LIFE IS FUN

Background:

 

My journey of study abroad will end a few months later this year. When I review my work from the previous two semesters. It's pretty much what I expected, but in terms of the culture, I still don't think I did a good connection. Therefore, this semester I started my project with Chinese traditional culture.

 

The initial inspiration for this project came from an accidental conversation between me and an artist, named Zai Xianwen (1), in which we discussed the 40th-anniversary exhibition of Anhui Academy of Calligraphy and Painting (2) on the theme of traditional Chinese painting and culture. He states that Chinese bronzes represented a hierarchical system in ancient China. It is used by princes and nobles in all kinds of ceremonies. However, many of the paintings we see today use bronzes as vases to arrange flowers and plant flowers. In terms of flower, we turn our topic to Chinese traditional solar term. Ancient people would go out to pick flowers when each solar term comes and they will fastidiously put flowers into the vase. That was the beginning of my project.

 

A prototype of a project is forming, but it seems that in the year 2020, there will be a formidable challenge of the world. On the eve of the Spring Festival in 2020, an unknown type of pneumonia suddenly spread in central China and all kinds of news are spread on the Internet overnight. The joyous Chinese year was forced to end immediately after the panicky CCTV Spring Festival Gala Evening (3). As one of the first group who was cooped up to stay at home, my project became clearer to me.

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After being cooped up in the house for a long time, the sound of frolicking finally came from the street recently (April 2020). Contrasted to the earlier days and nights, there was only the sound of the air conditioning and the clashing of nails on the screen. If people have to go out, the streets were filled with radio broadcasts of the latest news about pneumonia and the notifications on " wash hand after you go out, put on face masks..."  

 

There seems to be a sound of urgency and danger as the broadcasts spread through the city overnight. In the Article of Aural Postcards (Tonkiss 2003), it says unfolding space using a metaphor of language as sound and here in this article, it refers to languages of different natures, the language that comes from the radio creates a sense of urgency. Put everyone's attention to what is happening in the country.

 

The whole idea of my work was formed during this period and every day I waited silently in those alarming sounds and expected there is something good happen. This kind of waiting wasn't comfortable, because it wasn't just the Internet are spreading the bad news, but also the family members that made me nervous. People would exchange the shocking news they had seen on their mobile phones constantly and I felt that I might have had a minor "Vicarious Trauma". (4)

 

Then I cut back on the input of that news and moved on to my project. The process taught me the power of waiting. That's the reason why this new form of pneumonia wasn't the central theme of my project. I think the development of new pneumonia is just one of the challenges that people face in their lives. As ordinary people. what we can do is to have a good life while we wait. Use the time to enrich ourselves and store up the inner energy.

 

Now, the vitality of the city is recovering slowly. I hope that through my project can speed up the generation of this vitality. In the article from Aural Postcards (Tonkiss 2003), the city expresses time by sound and I understand that the sound of the city is the memory of the city. It can promote a sense of belonging to the city. Therefore, my project will be placed in a public space and take the Chinese tradition hand scroll as the medium. By doing this, promote people's communication. Let the corner in the city have more of the laughter.

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Content:

 

The content of my project is related to waiting, which is quite abstract to describe, so I took a step further. The first element I could think of about wait is time. Therefore, I naturally think of the 24 solar terms mentioned in my previous conversation with the artist.

 

"Over 2000 years ago, ancient Chinese scholars observed the changing of patterns in our natural world. The climates, The turning of The seasons and The astronomical. The scholar measured and divided The Sun's annual movements into 24 equal parts, creating The 24 solar terms according to observe the changing of The seasons, which were used to govern agriculture in ancient China. " (Seasons of China 2019)

 

That fits my description perfectly. In addition, I think it is also a good opportunity to discover how the traditional Chinese 24 solar terms are reflected in contemporary society.

 

Once I've confirmed the content, the next step is to identify the material and the method. During a visit to the 40th-anniversary exhibition of the Anhui Academy of Painting and Calligraphy, I noticed that all the paintings were hanging on the walls. And some of the valuable paintings were placed in fine glass cases.  All the paintings were displayed in public spaces, it is difficult for me to focus on one painting or calligraphy when viewing the work which hanging on the wall without glass. The eye was drawn to the most compelling painting. However, when I look at the paintings in the glass cases, I tried to explore the details of the paintings but was dazed by the polished glass. It was the experience that made me interested in Chinese scroll art.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wu Hong states In his book (2017, p. 150-152)  that the first feature of a handscroll is that it "always requires the viewer to manipulate it by hand. " The second feature is that the medium of the handscroll is spatial and temporal, the process of viewing a painting always involves a two-way process of "rolling" and "unrolling". The third feature is that it is relatively private. Since my research questions are related to everyday human behaviour, the first feature of the handscroll is in line with my project. The second characteristic can show the relation between the work and the time. As for the third feature, in the context of contemporary society, I hope to be able to present Chinese scroll art to the public. In addition, I think the privacy of scroll art is not absolute, it is difficult for one people to be in charge of the picture for a long scroll.

 

Combined with my own experience of visiting art exhibitions, it's hard to get access to physical scroll paintings. The audience can see fine scroll art in a museum or gallery, but most of them are through the glass. Sometimes the scroll can be seen on TV, or sell as a souvenir while people are travelling, but people who would like to purchase is the minority. After all, not many people want to buy a cheap and fake painting to decorate the wall, only a handful of people give the scrolls as gifts or as collectibles. Wu Hong also mentioned at the end of the Article (2017, p.194-195) that if current scroll art can not be held in the hands by the audience and this private collection has been displayed in public space. How can people feel the characteristics of scroll art? This is another reason why I chose the scroll art as the medium of my project.

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Method:

 

As mentioned above, handscroll art needs to be combined with human behaviour. So the method of the project is practical. People need to be in public and rolling a 14-meter-long scroll so that the audience can experience the characteristics of the scroll with a new sensibility. The concept of the new sensibility comes from Susan Sontag.

 

Zhang Zhengping (2010, p.17) explains in her article: she believes that the new sensibility of Sontag is to make the author abandon the interpretation of the content in the process of creation and instead focusing on form and style of the work. For the reader or audience, it is to ignore the interpretation of the content of the work and to appreciate the form and style of the work, therefore, to gain a new artistic experience.

 

The overall layout of the handscroll in this work is consistent with the traditional scroll, including the introduction, the core of the painting and the tail of the scroll (5). Among them, the introduction and the tail of the scroll are basically about the text, while the core of the painting is mainly shown as picture and images. (eg: https://en.dpm.org.cn/dyx.html?path=/tilegenerator/dest/files/image/8831/2009/2138/img0003.xml)

 

In China, there is an idiom called 'change scenery by moving your steps'. I introduced this concept into traditional Chinese hand-scroll art. The images change with the pace of the audience. Wu Hong (2017, p.152) Mentions that hand-scroll is a form of painting that combines space and time and can be imagined as ancient cinematic art. The only difference is that the speed of watching is totally controlled by the viewer. By contrast, I think the idea of moving the image in a handscroll is similar to the method of one take or long take in the film making.

 

In the process of designing the work, I avoid putting text with the image on purpose. Instead of using the constantly changing picture and different composition to communicate with the audience. Liu Danling (2007, p.5) points out in his paper that the new sensibility is not limited to the physical and sensory feelings, but also includes the richness of consciousness and spirit. In addition, a new artistic experience is full of joyful, makes the works and the audience have a healthy interaction. It is also conducive to draw the audience's attention and empathy.

 

I hope that my work does not simply impose a personal interpretation or personal feeling from the artist on the audience. It's about how they feel as an audience? What can they hear? What can they see? In this work, I refuse to give the viewer a personal interpretation.

 

On this particular time (2020, the new pneumonia is spreading around the world), human relationships are replaced by machines, so we need to recover our sensation. This work mobilizes the viewer's senses by eliminating the redundant interpretation, therefore, make the audience feel the artistry of the work.

 

Zhang Zhengping (2010, p.23) proposed that people infuse their feelings or interests in their subjective hobbies and then embody them in their artworks. Sontag argues that interest exists in human behaviour. There are no words for feelings. So in my work, I use a direct touch to the handscroll. People will experience the fun of the Chinese scroll and its artistic characteristics in time and space. 

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According to Oscar Wilde, he thinks things exist because we see them and what we see and how we see. It all depends on our art. My whole work is mainly composed of images, supplemented by words. The audience decides what they will experience based on their own aesthetic ability and vision. The practical artistic experience will give the audience a direct feeling. One of the most important aspects of Sontag's new sensibility theory is the silent aesthetic. It is to realize the direct feeling of art by breaking down the limitation of the off-the-shelf art concept and especially the responsibility of history. (Zhang Zhengping 2010, p.34) She once quotes from the French poet Valery: "...Poetry has different artistic pursuit, expressing ineffable experience and expressing silence with language." I have a different view on this point.

 

In my work, the last part of the handscroll uses misty poetry from China, named 'Many, Many Moments', by Gu Cheng. I try to use modern poetry to illustrate the meaning of the whole work because the poem appears at the end of the work, the audience will not be affected by the imagery of the poem in the process of rolling the hand-scroll. Instead, the action of closing the scroll, allows the audience to reinterpret the work for a second time.

 

Gu Cheng's poetry does not pursue the density and the level of its imagery, it attaches importance to the freedom of the poetic form. (Wang Can 2014, p.30) Gu Cheng once said in the book: He thought that Innovation itself is the best inheritance, innovation is the essence of tradition, is the best proof of the vitality of tradition. I have a deep understanding of this point based on my journey to design my project. The composition and colour scheme refers to some ancient Chinese paintings. Tradition has never been a one-way process of disappearing.

 

Modern people continue to inherit the essence of tradition on the basis of refining it. The new sensibility stresses the rejection of too much interpretation and the mobilization of the human senses, so as to feel the beauty of art. Poetry has these two elements: beauty and a refined language. Poetry pursues individual ethics and emphasizes self-feeling and status. The imagery is the subjective affection which displays through the objective image. It is ineffable, is the poet's own emotional projection, but also a bridge between the author and the reader. This work explains the image through the imagery of the poem, also use the poem to stimulate the audience's perception ability, to feel and find the meaning of waiting in life.

 

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Public art is mainly displayed in the public realm. Nowadays, most public art in China still focuses on monumental art, or public art is a kind of monumental art in the public impression. Before the 1990s, Chinese art was full of publicity and political, and it belonged to the elite of that time. After the 1990s, the rising of mass culture promoted the formation of daily life aesthetics. With the rapid development of urbanization, the public's demand for art is increasing. People need to use art as an opportunity to strengthen their emotional ties with each other and the elimination of individual isolation. (Guo Wei 2019, p.54)

 

Under this special year of 2020, I hope to bring some comfort and warmth to people through my project. So the display area of the project was firstly chosen in a community. Try to restore joy to the community by placing public art in the community. Also, to restore some of the vitality of the community. After been quarantined by a few months, people in the community kept a safe distance from each other, like a sequela. By undertaking the artistic activity, the project transforms the space in the community into an area for residents to communicate. At the same time, through temporary public art activities to enhance the public's aesthetic ability and the ability to understand the world. At the end of Guo Wei's article, he said:

 

Art can not only influence people subtly from the social function but also add a new perspective for people to understand the world and real life, it plays an important role in maintaining the relationship between human and nature, human and society and humans. (2019, p.55)

 

Arnold Berleant, a western Esthetician, put forward the concept of engagement aesthetics, which emphasizes that art should be involved in public space so that the participants can have an all-round immersion in art. (Liu Yuedi, P384) Contemporary Chinese public art lacks the characteristics of localization. According to my own experience, while visiting Hechai 1912, I can clearly identify the diversity of the displayed works, but I found that there is barely any connection between these works and the site.

 

It seems that the sculptures are placed in the public space of the site compulsively, I think such way of displaying is not conducive to citizen understand the meaning of public art but accelerated the misunderstanding of public art in people's perception.

 

How to localize public art is a question of cultural self-consciousness (Liu Yuedi 2013, p.384). In his article, Liu Yuedi emphasized the importance of the aesthetics of life. Public Art not only needs the active participation and organization of artists but also needs the participation and experience of different groups of people. The aim is to stimulate the communication within the group by experiencing art, return the essence of art to the real world, and feel the "aesthetics of daily life". Thus have the effect of enhancing the aesthetic ability of the populace.

 

For example, with the development of urbanization, families in China now will have their own small courtyard. Although the courtyard is private, when it is placed in public space, it has the function of being seen by others. The so-called life aesthetics, as the public we can think about is how to make the space exquisite and beautiful? How to build a yard with its own characteristics? This requires the unique aesthetic ability of the resident. During the outbreak of pneumonia in the early 2020s, many families in the community began growing their own vegetables and decorating their own yards. The community transferred into public art, a public art which belongs to the citizens, therefore, forming a unique community culture.

 

When people have time to determine their own pace of life, how will people live while waiting? This theme is also reflected in my work. The second exhibition site is in school. I am yearned for showing my work at school. As we know, most students are busy with their study and homework. In China, students' complaining of the teachers forcibly occupy art and physical classes have become an Internet joke.

 

But I am deeply worried about this. Arts and Sports are effective medicine to heal people. The neglect of arts education in schools is undoubtedly the neglect of the inheritance of cultural heritage. To insist that every student should have good grades is to erase the individual differences. I think schools should increase inputting in all kinds of arts. Art here does not refer to paintings, but all kinds of art in general.

 

Students can not only release the heavy burden from studying but also bring the opportunity to improve their aesthetic ability in the process of experience the art. I hope that through my work, I can bring some new artistic experience and sensibility to the students in the school.  

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The cross-cultural aesthetic in the work:

 

The concept of cross-culture is a new concept developed on the basis of globalization. It points to the limits of the term globalization. Cross-cultural studies have questioned the concept of globalization: Whether the emergence of the globalization has hindered the development of traditional diversity in different countries and regions. (SIran Chang 2012, p.28-29) The cross-cultural theory provides a new way of researching in art. I divided the cross-cultural theory into two aspects. One is to put it in the context of China, the other is under the context of other cultures. The main point of the cross-cultural theory is to study the interaction of various cultures in the process of formation, rather than to explore their cultural differences.

 

First of all, put the theory in the Chinese context, it is embodied in the exchange between traditional culture and contemporary culture, my work tries to do this. I use contemporary method to show a traditional art. Cross-cultural art is an art that transcends different cultural boundaries. In the project, I used the traditional Chinese scroll as a medium. But, due to the specificity of the material, I did some integration with modern technology. After all the paintings are finished. I scanned it and digitally painted it. The original painting was finished on cooked rice paper and now was printed onto tough silk, this transformation did not go against the original intention of traditional Chinese painting.

 

Because tough silk is also one of the mediums of Chinese painting. As mentioned above, the material of Chinese painting is special that if people want to actually experience the original painting, in fact, it will damage the original work, so printing is the only way to solve this problem. In Wu Hong's book, he answers a question about hand scroll reproductions, pointing out that the images used in books and classes make it difficult for students to experience the mobility of handscrolls. So he used full-size, high-fidelity prints or require students to copy the scrolls by themselves, therefore, introduce the characteristic of the scroll art. (2017, p.197-198)

 

The reproduction of ancient hand-scroll art in contemporary society is helpful for people to understand the cultural heritage of the country. The emergence of the concept of cross-culture reminds people to accept a variety of foreign culture while thinking about how to ensure the continuity of local culture. The cross-cultural concept emphasizes that the emergence of new cultures involves the interaction of various cultures. When people really understand the culture of their own country, can do a better exchange with foreign cultures. Through my project, I hope to reach the boundary between the local traditional culture and the contemporary culture, create a new art interaction under the context of Chinese culture.

 

The emergence of culture represents a kind of creation, communication, understanding and interpretation. As a non-Chinese, how people understand Chinese traditional culture should be one of the responsibilities of Chinese artists. The dissemination of local culture is conducive to the Chinese people's understanding of society and their own understanding. At the same time, for non-Chinese, to interpret Chinese culture from their perspective is another way of exploring Chinese culture. In the process, it is beneficial to people from all over the world to reorganization and the creation of a new culture.

 

For example, Lothar Ledderose (2005, p.33-34),

a German Chinese historian uses modularity to

describe Chinese culture in his book, the first

chapter of which focuses on Chinese characters,

he posed the question: Why don't the Chinese

choose to use simple letters instead of complex

modular systems? He thinks Chinese characters

are more interesting and beautiful than letters.

And he illustrated it with the layout of two

newspapers. I think Redhill's argument is a bit

one-sided. The two newspapers are not identical

in layout and form, so the comparison is not very convincing. For me, the difference I found from the two layouts is that English is not good at making vertical layouts, which is one of the reasons why English newspapers lack richness compared to Chinese newspapers, because of the special nature of English letters, words differ in length from word to word, which creates a big problem in vertical composition.

 

Xu Bing is a representative of the "Overseas Corps" of Chinese contemporary art. We pay special attention to his work "Calligraphy of English Square Characters". The work is the best interpretation of the Cross-cultural practice of art and Xu Bing takes advantage of traditional Chinese calligraphy to create a new way of writing the English alphabet. Make English like Chinese. This kind of art brings a new experience to both Chinese and non-Chinese. It has also added new typography to the English language. I think the significance of this work is that the organic interaction between the two cultures is fully embodied. "English block calligraphy" is actually a translation between Chinese and English writing systems. It goes beyond the translation of the equivalent meaning of the text, and points directly to the interaction of the cultural system based on the characters, complete the conversion of English words into pseudo-Chinese characters. (Zhang Rui 2019, p.93-94 )

 

In my work, I also try to make some transformation, such as this signet-AWAIT. Await is the name of my work. In order to show the traditional Chinese art, I carved a signet that looked like it was covered in English. But in fact, these English letters are the prototype of the Chinese oracle bone script (6). At first, I was simply looking for pictogram that resembled the shape of an English letter, but when I finished the selection, I found that the meaning of the word is "By mountains, by water, by people"  Its significance has a unique charm of Chinese painting.

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