In the 1990s, artist Chen Zhen came back to Paris from Shanghai to see a new development of a real estate advertisement in the subway car. It read: "Chen Zhen: Without going to New York and Paris, life could be internationalized." This slogan touched the artist who recently returned from Paris in regards to his mixed feelings towards the rapid urbanization and rising presence of consumerism in Shanghai. Inspired, he launched a series of studies and surveys, and in turn he created a large number of stunning works. From May 30, 2015 to October 7, 2015,the Shanghai Rockbund Art Museum will open a Chen Zhen one-person exhibition and focus on the artist’s most representative creations within this theme of internationalism, once again bringing us into the artist’s observation and reflection toward the city and the future. Furthermore, despite two decades having passed, it is clear that the artist’s reflections and speculations still have profound practical significance today.
In attempt to revisit the climatic period of the 1990s where Shanghai acted as a representative of Chinese cities regarding consumerism and globalization, Rockbund Art Museum is partnering with Shanghai Film Museum to promote "Chen Zhen: Without going to New York and Paris, life could be internationalized "as its main theme of special screenings from July to September of 2015. Through seven classic movies, this screening event will look back at the dramatic period of sudden economic and cultural change in Shanghai, experiencing the imaginative power of the now opened and reformed Chinese society towards the future and the world.
Indeed, starting from the 1980s, China’s urbanization and modernization led to a rapid change within her society; the destiny of the people as well as their value system, psychological state, and rules of survival all experienced change. The cities were the space where the people and experiences of “modernity” collided. Similarly, these cities bore the weight of the modern people’s confusion, disappointment, and frustration; all of these problems and phenomena are reflected within this screening event.
In this screening, what remains especially interesting are the problems between the female and the household in the context of this transformative period. Through the descriptions of contemporary life, this movie not only expresses the individuals’ and small family unit’s weaknesses and frustrations but also depicts these weaknesses’ and frustrations’ social environment such as the reflections of social atmosphere and social thinking behind the individual’s choice and value system. With these themes in mind, we will discuss the expansive relationships between consumerism and materialism, community existence, professions, love, social ethics, and tradition.
This special screening event is free for visitors and members of RAM and members of the Shanghai Film Museum. Visitors must bring RAM tickets or membership cards. In addition, they must reserve through the RAM website in order to view the film.
1990年代中，艺术家陈箴从巴黎回到上海，在地铁车厢里看到一个新开发的楼盘广告，上面写着：“不用去纽约巴黎，生活同样国际化。”这句广告语触动了刚刚从巴黎回来的艺术家对于当时上海高速发展的城市化、消费主义的复杂感受，由此展开了一系列研究和调查，并创作了大批精彩的作品。2015年5月30日至10月7日，上海外滩美术馆举办陈箴个展，聚焦于艺术家在这一主题下的最有代表性的创作，将我们再次带入艺术家对所在的城市及其未来的观察和反思。毫无疑问，尽管时间已经过去了二十年，艺术家当年的这些思考和疑问仍然具有深切的现实意义。
作为电影创作重镇，上海电影制片厂在上世纪八九十年代的作品也应合了画家的创作主题，推出了一系列以上海为背景，表现改革开放后急速城市化进程的影片。为了重新回顾1990年代以上海为代表的中国城市向消费主义和全球化转型的高潮时段，上海外滩美术馆联合上海电影博物馆，于2015年7月-9月在上海电影博物馆推出以“不用去纽约巴黎，生活同样国际化”为主题的特别展映活动，通过7部1980—1990年代的老电影来回望那段经济和文化急剧变革的标志性时光，感受改革开放以来中国社会对于世界和未来的想象。
的确，20世纪80年代开始的中国城市化/现代化进程导致了急剧的社会变迁，人的命运以及人们的价值观念、心理状态、生存法则都在转型中动荡、变化。城市作为人与“现代性”发生种种碰撞的现实空间，承载着现代人的迷茫、失落与烦恼。这些问题和现象都可以从本次特别展映的影片中得到反映。
本次展映项目的影片中，尤为突出的是在这一时代转型的背景下，与女性、家庭相关的问题。电影通过对当时社会生活的描写，既表现了个体、家庭小单元自身的弱点与烦恼，也对产生这些弱点与烦恼的社会环境进行了刻画，比如个体选择价值取向背后折射的社会风气以及社会思维。讨论了包括消费及物质主义，社会生存，个人事业爱情与社会伦理、传统间的关系。