One aspect of “Journey to the West” is to continue in the idealistic spirit of Xuan Zang’s western journey. The other aspect is to take the goal of Xuan Zang’s journey to the west and expand the meaning of “west” to encompass China’s western frontier, the West, and the Western heaven. Using the methods of visual culture, we will focus on the three topics: the opening of China’s Western frontier, modernization (the West), and the Buddhist tradition of the western regions (the Western Heaven). We will use Xi’an as a center to unceasingly investigate and re-gather the lost threads of the “silk road.” We will discuss the topic of a globalization from the perspective of Central Asia as its center, and use the western areas as an intermediary. Provide a new choice aside from the current Euro-centric as well as democratic cultural construction in China.

Separate Paths

Combining city and countryside

In at least the next twenty years, we will face the large environment of industrialization. In many of China’s cities outlying areas, there are several real-estate projects that seek to copy the process of suburbanization found in the United States. However, we do not similar context to the U.S. that has a black population that occupies the cities urban areas, and the bourgeoisie middleclass that migrates to the outlying suburbs. China’s process of urbanization in the outer cities is the intermingling of laborers, students, farmers, and drifters that combines the city and the countryside. The differences in the environments indicates that we cannot simply and directly apply Western theories and practices in discussing Chinese urbanization. The construction of a foundation for art and art culture facilities is one of the main topics in the period of industrialization. How do we convey a China in this stage? How do we construct a foundation for art culture facilities in this period? The art institutions and academies that ought to be responding to these questions are too busy vigorously responding to the country’s planning and expanding and constructing new buildings to have time to fulfill their primary responsibility. At the same time, today’s environment permits the existence of several alternate spaces. These spaces are currently working hard to respond to these questions. In the vicinity of Xi’an Art Academy there is Haojiaxin neighborhood, erfuzhuang neighborhood, and Luojiasai neighborhood that encircle the academy. This is a typical combining of city and countryside area. Several of the academy’s students and professors rent houses in these neighborhoods, and you can use the latest design software 3Dmax and hear the cries of guerilla force like pre-modern vendors selling honeycomb coal briquettes. Professors and idlers all mingle on compound. What do we need to create for this new China? Can we provide a service to them? Will they approve of our work? “The combining of City and Countryside” and “Rainbow” art activity began in Haojiaxin neighborhood and then moved to Erfuzhuang neighborhood. Can the rural residents understand Yue Luping’s “Paper matchie museum?” Will Dong Jun’s “Landfill Story” resonate in their hearts? Do we have to adjust ourselves to the village peoples’ perceptive abilities or do we have to undertake the role of teaching them? This is both an experimental beginning and a new method for inquiring into the question.

Art for the People
On the evening of December 19, at a bar across from the Xi’an Art Academy in the Luojiasai neighborhood, I did the third activity of “The Combining of City and Countryside”: “Art for the People.”
At the site, I performed my pieces “Art for the People.” Under my urging, the artists, and students from the Art Academy served the waitresses of the bar. Xi’an artist Chen Tan, who resides in Switzerland, braided the hair of one of the waitresses into a ponytail and Xi’an artist Shao Yanxin combed the hair of one of the waitresses. Most of the students gave the waitresses massages. Everybody worked together to serve the people who usually do the serving.

Switzerland

MOTIERS
June – October 2003 Yue Luping participated in the Neuchatel “open-air exhibition” and showed his “Rice-paper Museum.”
This exhibition had over 70 artists participating, Yue Luping was the only foreigner.
“Rice-paper Museum” was shown at the residence of philosopher Rousseau,Jean-Jacques.
The works this time of “Rice-paper Museum” was to use rice-paper to collect the works of Swiss artist Jiacometti
The exhibition “Rice-paper Museum” was the primary exhibit in the segment entitled “Import – Export,” Swiss artist Andrea and sculptor Makus were responsible for and participated in the curating and implementation of “Import – Export.”
“Kouweibo” and “kounayi”
At the Motiers museum of clocks and watches, there are several watch displays with the labels that had the Chinese characters “kou wei bo” and “kou na yi” written on them, among which were some where only the characters “weikou and “nakou” appeared. The museum staff asked me to explain the meaning of these characters. The information that they provided for me was; the watchmakers in this small town used to do trade with China during the Qing Dynasty and early Republican period. Because of this, the museum had several items that had come from China such as, small Buddhist and Daoist clay sculptures, stamps with Sun Yatsen’s picture on it, and postcards in the form of Spring Festival scrolls with the “May all your wishes come true” written on them. After exchanging information and discussing, we finally came upon a conclusion: First, at that time, Chinese characters were written right to left; therefore, “kouweibo” and “kounayi” ought to be read in the opposite direction as “boweikou” and “yinakou.” Second, these labels could be following the principles of the western “Pronunciation Center’s” method for dealing with Chinese characters; therefore, the pronunciation “boweikou” and of Bovet Co. are the same. Even though Chinese does not have the words “kouwei” and “kouna,” the Swiss people could possibly be using their multi-syllabic language to deal with a mono-syllabic Chinese language. And so, “kouweibo” and “kounayi” could be the Chinese character labels of Swiss companies Bovet and Yina.
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BASEL
May-June 2003: Yue Luping was invited as a visiting artist to work at the Kasko Art Center.
May-June 2003: Yue Luping continued work on the exhibit “Continuing the Journey West”
May 2003: Yue Luping brought the “Rice-paper Museum” to the Basel art museum where jack mede’s works are housed.
June 2003: Yue Luping’s one man exhibition “My Switzerland”
was exhibited at the Kasko Art Center.
Aside from exhibiting “Rice-paper Museum’s” collection of Jiacometti’s work and documents from “Continuing the Journey West,” he also exhibited the collected remanents of the water fountain from the old Imperial Palace, and the water-colors “My Switzerland,” and broadcast the digital video work “Liu Xiangjie.”
June 2003: Chen Tan and Yue Luping participated in the “The unfamiliar in the eyes of strangers” activity hosted by the Basel cultural academy. At the site of the activity, they broadcast Xi’an artist Liu Xiangjie’s song “Yellow cut Yellow cut,” and had the listeners repeat the song.
GENEVA
May 2003: Yue Luping performed his performance piece “Trust” at the Rineiwa United Nations Center. At that time, the World Health Organization was having its annual meeting here with its primary topic being SARS. In attendance was China’s Health Organization newly appointed director Wu Yi.
The implementation of “Trust” : Using a brush and a clean water, Yue Luping continuously painted the word “trust” on the U.N Center Plaza, buildings, and on the bodies and clothing of the people. The Basaier paper and website ran a headline that read “Regarding Trust,” on a special section of the newspaper regarding this performance.

Western Heaven, Western Frontier, the West
This is a intelligent and pictorial journey. We went to the countryside of Zhongnan and discussed the problems of the West with an old Chinese doctor. We discussed who will feed China on the street with an artist from London, we inquired into the legacy of the Western Heaven in a Christian Church on the Western Frontier along the frontline of development. We discussed the problems of modernity with people at the cradle of Chinese civilization Banbo Village. We even discussed law with two “Western breed” dogs and their owner.

Prelude to the Journey

Yang Ling Report
Summary – Yangling, Sha’anxi is an important town in the development of the western frontier. China’s most advanced agricultural research and industrial bases are located here, and it is also the base of China’s kejiangyang. In May of 2002, I went to Yangling and performed an investigation regarding the questions of the development of the western frontier, new agricultural technology, the future of biological sciences, and the state of Yangling’s farming villages, religion, rights, culture. “Report on Yangling” is a multidirectional investigation conducted around the “New World” Agricultural Technology Normal University and the Mujiasai neighborhood across the road. In conducting this investigation, I hope not only to show a real picture of Yangling and draw out discussion, but also create a foundation for further investigations. The report primarily uses digital video images, pictures, and documents. What is shown here are the pictures and documents, with a small percentage coming from digital video.
“Report on Yangling” is divided into seven parts:
Part 1: A harmless gift of vegetables
Part 2: Public announcement of government land buyouts vs. the development of the western frontier
Part 3: Guanyu vs. Jesus, Dragons and Phoenixes vs. Angels, 10 words that are used as door gods
Part 4: Village head, village people, and “new world” greenhouse director discuss village elections.
Part 5: The pop art of Mujiasai
Part 6: Mujiasai villagers discuss greenhouses
Part 7: The Chinese culture inside churches
Key topics: door gods, genes, one-child policy, vegetable gifts, Catholicism, government commandeering of lands, development of the western frontier, and clone sheep

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