Rockbund Art Museum

About the Talk

From the legislations in ancient Greece and Rome, to the rites and laws in ancient China, classical communities played significant roles in the establishment and evolution of these legal systems. Likewise, the emergence of modern constitutions and civil codes has reflected the evolution of communities from past to present. How have communities been shaping our rules and laws that are being changed over time? And how should our law systems respond to the influence of today’s communities in an era of individualism? This talk will introduce you to the world of laws and communities.

About the Talk

From the legislations in ancient Greece and Rome, to the rites and laws in ancient China, classical communities played significant roles in the establishment and evolution of these legal systems. Likewise, the emergence of modern constitutions and civil codes has reflected the evolution of communities from past to present. How have communities been shaping our rules and laws that are being changed over time? And how should our law systems respond to the influence of today’s communities in an era of individualism? This talk will introduce you to the world of laws and communities.

About the Speaker

Yu Ming, with a Ph.D. in Law from Peking University, is an associate professor at the Law School of East China University of Political Science and Law and the Deputy Secretary of the Comparative Law Society under the China Law Society. Specialized in Legal History, Comparative Law and Jurisprudence, Yu has authored the Rule of Judiciary: the Political History of British Courts, and translated the Made with Words: Hobbes on Language, Mind, and Politics among other publications. He was honored with the 15th Fok Ying Tung Foundation Award for Excellent Young College Teachers granted by the Ministry of Education of China, and the 13th Shanghai Award for Research Excellence in Philosophy and Social Sciences.

About the Speaker

Yu Ming, with a Ph.D. in Law from Peking University, is an associate professor at the Law School of East China University of Political Science and Law and the Deputy Secretary of the Comparative Law Society under the China Law Society. Specialized in Legal History, Comparative Law and Jurisprudence, Yu has authored the Rule of Judiciary: the Political History of British Courts, and translated the Made with Words: Hobbes on Language, Mind, and Politics among other publications. He was honored with the 15th Fok Ying Tung Foundation Award for Excellent Young College Teachers granted by the Ministry of Education of China, and the 13th Shanghai Award for Research Excellence in Philosophy and Social Sciences.

About the Host

Jiang Jun, an artist and art critic who graduated from Kunstakademie Münster receiving the title Meisterschüler of Prof. Aernout Mik, a reseacher at the theoretical studio of Shanghai Public Art Cooperation Center (PACC) and the International Public Art Association (IPA), and one of the founders of the Art Bureau of Investigation. He is currently a PhD candidate of iconology and exhibition culture studies at China Academy of Art and Peking University, and lives and works in Hangzhou and Shanghai.

About the Host

Jiang Jun, an artist and art critic who graduated from Kunstakademie Münster receiving the title Meisterschüler of Prof. Aernout Mik, a reseacher at the theoretical studio of Shanghai Public Art Cooperation Center (PACC) and the International Public Art Association (IPA), and one of the founders of the Art Bureau of Investigation. He is currently a PhD candidate of iconology and exhibition culture studies at China Academy of Art and Peking University, and lives and works in Hangzhou and Shanghai.

About the Series

The Rockbund Art Museum (RAM) and the Public Art Cooperation Center (PACC) are jointly presenting a series of academic talks on “the publicness of the community” (die Öffentlichkeit der Gemeinschaft) from August to December, 2017.

Today, the concept of “community” (Gemeinschaft) has become particularly important, as the increasing division of labor and fast mobility in society result in a status that “all that is solid melts into air, and all that is holy is profaned,” as described in the Manifesto of the Communist Party. Since the start of modernity, lives of traditional communities have been degrading towards two opposite directions: the atomization of individuals, and the construction of new alternative communities. The degradation can be found everywhere, from large organizations such as a regional political union or a country, to small units like a working group or a one-to-one relationship. In addition, the current global economic integration is leading to fast and unstable change of life, as well as the rapid gathering, division and reconstruction of communities… A stable relation and the pursuit toward a community have emerged as a compensatory measure for or the resistance to an atomized and alienated society, and an attempt to regain a healthy and humane life – living as a socially integrated individual.

In March 2017, RAM hosted the Audiences International Symposium, aiming to re-examine the definition of “audience” and its implication to today’s people and institutions. Over the past two decades, a new round of museum expansion and the significant changes of societies and technologies have resulted in reforms on daily operation of institutions. Therefore, it is increasingly critical to figure out how museums and art institutions, both identified as public institutions, should respond to such changes. Today, art institutions are performing more and more functions: they have to not only establish deeper and more diverse interactions between modern art projects and their audience, but provide extensive public activities outside the institutions for a wide range of social groups.

About the Series

The Rockbund Art Museum (RAM) and the Public Art Cooperation Center (PACC) are jointly presenting a series of academic talks on “the publicness of the community” (die Öffentlichkeit der Gemeinschaft) from August to December, 2017.

Today, the concept of “community” (Gemeinschaft) has become particularly important, as the increasing division of labor and fast mobility in society result in a status that “all that is solid melts into air, and all that is holy is profaned,” as described in the Manifesto of the Communist Party. Since the start of modernity, lives of traditional communities have been degrading towards two opposite directions: the atomization of individuals, and the construction of new alternative communities. The degradation can be found everywhere, from large organizations such as a regional political union or a country, to small units like a working group or a one-to-one relationship. In addition, the current global economic integration is leading to fast and unstable change of life, as well as the rapid gathering, division and reconstruction of communities… A stable relation and the pursuit toward a community have emerged as a compensatory measure for or the resistance to an atomized and alienated society, and an attempt to regain a healthy and humane life – living as a socially integrated individual.

In March 2017, RAM hosted the Audiences International Symposium, aiming to re-examine the definition of “audience” and its implication to today’s people and institutions. Over the past two decades, a new round of museum expansion and the significant changes of societies and technologies have resulted in reforms on daily operation of institutions. Therefore, it is increasingly critical to figure out how museums and art institutions, both identified as public institutions, should respond to such changes. Today, art institutions are performing more and more functions: they have to not only establish deeper and more diverse interactions between modern art projects and their audience, but provide extensive public activities outside the institutions for a wide range of social groups.

Back in 2016, PACC organized a series of talks and workshops themed on “the publicness in everyday life.” After six months of researches and discussions focusing on “publicness” and “everyday life,” it is gradually clear that the “community” and aesthetic construction are of great importance, and in particular, the creation of the aesthetic community and the social community through bottom-up efforts. To study the equal and open public sphere, we shall first think about the construction of community, and then expand our discussions and conversations to involve the perceptual installations that enable the construction.

As a continuation of both the Audiences International Symposium and the theoretical talks on “the publicness in everyday life,” this talk series on “the publicness of the community” is designed to create a community for academic researchers and art institutions. Therefore, we add the “community” as one of the key words, together with the “publicness”. We will request theoretical scholars to explain the concept of “community” under the lens of their respective disciplines, such as Philosophy, Sociology, Law and History among others. In addition, we are planning to invite Chinese and international curators and cultural research experts with relevant experience to share their specific cases on the creation of community.