater narrative backdrop
of Chinatown.
Another name of "Swimming Dragon" is "River
Crossing Dragon": the meaning which refers to the chivalrous
or heroic who traveled away from their home. In this instance,
the work hides a metaphor of nomadic community. The "swimming
dragon" in the exhibition space distantly connects with the
"River crossing Dragon(s)" of Chinatown. The dismemberment
of "Swimming Dragon", and its process of dispersal,
is a metaphor for the history, culture, and even the recreation
and extension of body with a nomadic community.
