Part 2: Activating cities in the name of art
Discussion Forum:
Activating cities, art and community, spatial politics, the expanded boundaries of art and relational aesthetics
Donghu Plan: Everyone’s Donghu | Wuhan Li Juchuan / Li Yu
Tongyuan Bureau | Chongqing Wang Haichuan
Woofer Ten Art Museum/C&G Art Unit |Hong Kong Cheng Yee Man (Gum)
Under-Construction/Reconstruction as the “Imagination” of Social Practice: Projects on Social Art Practice by Artists in Asia
“As the ‘Imagination’ of Social Practice” highlights thefact that under the actual circumstances of globalization, local cultures are now displaying signs of new cultural characteristics with features of “resistance”, “localization”, “integration”, “fragmentation”, and “separation”. This is due to the overall influence from capitalist movements, political disputes, cultural infiltration, as well as networks and media communication. On this basis, the ways to treat and redefine artists’ work in this context will be the starting point of this discussion.
“As the ‘Imagination’ of Social Practice” emphasizes a certain co-construction. The practice of artistic actions as cultural production under the current context will construct a new cultural text together with acts from other fields and perspectives. “Imagination” is the methodology and will also become content itself in actual fact. In terms of artistic practice, the “image”, the “imagined”, and the “imaginary”, all linked to “imagination”, are the passageway and specific threads through which to conduct the discussion.
Back to the Asian context, the comparative model of dialogue of “East” and “West” and the “Third World” and the “Center”, an unvarying model originating from a Western perspective, has become, within the complex, multifarious, and rich contemporary Asian setting, a vague, simplistic, and rough description. Under the influence of globalization, the huge differences between different countries in Asia due to the geography, history, culture, and contexts have never presented a unitary and flat “group” identity but rather distinct and specific “individual” identities. “Back to Asia” is not only an action but a stance and an attitude. Of course, what needs to be emphasized again is that we need an Asia proper to Asia instead of an Asia observed under a Western perspective.
Therefore,this project can be regarded as a discussion on action and practice whose specific, local angle will be the basis of this dialogue. The invited projects of artistic practice will be presented on a case basis, while the dialogues will be conducted in detail between art and social politics and between the context and the intercultural dialogue between countries in Asia. The main body of this discussion will be composed of a few on-going independent artistic projects from Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and neighboring countries. Moreover, various social practices from non-profit art institutions, independent artists, and art collectives will make up the essential part of this discussion.
About the planner
Ni Kun
Director of Organhaus Art Space, Curator, Critic, was an artist. Born in Hunan, now lives in Chongqing. Co-founded art institution ‘haus ·M-commune, H2 Art Space', and established non-profit art organization ‘Organhaus Art Space' in China since 2006 as a co-founder and host. He focuses on the interactive art under the rapid urbanization and globalization in China and on this basis, launched 'Cities and Reconstructions' experimental art project, this practice further demonstrates his thinking to the current situation. As an independent curator, he has been invited by Germany, UK, Italy, Australia, India and other countries to visit the local art institutions, as well give lectures. In 2014, he will be invited to the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum in Japan as a researcher for a six-week thematic study.
第二单元：城市活化，以艺术的名义
讨论会：
艺术活化，艺术与社区，空间政治，被拓展的艺术边界及关系美学
东湖计划：每个人的东湖|武汉 李巨川/李郁
铜元局|重庆 王海川
活化厅/ C&G艺术单位|香港 郑怡敏(阿金)
在建/重建，作为社会实践的‘想象’：亚洲艺术家社会性艺术实践项目
【作为社会实践的‘想象’】强调了这样一种事实，在事实性的全球化境遇中，本土文化在遭遇因资本运动，政治角力，文化渗透，网络及媒体传播等多重因素的综合影响下，正呈现以‘抵抗’、‘本土化’、‘融合’、‘割裂’以及‘分离’等为特质的新的文化特征。在此基础上，如何来看待和重新定义艺术家在此语境下的工作，将是本次讨论的出发点。
【作为社会实践的‘想象’】所强调的是一种共构，作为文化生产的艺术行为在当前语境下的实践，将与来自其它领域和视角的行动一起构成新的文化书写，‘想象’即是方法也将在事实上成为内容自身。对于艺术实践而言，由‘想象’所关联的‘图像（Image）/ 想象物（Imagined）/ 想象力（Imaginary）’，则是展开讨论的通道和具体线索。
回到亚洲的场域，一直不变的来自‘东方和西方，第三世界与中心’间的来自西方视角的比较性对话模式，在当前复杂、多元、丰富的亚洲当代现场中，正成为一个空泛而简单的粗放型描述，亚洲各国间因地域，历史，文化，语境等背景所产生的巨大差异，在全球化的带入影响中，所呈现的从来就不是一个单一和平面化的‘群体’，而是一个个独特而具体的‘个体’。‘回到亚洲’既是行动，也是立场和态度。当然，需要再次强调的是，我们需要的是亚洲的亚洲，而不是西方视角下的被观看的亚洲。
也因此，本次项目可以被看成为是一次关于行动和实践的讨论，它的局部性及区域性视角，将是本次对话的基础。获邀参加的艺术实践项目将以个案的方式呈现，对话则在艺术与社会政治之间，语境与亚洲内部国家的跨文化比较对话之间具体展开，来自中国大陆，台湾，香港，以及周边国家的一些独立性长期艺术实践项目将构成本次讨论会的主体，非盈利性艺术机构，独立艺术家，艺术小组们的差异性社会实践，将是本次讨论的重要内容。
关于策划人
倪昆
艺术机构负责人、策展人、艺术写作者，曾为艺术家，出生于湖南，现居重庆。先后与友人共同创建艺术机构‘家·M公社，H2艺术空间’，也是自2006年成立的中国非盈利艺术机构器·Haus空间的联合创办人与主持人，中国急剧的城市化背景与全球化这个事实背景下的艺术互动，是他持续关注的方向，而在此基础上所展开的关于‘城市与再造’的实验性艺术项目的实践，则进一步的展现了他对于当前境遇的思考。作为独立策展人，他多次受邀在德国，英国，意大利，澳大利亚，印度等国的艺术机构进行访问工作，演讲，2014年将受邀赴日本福冈亚洲美术馆以研究学者的身份进行为期6周的主题研究。